Dear Councilors,

I have an update on the development of the draft redlines for the ICANN Board’s non-adoption of previously adopted GNSO policy recommendations. Having neither seen nor heard any objections, staff has developed proposed redlines to the relevant procedural manuals.

• PDP Manual: A new section 16 has been added (and FYI, there was a numbering issue where 13 was repeated) - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WxnQEsswTbeLuT-D_iZzD8N9BXGIgiGkYiaADsxHUug/edit?tab=t.0
• EPDP Manual: No edits appear necessary as the relevant sections for the EPDP rely upon the PDP Manual.
• GGP Manual: Here, a new section 10 has been added, which is very, very similar to the proposed edits to the PDP Manual -  https://docs.google.com/document/d/159UvOrKfigdEvWCB9f4cmHNo8cVVlOMCE2LTTREXr5E/edit?tab=t.0

Staff would like to propose that Councilors review these redlines with their respective groups and provide comments or concerns on Council list. In the likely event that a special meeting will need to be scheduled for the SubPro Reserved Names issue, perhaps this topic can be added for a brief discussion as well; the scheduling of that meeting can help dictate the deadline for feedback on the updated manuals. These next steps are proposed with an eye towards putting the Council in a position where it’s able to discuss the proposed redlines with the Board at ICANN84.

Best,

Steve

From: Steve Chan via council <council@icann.org>
Reply-To: Steve Chan <steve.chan@icann.org>
Date: Tuesday, August 19, 2025 at 3:52 PM
To: "council@icann.org" <council@icann.org>
Subject: [council] Draft Proposal: Board Reversal of its Adoption of a GNSO PDP Recommendation

Dear Councilors,

You will likely recall that during the Council’s last Strategic Planning Session (SPS), the Council came to general agreement on the approach for the ICANN Board to reverse its adoption of a GNSO recommendation. The action item from the SPS was to identify the proper place to document that generally agreed upon process. Your GNSO support staff has coordinated with ICANN legal to determine the most appropriate location to capture the process and in short, the recommendation is to update the EPDP, PDP, and GGP Manuals.

In the attached document, you will see a briefing document that contains about 2.5 pages of text that explains the thought process and rationale for the approach; if you’re able to recall the conversation at the SPS, this text should feel very familiar. What has been included on page 3 is a very brief analysis on which documentation is most appropriate for capturing the process, which specific section could be updated, and the nature of the changes.

Proposed next steps:

• Council to review the attached document and in particular, consider the suggestion of where to document the process, and provide any questions or concerns by 27 August.
• If there are no substantive concerns on how to capture the process, staff to develop proposed redlines to the EPDP, PDP, and GGP Manuals, in time for discussion by the Council during the September meeting.
• Again, if no substantive concerns, the ICANN Board and GNSO Council can discuss the proposed redlines during their bilateral at ICANN84.
• Once there is a set of mutually agreed upon (i.e., Board and Council) redlines, the amended GNSO Operating Procedures would be put out for public comment, as is required for such changes.

The proposed next steps assume that there are no major concerns that need to be addressed along the way; if that turns out to not be the case, then intervening discussion can and would of course take place, pushing out timelines as needed.

If you have any questions or concerns, about either the attached documentation or the proposed next steps, please do let us know.

Best,

Steve

Steven Chan


VP, Policy Development Support & GNSO Relations

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 

12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300

Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536


Email: steve.chan@icann.org

Skype: steve.chan55

Mobile: +1.310.339.4410

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