Hi Everyone, This is following up on one of the items brought up during our meeting in Sydney, including at the ccNSO-GNSO lunch and subsequently at our council meeting. That is the possibility of creating a Joint Working Group between the ccNSO and the GNSO to discuss issues of common interest regarding IDN TLDs. Myself and Zhang Jian of ccNSO have been corresponding thereupon on drafting a charter for this Joint ccNSO-GNSO IDN Working Group (JIG). See attached the proposed Draft Charter for the group. The draft was also circulated to the IDNG Drafting Team and the ccNSO and feedback incorporated. The key aspects of the charter include: - Purpose: identify and report on areas of common interest among the ccNSO and the GNSO for IDN TLDs - Scope: issues where implementation for IDN ccTLDs and IDN gTLDs should be consistent OR issues where there is inter-relation between implementation of IDN ccTLDs and IDN gTLDs - Issues are considered to be out of scope if either the ccNSO or the GNSO believes it is not an issue of common interest - The implementation schedule for the ongoing New gTLD process and the IDN ccTLD Fast Track should not be delayed or wait for the report from the JIG - Target to produce a final report for the initial tasks before Seoul meeting Based on the discussions in Sydney, there seems to be support for creating a joint working group, and the charter is an attempt to create a mutually agreeable framework. Below is a draft motion for the formation of the JIG: =============================================== WHEREAS GNSO IDN WG successfully completed its outcomes report in March 2007 and the GNSO Council approved the incorporation of its findings in the GNSO Final Report on the Introduction of New gTLDs in September 2007, describing policy requirements for the introduction of IDN gTLDs; The Board Proposal from the IDNC WG was completed in June 2008, describing the IDN ccTLD Fast Track methodology; Both the drafts and excerpts for the Applicant Guidebook for the New gTLD process, and the drafts for the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Implementation Plan had included implementation considerations for IDN TLDs; and, Issues of common interest between new IDN ccTLDs and new IDN gTLDs can be identified, including issues where implementation of IDN ccTLDs and IDN gTLDs should be consistent (e.g. IDN Language Table implementation at the root zone), and where implementation of IDN ccTLDs and IDN gTLDs are inter-related (e.g. 2-Character length TLDs as a reservation for ccTLDs); RESOLVED: To initiate together with the ccNSO a Joint ccNSO-GNSO IDN Working Group (JIG) be formed based on the Draft Charter. =============================================== Comments and thoughts welcome, hopefully we can get this Joint WG together with the ccNSO. Think it would be a meaningful development for ICANN also. Edmon