Dear GNSO community leaders, Advisory Committee leaders, and interested parties: As you are aware, the ICANN Board has directed the GNSO Council to work with ICANN Staff on an implementation plan, for subsequent Board approval, that creates a transition to a new bicameral voting structure by the beginning of calendar year 2009 see < http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg05417.html>). Given the amount of work that must be accomplished between now and the end of the year, we want to provide the GNSO community (and those interested in joining) with the information and assistance needed to accomplish this transition, and we want to work openly and cooperatively to address all necessary implementation issues. Key deliverables include 1) Stakeholder Group transition plans (including plans for seating new Council members), and 2) Existing constituencies' request for confirmation by the Board (applications for the creation of new constituencies also are encouraged). The GNSO Implementation Planning Team met yesterday to discuss the timetable for complying with the Board's directives. ICANN Staff also has been working to identify the most efficient path to completing the transition work in the time allotted. *At this stage, it appears that we should target 2 December 2008 as the date by which the four Council stakeholder groups present their transition plans to the Board*. This will provide the Board with an opportunity to review and act on the plans by the end of the year. The attached document compiled by Staff summarizes the critical stakeholder group principles found in the the BGC-WG's GNSO Improvements Report adopted by the Board (see <http://www.icann.org/en/topics/gnso-improvements/>). These should help guide your work. Please let me know if additional Staff assistance is needed to support your efforts, including identifying entities interested in participating in the development of stakeholder groups. As we move forward it would be helpful to have, for coordination purposes, the names of individuals directly involved in developing stakeholder group plans. Please email names and contact information to policy-staff@icann.org . Some constituency representatives have expressed concerns about the need to act quickly because they have incumbent GNSO Council members whose terms expire during the Cairo ICANN meeting. We are open to discussing how the timing of the January deadline may affect constituencies' nomination and election processes. It has been suggested that constituencies should have the option to extend the terms of their existing representatives, if needed, until January 2009. Staff is exploring the feasibility of such an extension and will provide additional information within the next few days. The BGC-WG's Report adopted by the Board acknowledged that, as the GNSO evolves, its constituencies should have flexibility in managing themselves provided they adhere to certain fundamental principles of representativeness, openness, transparency and fairness. The Board requested that existing constituencies confirm their status during the transition period taking this opportunity to demonstrate compliance with those principles. The Board also adopted another provision during its deliberations and will be asking constituencies to formally confirm their status every 3 years to ensure that they continue to meet the requirements of Article X, Section 5, subsection 3 of the ICANN Bylaws. This will be an opportunity for existing constituencies to demonstrate compliance with the principles set forth in the ICANN Bylaws and addressed by the BGC-WG. The Board also encouraged new constituencies to submit requests for certification, especially during this transition period. Again, Staff stands ready to assist with constituency "confirmation" and new constituency creation. I understand the GNSO Implementation Planning Team will be finalizing its proposed structure for the wider (and more long-term) GNSO Improvements effort and hopes to seek Council approval of a top-level structure in October. Those two efforts are likely to remain on separate tracks, but so many of the GNSO Improvements are interrelated that we envision considerable information sharing and collaboration among teams. We look forward to working with you. Regards, Denise -- Denise Michel ICANN VP, Policy policy-staff@icann.org