Dear all,

Please find below the agenda for the 15 January 2026 GNSO Council meeting at 05:00 UTC. This will be posted on the agenda wiki page shortly.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Terri

Policy Team Supporting the GNSO

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GNSO Council Agenda 15 January 2026

Please note that all documents referenced in the agenda have been gathered on a Wiki page for convenience and easier access: https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AYBPJ

This agenda was established according to the GNSO Operating Procedures v3.5, updated on 15 March 2023.

For convenience:

• An excerpt of the ICANN Bylaws defining the voting thresholds is provided in Appendix 1 at the end of this agenda.
• An excerpt from the Council Operating Procedures defining the absentee voting procedures is provided in Appendix 2 at the end of this agenda.

 GNSO Council meeting on Thursday, 15 January 2026 at 05:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/24b6dkjb

21:00 Los Angeles (Wednesday); 00:00 Washington DC; 05:00 London; 06:00 Paris; 08:00 Moscow; 16:00 Melbourne

GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: https://icann.zoom.us/j/92983839529?pwd=DyyxXAO3IN-_JiujB6dHDRVzkll77e1YNB0.1qvsohuF33Kn2B6_

Councilors should notify the GNSO Secretariat in advance if they will not be able to attend and/or need a dial out call.

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Item 1: Administrative Matters (5 minutes)

1.1 - Roll Call

1.2 - Updates to Statements of Interest

1.3 - Review / Amend Agenda

1.4 - Note the status of minutes for the previous Council meetings per the GNSO Operating Procedures: 

Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 13 November 2025 were posted on 27 November 2025.

Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 11 December 2025 were posted on 05 January 2026.

Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects & Action List (5 minutes)

2.1 - Review focus areas and provide updates on specific key themes / topics, to include review of Projects List and Action Item List. 

Item 3: COUNCIL VOTE - First Policy Development Process (PDP) for DNS Abuse Mitigation Charter (20 minutes) 

During its meeting on 11 December 2025, the GNSO Council passed a motion to initiate two (2) PDPs on DNS Abuse Mitigation. The Council also agreed to form a dedicated Charter Drafting Team to consider the draft charter from the Final Issue Report and propose updates based on the Council’s discussion. 

Relevant updates to the charter were made through consensus of the Charter Drafting Team including:

(i) updates to the Charter Questions; 

(ii) updates to the language on Human Rights considerations;

(iii) adjusting the membership structure from a “Representative + Open Model”  to a "Representative Model";

(iv) adjusting the seat allocation numbers by group for the Representative WG Model; and

(v) adding allocatable seats including Members, Participants and Alternates

Here, the Council will vote on the charter for DNS Abuse Mitigation – PDP 1 on Associated Domain Checks.   

3.1 - Presentation of motion (Jennifer Chung, GNSO Vice-Chair)

3.2 - Council Discussion

3.3 - Council vote (voting threshold: an affirmative vote of more than one-third (1/3) of each House or more than two-thirds (2/3) of one House) 

Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Council Guidance for the Implementation Review Team (IRT) on Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) and International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs) on Curative Rights (25 minutes)

The IGOs and INGOs Curative Rights IRT has recently discussed a question of policy language interpretation and has requested the guidance of the Council. 

Specifically, Recommendations 3 and 4 of the Final Report on IGOs and INGOs on Curative Rights state that the new arbitral proceeding may be initiated by the registrant within 10 days after a final UDRP decision or URS Appeal Determination, or within 10 days following a court’s refusal to hear the merits of a related case due to IGO immunity.  This timeline mirrors the timelines for traditional UDRP and URS proceedings.

ICANN org, in its role as the implementer of these policy recommendations, has raised the question as to how the Final Report language should be interpreted insofar as the timing/circumstances under which this new arbitral proceeding may be initiated arise. IRT members have expressed the view that, though the Final Report may be somewhat ambiguous on this question/timing path, the spirit of the recommendations would be best achieved by permitting this new arbitral proceeding to be initiated (by agreement of the parties) at any time after a UDRP or URS proceeding is filed by an IGO.

Here, the Council will vote on proposed guidance to send to the IRT on IGO-INGO Curative Rights. 

4.1 - Presentation of motion (Damon Ashcraft, GNSO Council Liaison to the IRT on IGO-INGO Curative Rights) 

4.2 - Council Discussion

4.3 - Council vote (voting threshold: simple majority)

Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Standing Committee on Continuous Improvement (SCCI) Policy Status Report (PSR) Final Report (15 minutes)

The Policy & Implementation (P&I) Working Group (WG) was established as a result of implementation-related issues concerning the Next Generic Top-Level (gTLD) Program. This WG proposed three new processes, as well as implementation recommendations and principles. In June 2015, the Council adopted the Policy and Implementation Working Group Final Report, followed by ICANN Board approval in September 2015. 

The recommendations resulted in the creation of the following processes:

• the GNSO Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP)
• the GNSO Guidance Process (GGP), and
• the GNSO Input Process (GIP)

The recommendations also resulted in implementation related outputs that are out of scope for this report.

When the Council adopted the Final Report, it committed to reviewing the effectiveness of the new processes no later than five years after their successful implementation. The Policy & Implementation (P&I) Policy Status Report (PSR), prepared by ICANN’s Global Domains and Strategy (GDS) function, serves as the review envisioned by the Council.

The Standing Committee on Continuous Improvement (SCCI), where its objective is to allow for execution of continuous improvement related projects that are focused on the GNSO’s structural, procedural, and process improvements to the Policy Development Process (PDP), was assigned to review the PSR and consider both the analysis conducted and the potential changes suggested. The SCCI systematically reviewed the analysis and proposed three (3) recommendations through its Final Report, which propose courses of action for each of the three processes - EPDP, GGP, and GIP.

5.1 - Introduction of Topic (Manju Chen, Chair of SCCI) 

5.2 - Council Discussion

5.3 - Next Steps

Item 6: Discussion on Upcoming Board-Council Dialogue on SSAD Recommendations (25 minutes)

In June 2023, the GNSO Council tasked a dedicated Standing Committee to review the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS). Specifically, the Council tasked the Standing Committee to analyze the data from the RDRS and consider: 

• Assignment #1. Trends that can be identified over a month-by-month period; 
• Assignment #2. Possible technical updates that should be considered to RDRS and/or related messaging and promotion (recognizing that the RDRS will only be running for a two-year period and limited resources may be available to implement such updates); 
• Assignment #3. Specific lessons learned that should be factored into the consideration of how to proceed with the SSAD recommendations; 
• Assignment #4. Suggestions to the Council for a proposed recommendation(s) to the ICANN Board in relation to the consideration of the SSAD recommendations.

The Standing Committee began reviewing monthly data in January 2024 and distilled its findings into its Findings Report, which was published for public comment on 19 August 2025. Following its consideration of the public comments received, the RDRS Standing Committee delivered its updated Findings Report, which contains six recommendations for the Council’s consideration. The Council voted to accept the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS) Standing Committee Findings Report.

With respect to Assignment #4, “Suggestions to the Council for a proposed recommendation(s) to the ICANN Board in relation to the consideration of the SSAD recommendations”, the Standing Committee produced Recommendation 5, which provides, in part, “the SC recommends that the Board should consider the 18 recommendations together as one package. The SC further recommends that when the GNSO Council and ICANN Board engage in a dialogue, the Council should recommend that the ICANN board reject the SSAD recommendations (as a package) and send them back to the GNSO Council for further action and Supplemental Recommendation.”

Here, the Council, who previously voted to accept the Standing Committee’s report in December, will discuss the Standing Committee’s recommendation and align on a unified message, where possible, in preparation for the upcoming dialogue with the Board.

6.1 - Introduction of Topic (Susan Payne, GNSO Chair) 

6.2 - Council Discussion

6.3 - Next Steps

Item 7: Update of Cross-Community Group on Review of Reviews (20 minutes)

During its meeting on 14 August 2025, the Council voted to approve the charter for a Cross Community Group (CCG) on the Review of Reviews. 

The charter provides that the purpose of the CCG is to manage a fundamental evaluation of the following reviews set out in the ICANN Bylaws, as a whole system, including their implementation, and propose a refreshed system of reviews. The reviews and their past outcomes to be evaluated include: 

• Periodic review of ICANN structure and operations (section 4.4), 
• Annual Review (section 4.5) and 
• Specific Reviews (section 4.6); and 
• Previously conducted Reviews; and 
• Reviews that have previously been formally recommended.

The CCG will not evaluate the Continuous Improvement Program itself, but will take account of its work and will consider how it can best contribute to the broader system of reviews. This evaluation will exclude the following: 

• Review of the Independent Review Process (IRP) (section 4.3) 
• Review of the Reconsideration Request (section 4.2) 
• Review of the Community Mediation (section 4.7) 
• Review of the Empowered Community processes related to the Empowered Community powers as listed in section 6.2 (for example the Rejection Action and Approval Action Processes, and Board Recall and Director Removal Processes)
• Reviews established through the IANA Stewardship Transition: 
  • the Customer Standing Committee Effectiveness Review (section 17.3), and 
  • the IANA Functions Review (section 18) including the Special IANA Function Review (section 18.12).

Here, the GNSO-appointed representatives to the  CCG will provide an update on its progress to date.

7.1 - Introduction of Topic (Sophie Hey and Osvaldo Novoa, GNSO Reps from CCG) 

7.2 - Council Discussion

7.3 - Next Steps

Item 8: Any other business (5 minutes)

8.1 - Update on ICANN85 planning and Draft GNSO Schedule

8.2 - Final SPS Reminder 

8.3 - Latin Diacritics PDP Liaison

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Appendix 1: GNSO Council Voting Thresholds (ICANN Bylaws, Article 11, Section 11.3(i))

See https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article11.

Appendix 2: GNSO Council Absentee Voting Procedures (GNSO Operating Procedures, Section 4.4)

See https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/op-procedures-15mar23-en.pdf

References for Coordinated Universal Time of 05:00 UTC

Local time between November and March in the NORTHERN hemisphere

See https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/ for Dates for Daylight Saving Time and Clock Changes

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California, USA (PST) UTC-8 21:00 (Wednesday)

San José, Costa Rica (CST) UTC-6  23:00 (Wednesday)

New York/Washington DC, USA (EST) UTC-5 00:00

Buenos Aires, Argentina (ART) UTC-3 02:00

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (WAT) UTC+1 06:00

Paris, France (CET) UTC+1  06:00

Moscow, Russia (MSK) UTC+3 08:00

Singapore (SGT) UTC+8  13:00

Melbourne, Australia (AEDT) UTC+11 16:00

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For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com and https://tinyurl.com/24b6dkjb