Dear Councilors, Below, please see a note of clarification from Karen Lentz, VP, Policy Research & Stakeholder Programs, regarding Sebastien’s EPDP Phase 1 IRT liaison report. Best, Steve From: Karen Lentz <karen.lentz@icann.org> Date: Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 4:35 PM To: Steve Chan <steve.chan@icann.org> Subject: Clarification re: ICANN org and EPDP Ph 1 IRT discussions Dear Steve, Could you please forward the below to the GNSO Council on my behalf? Thank you Karen = Dear Councilors,
From an ICANN org perspective, we have been following the interactions between the GNSO Council, Board, and Implementation Review Team (IRT) concerning the implementation of EPDP Phase 1 Recommendation 7. Sebastien’s report is an excellent summary of the discussions, questions, and points of divergence.
I wanted to offer one clarification with regard to ICANN org’s position and role in the discussion. As you know, the Board directs ICANN org to implement policy recommendations once accepted. The IRT is convened to assist ICANN org in developing the implementation details for the policy to ensure that the implementation conforms to the intent of the policy recommendations. While the report states that ICANN org’s views align in this context with those expressed by the IPC and BC, it is important to note that ICANN org itself does not adopt positions on policy recommendations. Rather, the org takes its direction from the Board. Accordingly, ICANN org’s discussions on language during the policy drafting with the IRT reflect the instructions given by the Board as it adopted the policy recommendations. We remain available to provide any additional information or support as requested by the Council as it discusses this issue. Best regards, Karen Lentz - Karen Lentz VP, Policy Research & Stakeholder Programs ICANN