For your information.

 

 

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15 February 2018

 

 

Greetings,

 

The ICANN Global Domains Division (GDD) Services & Engagement team has provided highlights of our recent and more notable community-impacting activities and projects below. We hope this information provides you with additional insight and transparency into our ongoing activities and look forward to your feedback.

 

 

New & Noteworthy

 

ICANN61: The full schedule of ICANN61 sessions will be available 19 February 2018. If you are coming to Puerto Rico and want to schedule an in-person meeting with your GDD engagement manager and other relevant members of the ICANN organization, please send your request to globalsupport@icann.org by Friday, 2 March 2018 with the following information:

 

 

We will do our best to accommodate all requests and ensure that the relevant ICANN org members join the meeting. If you are not attending ICANN61, your GDD engagement manager remains available to answer questions and assist with your inquiries.

 

Data Protection/Privacy Activities

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted by the European Union (EU) on 14 April 2016 and takes effect on 25 May 2018 uniformly across the EU countries. The ICANN org is engaged with contracted parties, data protection authorities (DPAs) and other stakeholders to understand the potential impacts of the GDPR. We are working to identify a single interim model to ensure compliance with both the GDPR and ICANN’s contractual requirements related to registration directory services while preserving and maintaining access to WHOIS data to the greatest extent possible. This work to address the contractual compliance implications because of the new law does not replace existing policy development work, including that of the Policy Development Process on the Next Generation gTLD Registration Directory Services to Replace WHOIS. More information is available here.

 

Contractual Compliance Reports

The 2017 Contractual Compliance Quarter Four Report and 2017 Contractual Compliance Annual Reports have been published along with the ICANN Contractual Compliance Performance Reports. The Compliance team will be attending ICANN61 and available to answer questions and provide updates for contracted parties. To schedule one-on-one sessions with the team, please send an email to compliance@icann.org.

 

GDD Industry Summit 14-17 May 2018 and Registration Operations Workshop 18 May 2018

Join the GDD team, ICANN-accredited registrars and gTLD registries for a three-day summit in Vancouver, Canada. Information on registration, hotel discounts, topic proposals, and sponsorship information is located on the GDD Industry Summit page. To suggest a topic for the agenda, please contact globalsupport@icann.org by 23 February 2018. The Registration Operations Workshop (ROW) is scheduled to take place on 18 May 2018 at the same venue. Learn more and register for this additional event here.

 

Contracted Parties Satisfaction Survey

GDD will partner again this year with MITA Group to conduct the second annual Contracted Parties Satisfaction Survey. Your feedback is critical to ensuring our activities are aligned with the needs of our contracted parties. Look for additional details on the survey in the coming months. You can see the results of the 2017 survey here.

 

Universal Acceptance (UA)

The Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG) is progressing with its efforts to help software developers and website owners understand how to update their systems to keep pace with an evolving domain name system. During the UASG ICANN61 public session, the group will focus on UA-readiness in the Internet infrastructure industry.

 

Internationalized Domain Names (IDN)

The IDN Implementation Guidelines apply to the top-level domains (TLDs) offering the IDNs at the second level. The Guidelines are currently being updated by a community-based working group. The draft version of the Guidelines was released for the second public comment. After the IDN Guidelines are updated and approved by the ICANN Board, these Guidelines will become contractually binding for the relevant gTLD registries and registrars. 

 

Following the Root Zone Label Generation Rules (RZ-LGR) Procedure, which was endorsed by the ICANN Board in April 2013, the ICANN community has been developing the RZ-LGR. To date Arabic, Armenian, Cyrillic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Khmer, Korean, Lao and Thai script panels have completed their RZ-LGR proposals. Many of the remaining script communities are now in the process of finalizing their work. With the availability of the RZ-LGR, ICANN org has recently invited nominations for technical IDN experts to form a study group to recommend how to apply the RZ-LGR to IDN TLDs in a harmonized way.

 

 

Policy Implementation Updates

 

Protection of IGO and INGO Identifiers for All gTLDs

On 16 January 2018, ICANN published the Implementation of the Consensus Policy for Protection of Certain Specific IGO and INGO Identifiers for all gTLDs. Contracted parties have until 1 August 2018 to complete implementation of the new requirements for specific names of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement (RCRC). For international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), the implementation period will be 12 months from the release of the INGO Claims Systems Specification, which is currently under development by ICANN. The announcement can be found here.

 

Privacy and Proxy Accreditation Program

The Privacy and Proxy Service Provider Accreditation Program Implementation Review Team (IRT) is reviewing the draft Accreditation Agreement and related program materials to prepare for public comment. Upon close of the public comment period, the IRT will review the community input and take the necessary steps to complete and publish the program requirements. The ICANN61 agenda will include an IRT session. An announcement of the final program requirements is targeted for the second half of 2018.

 

 

Registrars

 

Naming Services portal for Registrars

The GDD team will provide an overview of the portal roadmap and a demonstration of the initial registrar version of the Naming Services portal during ICANN61. Every ICANN-accredited registrar is planned to receive access to the portal following the conference.

 

Registrar Content Library

The new Registrar Content Library makes it easier for registrars to locate relevant information on www.icann.org and supports the Information Transparency Initiative (ITI), which the ICANN Board approved in late 2017. Bookmark the new page at https://www.icann.org/registrar-library.

 

Registrar Application Process Revision

The ICANN org no longer requires a hard copy for new registrar accreditation applications. Soft-copy application materials may be submitted via email to accredit@icann.org.

 

Across Field Address Validation (AFAV)

The ICANN org received and published nine completed responses to its Request for Information regarding commercial services that focus on global address validation. The GDD staff and the Registrar Working Group are currently reviewing the submissions and working on formal criteria for service acceptance. For more details, visit the Wiki page. If you are interested in joining the Registrar Working Group, please contact jennifer.gore@icann.org.

 

Registrar Data Escrow Agents Automated Reporting

The ICANN org anticipates that registrar data escrow agents will have the option to test automated reporting starting in Q2 of 2018. The ICANN org previously presented information on this topic during ICANN60 and shared the functionality with gtld-tech@icann.org group. If you have any questions, please email globalsupport@icann.org.

 

 

gTLD Registries

 

Registry Agreement Amendment Templates

As a part of the ICANN org’s commitment to improving the Registry Service Evaluation Policy (RSEP) process, we have published Registry Agreement Amendment templates to provide registry operators with visibility into standard contractual language and predictability for commonly requested registry services.

 

Public Comment on the Draft Procedure for Community gTLD Change Requests  

The ICANN org is seeking comments on a draft procedure for ICANN to consider changes to Specification 12 of Community gTLD Registry Agreements. The draft procedure is the result of collaboration between the Community gTLD Change Request Process Working Group (a subset of the gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group), the gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group, and the ICANN org. Following guidance provided on this topic by the GNSO Council, the ICANN org and the Working Group will consider comments received and submit the summary and analysis of comments to the Council to ensure it does not raise policy issues before moving toward implementation of a procedure.

 

Best Regards,

 

Cyrus Namazi

Vice President, Domain Name Services & Industry Engagement

Global Domains Division