GNSO Council Action Items from the Council teleconference of 17 December 2015
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Item 4: VOTE ON MOTION – Initiation of Policy Development Process (PDP) for New gTLDs Subsequent Procedures
In June 2015, the GNSO Council requested an Issue Report to analyze subjects that may lead to changes or adjustments for subsequent New gTLD
procedures, including any modifications that may be needed to the GNSO’s policy principles and recommendations from its 2007
Final Report on the Introduction of New Generic Top Level Domains. Preparation of the Preliminary Issue Report was based on a set of deliverables from the GNSO’s
New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Discussion Group (DG) as the basis for analysis. The
Preliminary Issue Report was published for public comment on 31 August 2015, and the comment period closed on 30 October as a result of a request by the GNSO Council to extend the usual 40-day comment period. The
Final Issue Report was submitted to the GNSO Council on 4 December 2015. Here the Council will review the report, including the draft Charter setting out the proposed scope of the PDP, and vote on whether to initiate the PDP and adopt the Charter.
ACTION ITEMS:
Item 5: VOTE ON MOTION – Adoption of Final Report from the Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues
PDP Working Group
This PDP had been
requested by the ICANN Board when initiating negotiations with the Registrar Stakeholder Group in October 2011 for a new form of Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). The 2013 RAA was
approved
by the ICANN Board in June 2013, at which time the accreditation of privacy and proxy services was identified as the remaining issue not dealt with in the negotiations
or in other policy activities, and that was suited for a PDP. In October 2013, the GNSO Council
chartered the Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues PDP Working Group to develop policy recommendations intended to guide ICANN’s implementation of the planned accreditation
program for privacy and proxy service providers. The PDP Working Group published its
Initial Report for public comment in May 2015, and delivered its Final Report to the GNSO Council on 7 December 2015. Here the Council will review the Working Group’s Final Report,
and vote on whether to adopt the consensus recommendations contained in it.
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Item 6: VOTE ON MOTION - Adoption of GNSO Review of the GAC Dublin Communique
Following discussions at the Council level in late 2014 to develop a means for the GNSO to provide input to the ICANN Board
regarding gTLD policy matters highlighted in a GAC Communique, a template framework to review each GAC Communique was created by a group of Council volunteers assisted by ICANN staff. The Council agreed that while it would review carefully each GAC Communique
issued at an ICANN meeting, it would not always provide input to the Board unless it also agreed that such feedback was either necessary or desirable, on a case-by-case basis. The first GNSO Review of a GAC Communique was of the GAC’s Communique from ICANN53
in Buenos Aires. That Review document was
sent to the ICANN Board in July 2015 and
acknowledged by the Board in October. At its last meeting, the Council discussed an initial
draft of a possible review document to be sent to the Board in response to the GAC’s
Dublin Communique.
Here the Council will review an updated draft document and vote on whether to adopt it for forwarding to the ICANN Board.
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Item 7: VOTE ON MOTION – Endorsement of GNSO Candidates for the Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer
Choice Review
Under ICANN’s Affirmation
of Commitments (AoC) with the United States government, ICANN
is mandated to review the extent to which the introduction of gTLDs has promoted Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice (CCT Review). The CCT Review Team is expected to also assess the effectiveness of the application and evaluation processes, as
well as the safeguards put in place by ICANN to mitigate issues involved in the introduction or expansion of new gTLDs. A
Call for Volunteers to the CCT Review Team closed on 13 November 2015, and twenty-six (26) applicants indicated that they wished to be endorsed as representatives of the GNSO to the Review Team. ICANN staff has since followed up with all these applicants
for further information to assist the Council in its decision on endorsements (see
https://community.icann.org/x/FoRlAw). Here the Council will discuss and determine which of the applicants to endorse for the CCT Review Team.
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Item 8: DISCUSSION OF COUNCIL ACTION – Cross-Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability
In the course of discussions over the IANA stewardship transition, the community had raised concerns about ICANN's
accountability, given ICANN’s historical contractual relationship with the United States government. The community discussions indicated that existing ICANN accountability mechanisms do not yet meet some stakeholders’ expectations. As that the U.S. government
(through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)) has stressed
that it expects community consensus on the transition, this gap between the current situation and stakeholder expectations needed to be addressed. This resulted in the creation
of a Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability)
of which the GNSO is a chartering organization.
In May 2015, the CCWG-Accountability
published an
initial proposal regarding its work on Work Stream 1 (meant to align with the timing of the IANA stewardship transition) for public comment. In August 2015, the CCWG-Accountability
published its Second Draft Proposal
for public comment. This second proposal included significant changes to the initial document, arising from feedback received in the first public comment period. Following
community input, including from the ICANN Board, and discussions at several sessions during ICANN54, the CCWG-Accountability has made further adjustments to its draft recommendations, resulting in its Third Draft Proposal that was
published for public comment on 30 November 2015.
Following ICANN54, the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) – the community group formed to consolidate
the various proposals relating to the IANA stewardship transition submitted by the Internet communities affected by the issue –
announced that it had completed its task.
However, before the ICG can send the consolidated proposal to the NTIA via the ICANN Board, it will first have to confirm with the Cross Community Working Group to Develop an IANA Stewardship
Transition Proposal on Naming Related Functions (CWG-Stewardship) that its accountability requirements have
been met by the Work Stream 1 recommendations from the CCWG-Accountability. Public comments on these latest recommendations closes on 21 December 2015, with all the Chartering Organizations expected to consider whether to adopt them in time for the CCWG-Accountability
to send its final report on Work Stream 1 to the ICANN Board by late January 2016.
Here the Council will discuss its review and adoption of the CCWG-Accountability recommendations, including the timeline and
consideration of any input from its Stakeholder Groups and Constituencies.
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Item 9: DISCUSSION OF COUNCIL ACTION – New gTLD Auction Proceeds
On 8 September 2015 ICANN published for
public comment a Discussion Paper concerning possible next steps in the community process regarding proceeds obtained from ICANN-conducted auctions for contested strings in the New gTLD Program. The Discussion Paper summarized the community discussions
that had occurred to date, including discussions started by the GNSO Council and conducted at ICANN52. An updated [INSERT LINK] Discussion Paper was submitted to the GNSO Council on 7 December 2015, noting that there seems to be general community support for
a Cross-Community Working Group to be formed on the topic and proposing that the next step be confirming the interest of
each ICANN Supporting Organization and Advisory Committee (SO/AC) in participating in this effort. Interested SO/ACs would then be requested to nominate up to 2 volunteers for the
Drafting Team to be formed, to develop a charter for adoption by all the potential Chartering Organizations.
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