Dear Councilors, To add a bit of additional context to this message, note that amongst several public comment proceedings managed by the IDN Program team, one of the most recent was called Recommendations for Managing IDN Variant Top-Level Domains (here: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/managing-idn-variant-tlds-2018-07-25-e...), which is a proposed framework for implementing IDN Variant TLDs. While the Root Zone Label Generation Rules (RZ-LGR) are responsible for deriving IDN Variants, this proposed framework could be the mechanism by which those IDN Variants are then allocated to registries, second-level domains are treated underneath the IDN variants, and other rules. I am far from an expert on this subject, but my understanding is that if the GNSO agrees with this proposed framework (and ideally the ccNSO as well, so the implementation is harmonized), there may not be additional work needed from the GNSO, beyond perhaps work done in the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP WG, which has discussed the topic (with Council’s very own Rubens Kuhl at the helm), but not in regards to IDNs from the 2012 round of the program. However, if there are substantive disagreements with the proposed framework, the GNSO may want to engage further on this topic. Again, Sarmad and Pitinan are the experts, so please let them know if you have questions. Best, Steve From: council <council-bounces@gnso.icann.org> on behalf of Steve Chan <steve.chan@icann.org> Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2018 at 8:16 AM To: "council@gnso.icann.org" <council@gnso.icann.org> Cc: Sarmad Hussain <sarmad.hussain@icann.org>, Pitinan Kooarmornpatana <pitinan.koo@icann.org> Subject: [council] IDN Program Update to GNSO at ICANN63 Dear Councilors, You may have seen in Nathalie’s email on 15 October, about the GNSO Working sessions, that one of the agenda items is IDN Variants. In preparation for that that session, Sarmad Hussain and Pitinan Kooarmornpatana (who manage the IDN Program here at ICANN) have prepared the attached materials, which includes 1) a brief summary update on the IDN program and 2) the full set of slides that Sarmad will strategically pick and choose from to try and ensure that the update fits into the allotted time. As there will not be sufficient time to go over the complete set of slides, you may want to review ahead of time and to the extent you have any questions leading up to the session, please feel free to reach out to Sarmad and Pitinan, both copied on this message. Thank you and see you all soon. Best, Steve Steven Chan Policy Director, GNSO Support ICANN 12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300 Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536 Mobile: +1.310.339.4410 Office Telephone: +1.310.301.5800 Office Fax: +1.310.823.8649 Find out more about the GNSO by taking our interactive courses and visiting the GNSO Newcomer pages. Follow @GNSO on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ICANN_GNSO Follow the GNSO on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/icanngnso/ http://gnso.icann.org/en/