Dear all,

Please find below the agenda for the 12 February 2026 GNSO Council meeting at 21:00 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 12 February 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/AQBQJ. 

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, 12 February 2026 at 21:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/4fwnj9jd

13:00 Los Angeles; 16:00 Washington DC; 21:00 London; 22:00 Paris; 00:00 Moscow (Friday); 20:00 Melbourne (Friday)

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 11 December 2025 were posted on 05 January 2026.

Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 15 January 2026 were posted on 31 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: Consent Agenda (5 minutes) 

• Confirm the GNSO-nominated ICANN Fellowship Program Mentor 
  • Insert name when available 

Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - 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 came to the conclusion that the mechanisms were generally working as intended. As a result, the SCCI proposed just three (3) recommendations through its Final Report, which propose courses of action for each of the three processes - EPDP, GGP, and GIP - primarily focused on enhanced clarity. The SCCI presented these recommendations during the Council’s meeting in January 2026.

Here, the Council will vote on the SCCI’s recommendations.

4.1 - Presentation of Motion (Taiwo Peter Akinremi, GNSO Council Vice-Chair) 

4.2 - Council Vote

4.3 - Next Steps

Item 5: Council Discussion - Next Steps for System for Standardized Access/Disclosure (“SSAD”) Recommendations (35 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.” 

The Council discussed this approach during its January meeting and during its Strategic Planning Session and agreed to the Standing Committee’s recommendation, i.e., Supplemental Recommendations. 

Here, the Council will have the opportunity to discuss this agreed approach with members of the ICANN Board.

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

5.2 - Council Discussion

5.3 - Next Steps

Item 6: Council Discussion - ICANN85 GAC and GNSO Bilateral Proposed Agenda (20 minutes)

In advance of ICANN meetings, the GNSO liaison to the GAC and the GAC point of contact discuss and propose an agenda for the bilateral meeting at the ICANN meeting. The proposed agenda was circulated to the Council in advance of the February meeting.

The Council has suggested that improved coordination in advance of the bilateral meeting will ensure that the messaging, goals, and objectives are better aligned in advance of the meeting, helping to avoid surprises for Councilors, while also improving the likelihood of positive outcomes from the bilateral meeting.

Here, the Council will review and prepare for the proposed agenda topics for the GNSO/GAC bilateral meeting for ICANN85. 

6.1 - Introduction of Topic (Sebastien Ducos, GNSO Liaison to the GAC) 

6.2 - Council Discussion

6.3 - Next Steps

Item 7: Council Discussion - Prioritization of Work (25 minutes) 

During the GNSO Council’s second Working Session at ICANN82, the Council discussed its immediate and longer term pipeline of work, including work that the Council has previously committed to, e.g. Latin Diacritics, RPMs Phase 2, and a list of potential topics the GNSO Council could consider for future PDPs.

At the time, the Council suggested that “level of effort” be integrated into the prioritization document, to help provide important context for the prioritization exercise. An updated prioritization document was shared with Council on 05 September 2025. Following the Council’s September meeting, Councilors were asked to share the updated prioritization document with their respective groups for further feedback and guidance.

The Council further discussed this topic during its recent Strategic Planning Session. During that session, the Council agreed that its current priorities include Latin Diacritics, DNS abuse, and next steps for SSAD recommendations. Councilors also noted the current Action Decision Radar is an appropriate tool to assist in objectively assessing future decisions, provided there are built-in flexibility principles as new issues emerge. However, the Council also agreed that the ADR could coexist with a Council prioritization framework, as they serve different functions and accomplish separate things. The Council requested GNSO Support Staff to update the prioritization documents based on this discussion. 

Here, the Council will have a chance to discuss and provide feedback on the updated documentation.  

7.1 - Introduction of Topic (Jennifer Chung, GNSO Council Vice-Chair)) 

7.2 - Council Discussion

7.3 - Next Steps

Item 8: Any other business (10 minutes)

8.1 - Update on ICANN85 planning and Draft GNSO Schedule

• GNSO Prep Week Webinar - 19 February 2025 at 13:00UTC 

8.2 - ccNSO & GAC Liaison update 

8.3 - Deadline Reminders 

• Latin Script Diacritics PDP Public Comment closes on 23 February

 _______________________________

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 21:00 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 13:00  

San José, Costa Rica (CST) UTC-6  15:00  

New York/Washington DC, USA (EST) UTC-5 16:00

Buenos Aires, Argentina (ART) UTC-3 18:00

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (WAT) UTC+1 22:00

Paris, France (CET) UTC+1  22:00

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

Singapore (SGT) UTC+8  05:00 (Friday)

Melbourne, Australia (AEDT) UTC+11 08:00 (Friday)

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For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com and https://tinyurl.com/4fwnj9jd