P.S. I should explain again that the Category 2 issue on RSP was actually raised by a SPIRT member on behalf of the RySG. To the extent that we are authorizing the SPIRT to raise an issue itself, It does not seem to me that the logic of just letting the SPIRT proceed to resolve on its own without conferring with Council still applies. (This comment is limited to Category 2 issues raised by the SPIRT itself or one of its members.)Reminder again that the Charter actually prohibits the SPIRT from raising issues. During Charter drafting, it was assumed the SG or C would raise the issue at the Council level if it was not raised by Board, ICANN, or the Council in some other way. So this mechanism for allowing the SPIRT (or in this case an RySG member of the SPIRT) to raise an issue was not contemplated by the Charter. Again, it may be more efficient to allow the SPIRT to do this, if only because it presumably meets more often than Council, but that does not mean that the SPIRT should be authorized to resolve an issue it has raised on its own (either by consensus or by Leadership team of the SPIRT or by an individual member) without coming back to the Council with the proposed solution. The very notion that the SPIRT can raise an issue itself is a new one and we need to be especially careful with a 7 day non-objection/consent process._______________________________________________On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 6:29 AM Anne ICANN <anneicanngnso@gmail.com> wrote:Thanks Lawrence. Re the third issue, the RSP issue is a Categroy 2 issue - non-minor operational with material impact on applicants - but apparently ICANN has asked that this issue be briefed to the Council. Some members of SPIRT thought they could deal with it alone without talking to us. ICANN Org did not agree - presumably because of the nature of the material impact on RSP Qualification. So how is it that Council can agree with you that a Category 2 issue brought to the Council in this manner does not need to come back to Council for the proposed solution?AnneOn Mon, May 11, 2026 at 1:04 PM Lawrence O. Olawale-Roberts via council <council@icann.org> wrote:_______________________________________________Dear Susan and Anne,
Thank you for your inputs and contribution to the subject matter.
@Susan your submission is spot on and am sure it provides some further clarity. where the Council adopts a 7 day timeframe in providing its consent over referring an issue to SPIRT, on a case-by-case basis I am hopeful the Council can beat this deadline in providing its conscent where needed.
@ Anne i consider your first two proposals friendly and have gone ahead to update the motion before the Council in line with your suggestions - That the time for a consent be extended to 7 days and that Council leadership make the call for an objection.Motion:
On your third request, the SPIRT charter explicitly recommends they come back to council on an issue that revolves around developing new policy (Type 3 Process)- Note that the SPIRT is a team of experts that are deemed to have the required competence to work along ICANN Org. In resolving any Type 2 issue that may arise. Mandating that they revert back to council at every point a decision needs to be made nullifies the intent behind how they are currently chatered, saddles the council with the same task they are to resolve and i believe isn’t the spirt behind the Predictability framework. I would urge that the council aligns with the PF and SPIRT Charther.
Hopefully, this gets us all moving towards a consensus on the issue.
Lawrence.
-----
Lawrence Olawale-Roberts
Global President & Managing Director
Mobile: +234 8070892705, (0)8056 3333 97
Lawrence@microboss.org
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From: Susan Payne via council <council@icann.org>
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2026 5:44:15 PM
To: GNSO council <council@icann.org>
Subject: [council] Re: GNSO Council Motion for SPIRT AlertsThanks to Lawrence for bringing this to Council in his capacity as the liaison to the SPIRT, and to Anne and Farzi for their comments.
I wanted to just make a couple of comments, for the benefit of Councillors, particularly those who perhaps are not so familiar with the detail as yet.
As a reminder, the SPIRT operates under the oversight of Council. Where an issue comes to the attention of the SPIRT which may require a change to the New gTLD Program, the SPIRT cannot consider that issue of its own volition, since the SPIRT cannot refer an issue to itself. Council may refer the issue to the SPIRT, however, and ask the SPIRT to look at it. What we are doing here is trying to set out a process for how that happens, including some timing expectations since such issues may be quite time-sensitive.
Under the SPIRT Charter, the first task of the SPIRT is to determine whether the issue can be resolved in a manner that is consistent with existing policy recommendations. If SPIRT concludes that it cannot (in other words, that a policy change would be needed), then the SPIRT is already required under its Charter to confer with the Council on a path forward. But, with an issue that the SPIRT is aware of (but which has not been referred to it) it cannot even make that assessment because it is not empowered to act. By this process, Council will only be giving the SPIRT permission to evaluate the issue, we are not signing off on a proposed solution.
Nothing in this process supersedes the SPIRT Charter. It is merely a pathway that allows the SPIRT to put something on Council’s radar and get permission from Council to look at it.
I hope that we can work collaboratively to agree a timeline that allows Councillors time to confer with their groups, and allows the SPIRT to be put to work, where appropriate, as quickly as possible in time-sensitive situations. Input from others on what that timing might be – whether 72 hours, 7 days, or other – would be welcome.
Susan Payne
Head of Legal Policy
Com Laude
T +44 (0) 20 7421 8250
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From: Anne ICANN via council <council@icann.org>
Sent: 11 May 2026 15:51
To: Terri Agnew <terri.agnew@icann.org>
Cc: GNSO council <council@icann.org>
Subject: [council] Re: GNSO Council Motion for SPIRT Alerts
Thank you, Terri. For consideration by Lawrence as the maker of the Motion, I would propose a friendly amendment (specifically in relation to the time sensitive issues raised by SPIRT) along the following lines:
- 7 day non-objection period yields consent (rather than 72 hours) and all Councilors are copied (gives some time for Councilors to consult SGs and Cs if needed.)
- Council Leadership has the Objection authority if needed (Councilors provide input to Leadership and lets them call it.)
- SPIRT agrees to make recommendation back to Council before proceeding to resolve the issue
If accepted by Lawrence, I am prepared to second the Motion.
Anne
On Mon, May 11, 2026 at 6:31 AM Terri Agnew via council <council@icann.org> wrote:
Hello all,
This motion has been added on the wiki page: https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/kgA3J
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Terri
Policy Team Supporting the GNSO
From: "Lawrence O. Olawale-Roberts via council" <council@icann.org>
Reply-To: "lawrence@microboss.org" <lawrence@microboss.org>
Date: Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 6:26 AM
To: GNSO council <council@icann.org>
Subject: [council] GNSO Council Motion for SPIRT Alerts
Dear Councilors,
I submit for your approval and secondment a motion for the GNSO Council Consideration of SPIRT Alert Request process at our meeting for the 21st May, 2026.
Motion:
On Council's approval of the Consideration Request for SPIRT Alerts in the motion above, the SPIRT would like to be permitted by the GNSO Council to discuss a matter on RSP Applications brought before the SPIRT by the Registry Stakeholder Group through a member.
Link to SPIRT Issue Submission Form:
The GNSO Council approval sort aligns with the SPIRT charter and adopted process.
Brief of Issue - RSP APPLICATIONS
The Registry Service Provider (RSP) Handbook sets out the evaluation process for providers seeking qualification to offer services to new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applicants in the New gTLD Program and currently mandates prospective RSP's to attest that all Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) extensions they intend to use are registered with IANA in accordance with RFC 7451 and indicate whether they do, or will, refrain from using any EPP extensions that are not registered with IANA pursuant to RFC 7451.
As ICANN agreed to remove the requirement that Registry Operators limit their use to EPP extensions reflected in the IANA registry, the RSP Handbook has not updated to reflect this change and as a result, pre-evaluated RSPs are still required to commit to using only IANA-registered EPP extensions in order to pass evaluation. Thus RSPs must make commitments that their Registry Operators are no longer required to make under the Base Registry Agreement. Accordingly, the RySG requests that SPIRT and ICANN org consider revising the RSP Handbook to align it with the Base Registry Agreement.
-----
Lawrence Olawale-Roberts
Global President & Managing Director
Mobile: +234 8070892705, (0)8056 3333 97
Lawrence@microboss.org
…collaboration to enhance communication.
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