Dear all,

 

Please find below the final proposed agenda for the GNSO Council Meeting on Thursday, 25 May 2023 at 05:00 UTC

 

Please note that all documents referenced in the agenda have been gathered on a Wiki page for convenience and easier access: https://community.icann.org/x/wIBXDg.  

 

This agenda was established according to the GNSO Operating Procedures v3.5, updated on 24 October 2019.

For convenience:

 

GNSO Council meeting on Thursday, 25 May at 05:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/ye2a6jyh. 

 

(Wednesday) 22:00 Los Angeles;  01:00 Washington DC; 06:00 London; 07:00 Paris;  08:00 Moscow; 15:00 Melbourne 

 

GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: https://icann.zoom.us/j/97891627902?pwd=RURCTitiNEVwd2UySEk1QkRESmlFZz09 

 

Councilors should notify the GNSO Secretariat in advance if they will not be able to attend and/or need a dial out call.

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Item 1: Administrative Matters (5 minutes)

1.1 - Roll Call

1.2 - Updates to Statements of Interest

1.3 - Review / Amend Agenda

1.4 - Note the status of minutes for the previous Council meetings per the GNSO Operating Procedures: .

Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 15 March 2023 were posted on 30 March 2023.

Minutes of the GNSO Council meeting on 20 April 2023 were posted on 07 May 2023.

 

Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects & Action List (5 minutes)

2.1 - Review focus areas and provide updates on specific key themes / topics, to include review of Projects List and Action Item List. 

 

Item 3: Consent Agenda (0 minutes) 

 

Item 4: Board request for Council input on Nominating Committee (NomCom) rebalancing (15 minutes)

On 26 April 2023, the ICANN Board requested the input of the GNSO Council on the issue of NomCom rebalancing. 

 

The NomCom is a committee tasked with selecting key ICANN leadership positions, including some members of the ICANN Board of Directors and the Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) Board, as well as other positions within the ICANN community. The NomCom functions independently from the Board, the Supporting Organizations (SOs) and Advisory Committees (ACs). NomCom delegates act on behalf of the interests of the global Internet community and within the scope of the ICANN mission and responsibilities assigned to the NomCom under the ICANN Bylaws – they do not act in furtherance of the group that appointed them to the NomCom. 

 

The ICANN community has been discussing the issue of rebalancing the NomCom for over 10 years, and the ICANN Board resolved to engage with the ICANN community to better understand community views on the rebalancing.

 

Specifically, the Board is seeking input on the following questions:

  1. What does it mean to have a balanced NomCom at a point in time? For example, what criteria would you apply to measure or assess whether the NomCom is balanced? And further, how can one test whether or not the NomCom is balanced?
  2. Do you support the view that the current composition of the NomCom needs to be rebalanced? Please explain why or why not.
  3. How frequently does the balance need to be measured or assessed?
  4. How do you suggest that the NomCom’s composition be rebalanced?
  5. Who should conduct this work, and how should it be conducted?
  6. How would your community group prioritize consideration of this issue within your planning efforts? 

Here, the Council will discuss the questions from the Board and determine whether it would like to provide input.

4.1 Introduction of topic (Katrina Sataki, Chair of Organizational Effectiveness Committee of the Board (OEC))

4.2 Council discussion

4.3 Next steps   

                                                                               

Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - SubPro - Progress Update on Recommendations Marked as Pending  (15 minutes)

During its informal session at ICANN76 and the subsequent Council meeting, the Council discussed and agreed to task a small team of interested councilors to review the recommendations that the Board placed in a pending status and suggest to the full Council how the underlying concerns that caused the pending status can be best addressed (i.e., a limited triage exercise). Interested Councilors were asked to volunteer for the Small Team by 15 March 2023.

 

Since ICANN76, the Council SubPro Small Team has met several times and has completed an initial run through of the issues chart, with Board member input on why the Board placed specific recommendations into a pending status. The Council discussed the main output of that triage effort, the proposed paths forward for each pending recommendation, during an Extraordinary Meeting on 4 May. During that meeting, the Council agreed to further task the small team with taking interim steps (e.g., provision is clarifying information, developing speaking points) in order to support the Council’s dialogue with the ICANN Board on 22 May.

 

Here, the Council will debrief after the dialogue with the ICANN Board and discuss next steps to ensure that the Council is able to deliver its plan and timeline to resolve the pending recommendations.

5.1 – Introduction of topic (Paul McGrady, Small Team Lead) 

5.2 – Council discussion

5.3 – Next steps

 

Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) EPDP Timeline (20 minutes)

 

On 20 May 2021, the GNSO Council approved the initiation request for the EPDP on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and adopted its charter. The EPDP Team is expected to: 

·         Determine the approach for a consistent definition of all gTLDs; and 

·         Develop policy recommendations that will eventually allow for the introduction of variant gTLDs at the top-level 

 

On 24 April 2023, the EPDP Team published its Phase 1 Initial Report for Public Comment. The Initial Report includes 68 preliminary recommendations covering issues pertaining to gTLD variant definition and management at the top-level. The majority of the preliminary recommendations aim to operationalize SubPro PDP Outputs in order to allow for future applications of gTLD variant labels through the New gTLD Program. 

 

On 16 March 2023, the ICANN Board requested the EPDP Team to deliver an updated project plan by the last day of ICANN77 that identifies all charter questions that will impact the next Applicant Guidebook, as well as a timeline for the EPDP Team’s delivery of relevant recommendations to the GNSO Council. While the Public Comment proceeding is ongoing, the EPDP Team started discussion of its Phase 2 work, which focuses on issues pertaining to second-level IDN variant management, as well as the review of its project plan in accordance with the Board request. 

 

Here, the GNSO Council will hear an update on the EPDP Team’s analysis of its Phase 2 charter questions in relation to the impact on the next Applicant Guidebook, as well as a draft project plan and timeline for the EPDP Team’s delivery of relevant recommendations to the GNSO Council.

6.1 Introduction of topic (Donna Austin, EPDP Chair)

6.2 Council Discussion

6.3 Next Steps 

 

Item 7 - COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Work to Prepare Draft Timeline for Closed Generics Policy Process  (20 minutes)

 

In March 2023, the ICANN Board requested that the GAC and GNSO Council consider engaging in a facilitated dialogue to develop a framework for further GNSO policy work on the issue of Closed Generics. The GAC and GNSO Council agreed to the Board’s suggestion and each appointed six participants for the dialogue. One participant and one alternate from the ALAC were also appointed. Should the GAC-GNSO facilitated dialogue result in an agreed framework, the agreements will be further developed through the appropriate GNSO policy process.

 

Following an initial, informal meeting at ICANN75 in Kuala Lumpur, the dialogue participants have since been meeting regularly via Zoom and held a substantive two-day face-to-face meeting in Washington, D.C. in late January 2023. The dialogue is hoping to deliver a draft framework around the end of May 2023 to the ALAC, GAC, GNSO and other SOACs for community input. Groups are expected to have approximately four weeks to review that document. 

 

During its meeting at ICANN76, the ICANN Board passed a resolution adopting a substantial portion of the outputs from the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP, setting in motion the start of the implementation process for the next round of new gTLDs. As part of the resolution, the Board established deadlines for key deliverables that will impact the development of the implementation plan. By 15 June 2023, the Board expects to receive “A GNSO Council project plan and timeline for policy work, or an alternate path, on how to handle closed generics for the next round of new gTLDs.”

 

Here the Council will discuss the draft scope of subsequent policy work to inform preparation of the timeline for this work.

7.1 Introduction of topic (John McElwaine, Council Vice-Chair)

7.2 Council Discussion

7.3 Next Steps 

 

Item 8: EPDP Phase 2 Small Team Progress Update (20 minutes)

 

In February 2023, the ICANN Board directed ICANN org to develop and launch the WHOIS Disclosure System, now called the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS), as requested by the GNSO Council. The Board requested the RDRS be launched within 11 months, and, prior to the launch, the Board recommended Org continue its engagement with the GNSO Council on the implementation. The ICANN Board also requested the GNSO Council to establish success criteria for the RDRS. In response, the GNSO Council updated the assignment of the EPDP Phase 2 small team to reflect these new work items. 

 

The small team is expected to engage with ICANN org throughout the development and operation of the System, and in particular consider:

In addition, the small team is expected to provide the Council with a recommendation on the approach and format through which, following implementation of the system, data should be reviewed and analyzed to help inform subsequent decisions on how to proceed with the SSAD recommendations. The small team is expected to provide regular updates to the GNSO Council on the state of its progress.

 

Here, the Council will receive an update from the EPDP Phase 2 small team on its progress on defining the success criteria of the RDRS.

8.1 Introduction of topic (Sebastien Ducos, Small Team Chair)

8.2 Council Discussion

8.3 Next Steps

 

 

Item 9: ANY OTHER BUSINESS (20 minutes)

9.1 ICANN77 Day 0 SubPro Session Planning (Steve Chan)

9.2 Accuracy (Marika Konings)

9.3 State of Progress from Small team on DNS Abuse (Mark Datysgeld)

9.4 WS2 Framework of Interpretation for Human Rights Proposed updates to GNSO Council templates (Marika Konings)

 

_______________________________

Appendix 1: GNSO Council Voting Thresholds (ICANN Bylaws, Article 11, Section 11.3(i))

See https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article11.

Appendix 2: GNSO Council Absentee Voting Procedures (GNSO Operating Procedures, Section 4.4)

See https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/op-procedures-30jan18-en.pdf

 

References for Coordinated Universal Time of 05:00 UTC 

Local time between March and October in the NORTHERN hemisphere

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California, USA (PDT) UTC-7 (Wednesday) 22:00 

San José, Costa Rica (CDT) UTC-6 (Wednesday) 23:00 

New York/Washington DC, USA (EDT) UTC-4  01:00

Buenos Aires, Argentina (ART) UTC-3 02:00

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (BRT) UTC-3 02:00

London, United Kingdom (BST) UTC+1 06:00

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (WAT) UTC+1 06:00

Paris, France (CEST) UTC+2 07:00

Moscow, Russia (MSK) UTC+3 08:00

Singapore (SGT) UTC+8 13:00

Melbourne, Australia (AEST) UTC+10 15:00

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DST starts on Sunday 26 March 2023, 2:00 or 3:00 local time (with exceptions) for EU countries and on Sunday 12 March 2023 for the U.S.

DST ends on Sunday 29 October 2023 for EU countries, and on Sunday 05 November 2023 for the US.

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For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com and   https://tinyurl.com/ye2a6jyh.