Subject: [council] FOR YOUR INFORMATION: Estimated timelines for Work on Second-Level IGO Protections
From: Mary Wong via council <[email-masked]>
To: "DiBiase, Gregory" <[email-masked]>, GNSO Council List <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 May 2024 21:45:46 +0000
List-Id: <council.icann.org>

Dear Greg and members of the GNSO Council,

As you know, the Board passed a resolution at its meeting on 5 May 2024, accepting the GAC’s advice from ICANN76 to maintain the current moratorium on second level registrations which match the temporarily-reserved acronyms of thpse International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) on the  list the GAC had submitted to ICANN in 2013, until implementation of the Board-adopted GNSO policy recommendations concerning IGO curative rights is complete. 

With thanks to the various ICANN org teams that are involved in different parts of the IGO-related work, please find attached a visual timeline that includes ICANN org’s current estimated timelines for completing the following projects:  (1) implementation of the GNSO’s policy recommendations on IGO curative rights; (2) completion of the development work on a permanent notification system for IGOs and the necessary updating of the current IGO Contact List for this system; and (3) other work  necessary to achieve an orderly release of the temporarily-reserved IGO acronyms. Among other matters, we anticipate coming back to the GNSO Council when forming the planned Implementation Review Team for the policy implementation work, and to subsequently  conduct early engagement with you and the community prior to launching the permanent notification system and releasing the reserved IGO acronyms.

I understand that the GNSO Council plans a further discussion on the topic of second level IGO protections at ICANN80. The IGO Program Team from ICANN org will be very happy to join you for that discussion, answer any questions you may  have, and provide you with any additional information that you may require. Please let me know. Thank you!

Cheers

Mary

From: "DiBiase, Gregory via council" <[email-masked]>
Reply-To: "DiBiase, Gregory" <[email-masked]>
Date: Monday, May 20, 2024 at 1:00 PM
To: GNSO Council List <[email-masked]>
Subject: [council] FW: [Ext] FOLLOW UP: Update on ICANN org work on the IGO Program (on aspects other than implementation of the Curative Rights policy)

Dear Councilors,

Please see the update below regarding the various IGO-related projects.  Hopefully we will have enough information to discuss during our Council meeting at ICANN 80.

Thanks,

Greg

From: Alperen Eken <[email-masked]> 
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2024 7:53 AM
To: DiBiase, Gregory <[email-masked]>; Mary Wong <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] [Ext] FOLLOW UP: Update on ICANN org work on the IGO Program (on aspects other than implementation of the Curative Rights policy)

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless  you can confirm the sender and know the content is safe. 

Hello Greg,

Thanks for your email.

Given the Board Resolution on 5 May 2024, we are going to come up with a firm timeline. We are planning to share a timeline early next week so that it would be available for discussion during the ICANN 80, I hope that it is helpful.

Best regards,

Alp

From: "DiBiase, Gregory" <[email-masked]>
Date: 16 May 2024 Thursday at 16:39
To: Alperen Eken <[email-masked]>, Mary Wong <[email-masked]>
Cc: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Subject: [Ext] FOLLOW UP: Update on ICANN org work on the IGO Program (on aspects other than implementation of the Curative Rights policy)

Hello Mary and Alperen,

I am following up on this item on behalf of the GNSO Council.  As you may remember, the Council is very eager to see this work commence, and has requested a firm timeline on next steps.  I am  requesting any updates you may have.  This item will be discussed at ICANN 80, and will be a topic in an upcoming informal conversation between the GNSO Council and the Board, so any information would be helpful.

Thanks,

Greg  

From: council <[email-masked]> on behalf of Mary Wong via council <[email-masked]>
Reply-To: Mary Wong <[email-masked]>
Date: Saturday, March 2, 2024 at 4:10 PM
To: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, "Demetriou, Samantha" <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]"  <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, Jothan Frakes <[email-masked]>,  "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Cc: Russ Weinstein <[email-masked]>
Subject: [council] FOLLOW UP: Update on ICANN org work on the IGO Program (on aspects other than implementation of the Curative Rights policy)

Hello everyone,

Greg suggested that Councilors and community members might find a list of all the various IGO-related projects and work streams useful, especially as context for the update I sent (below) and in preparation for the GNSO Council’s Working  Session tomorrow morning (Sunday). Please therefore find attached a diagram that we hope is clear and accessible, showing the work under the Program and what stage each is in as well as where the responsibility lies for a number of the activities.

Thanks and cheers

Mary 

From: Mary Wong <[email-masked]>
Date: Thursday, February 29, 2024 at 3:54 PM
To: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, "Demetriou, Samantha" <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]"  <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, Jothan Frakes <[email-masked]>,  "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Cc: Karen Lentz <[email-masked]>, Russ Weinstein <[email-masked]>, Alperen Eken <[email-masked]>,  Erika Randall <[email-masked]>
Subject: Update on ICANN org work on the IGO Program (on aspects other than implementation of the Curative Rights policy)

Dear all,

Ahead of your meetings at ICANN79, I am writing to follow up on an action item for ICANN org from the ICANN78 Annual General Meeting. This was for ICANN org to share a preliminary timeline for all the current work streams relating to IGO  protections, including preparatory work towards the release of the temporarily-reserved IGO acronyms. The IGO Program team had originally thought we could include this update during the GNSO Council’s session with the Global Domains & Strategy (GDS) team at  the GNSO Working Session on Sunday 3 March. However, given the number of topics to be covered in that session, which we also understand will be focused on current GDS policy implementation projects, we thought it might be more appropriate to provide an email  update. 

To recap, ICANN org’s ongoing work streams relating to IGO second-level protections are: 
implementing the Board-adopted recommendations from the two completed GNSO policy efforts 
a.      These are the four GNSO Council-approved recommendations from the 2019 PDP on IGO-INGO Access to Curative Rights Protection Mechanisms and the five recommendations from the 2022 EPDP on Specific Curative Rights Protections for IGOs.
work directed towards releasing the currently-reserved acronyms of those IGOs on the list that the GAC submitted to ICANN in 2013 
a.      This includes the development of a permanent system to notify IGOs on the GAC’s list when a third party registers a second-level domain name that matches that IGO’s acronym as well as work to ensure that the IGO contact list for this  purpose is updated and accurate. 

Our GDS colleagues will cover item (1) as part of their implementation updates at the GNSO Working Session this Sunday.

On item (2), the IGO Program team continues to support the Board in its discussion and review of the GAC’s advice in the ICANN76 Cancun Communique [gac.icann.org] (March 2023) to “maintain the current moratorium on the registration of IGO acronyms as domain names in New gTLDs presently in place until the full implementation of the recommendations of the EPDP on Specific  Curative Rights Protections.” This advice follows from the GAC’s ICANN71 Communique [gac.icann.org] as well as subsequent correspondence [gac.icann.org] where the GAC clarified its intention that the IGO acronyms should remain reserved until implementation of the Curative Rights policy recommendations is completed. 

At this time, we are therefore not in a position to provide an estimated timeline for when the IGO acronyms can be released from reservation. We do, however, wish to let you know that ICANN org’s work on the proposed IGO notification system continues. and we are also working to ensure that the IGO contact list is updated and accurate, as this will be necessary to ensure effective operationalization of the planned notification system when it is launched. The  team is confident that we will complete these work streams in a timely manner, such that they will not delay any expected action by the Board to release the IGO acronyms from the reserved list. In this regard, we note that ICANN org has stated [newgtlds.icann.org] publicly that developing the notification system is a strategic dependency for delegating the first new gTLDs in the next round.

We understand that members of the community wish to understand more clearly the dependencies and considerations around the scope and timelines of all these work streams. The IGO Program team will be happy to meet with the GNSO Council and  community to discuss the matter further, at your convenience. 

Thank you.

Best regards,

Mary