Dear All, The GNSO Council has initiated a policy development process (PDP) on the topic of Vertical Integration between Registrars and Registries. At its 10 March 2010 meeting, the GNSO Council formed a working group to perform the activities of this PDP, and is now seeking volunteers to serve on the working group. This working group will evaluate and propose policy recommendations for new gTLDs and existing gTLDs on the topic of vertical integration between registries and registrars. The working group expects to define the range of restrictions on vertical separation that are currently in effect, to serve as a baseline to evaluate future proposals. The work will be done an expedited basis, with an expected completion date of 30 June 2010, and will follow the parameters of the charter approved by the GNSO Council for this PDP. If you would like to participate in this working group as a volunteer, kindly respond by email to <gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> by Monday, 22 March. You will need to submit your Statement of Interest in order to serve on this working group. The template for the Statement of Interest is described in the GNSO Working Group Guidelines. The working group plans to schedule its first meeting during the week of 22-26 March 2010. At that meeting, the first agenda item will be to select the Chair of the working group. The chair is expected to serve his/her duties in a neutral manner, in accordance with the GNSO Working Group guidelines. Please be prepared to nominate and vote an individual to serve as chair for this working group. For more information on this policy development process, please refer to: Issues Report on Vertical Integration: http://gnso.icann.org/issues/vertical-integration/report-04dec09-en.pdf Charter: http://gnso.icann.org/issues/vertical-integration/vi-wg-chartered-objectives... Working Group Guidelines: http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/proposed-working-group-guidelines-05fe... Best Regards, Glen Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org<mailto:gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> http://gnso.icann.org