Dear All, The following resolutions were adopted at the GNSO Council Public meeting in Singapore on 26 March 2014. 1. The Charter for a Cross Community Working Group to Develop a Finalized Framework of Operating Principles for Future Cross Community Working Groups was approved. WHEREAS 1. In March 2012 the GNSO Council approved<http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#201203> a set of initial draft principles<http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/draft-principles-for-cwgs-23dec11-en.pdf> relating to the formation and operation of cross community working groups (CWGs) and directed<http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#201203> ICANN staff to solicit feedback on the principles from the other ICANN Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees (SO/ACs); 2. In June 2013 the ccNSO provided detailed feedback<https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/30345130/ccNSO%20Feedback.d...> suggesting further clarifications and possible additions to the initial draft principles; 3. In October 2013 the GNSO Council approved<http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#201310> the formation of a Drafting Team to develop a Charter for a new CWG to take forward and synthesize the initial work of the GNSO and the ccNSO feedback, and develop a final framework of operating principles that can function effectively across all SO/ACs relating to the formation, operation, decision making and termination of future CWGs (the "Final Framework"); 4. The Drafting Team, co-chaired by the ccNSO and GNSO, has now completed its work on a proposed draft Charter for this new CWG. RESOLVED, 1. The GNSO Council approves the Charter and appoints Avri Doria as the GNSO Council liaison to the CWG that will develop the Final Framework. 2. The GNSO will collaborate with the other SOs and ACs to issue a call for volunteers for the CWG, each in accordance with its own rules. 3. Until the CWG selects its co-chairs for the WG, the Co-Chairs of the Drafting Team shall serve as the interim co-chairs of the CWG. 2. A charter for a Cross-Community Working Group to develop a framework for the use of Country and Territory names as TLDs (UCTN WG was adopted Whereas, 1. The ccNSO Study group on the use of Names for Country and Territory published its Final Report in September 2013 (http://ccnso.icann.org/node/42227 ). The first of the two recommendations of the Study Group to the ccNSO Council was to establish a cross community working group to: * Further review the current status of representations of country and territory names, as they exist under current ICANN policies, guidelines and procedures; * Provide advice regarding the feasibility of developing a consistent and uniform definitional framework that could be applicable across the respective SOs and ACs; and * Should such a framework be deemed feasible, provide detailed advice as to the content of the framework. 2. The ccNSO Council adopted the recommendations and, as the objective of the proposed Working Group is considered to be of common interest to the broader community, the GNSO, in addition to other Supporting Organisations (SOs), Advisory Committees (ACs) and others, was invited to participate in the working group on equal footing. 3. The ccNSO submitted a proposed charter [include link] for this Cross-Community Working Group, which the GNSO Council has reviewed and discussed. RESOLVED, 1. The GNSO Council approves the Charter http://gnso.icann.org/en/drafts/unct-framework-14mar14-en.pdf ­­­­­­­­­­and appoints Gabriela Szlak and Brian Winterfeldt as the GNSO Council liaison to the Cross-Community Working Group to advice on the feasibility of a framework for the use of Country and Territory names as TLDs, and develop such a framework if deemed feasible. 2.The GNSO will collaborate with the other SOs and ACs to issue a call for volunteers for this CWG, each in accordance with its own rules 3.The Charter of the GAC-GNSO Consultation Group on GAC Early Engagement in GNSO Policy Development Process was adopted WHEREAS 1. There is wide agreement on the need to engage the GAC early within the GNSO policy development process; 2. This issue has been identified by: * GAC-Board Joint Working Group (JWG) * Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT1) * Board-GAC Recommendation Implementation Working Group (BGRI-WG) * Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT2); 3. The GNSO Council and the GAC jointly formed a Consultation Group to begin work on this topic in November 2013; 4. The Consultation Group, co-chaired by the GAC and GNSO, has now completed its work on a proposed draft Charter for this new Consultation Group (see http://gnso.icann.org/en/drafts/gac-charter-19mar14-en.pdf).<https://community.icann.org/x/PyLRAg> RESOLVED, 1. The GNSO Council approves the Charter (see http://gnso.icann.org/en/drafts/gac-charter-19mar14-en.pdf) and appoints Mikey O'Connor as the GNSO Council liaison to the Consultation Group. 4. Motion to Close the Joint IDN Working Group and Next Steps for Certain IDN-related Issues WHEREAS 1. The Joint IDN Working Group (JIG) was chartered<https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/16843360/jiwg-charter.pdf?v...> by the ccNSO and GNSO Councils in 2009 to discuss issues of common interest between the two Supporting Organizations in relation to Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), in particular, IDN top-level domains (TLDs). The charter was extended in 2010, after the adoption of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Implementation Plan. ; 2. The JIG identified three issues of common interest, viz. single character IDN TLDs, IDN Variant TLDs, and Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs; 3. On single character IDN TLDs, the JIG's Final Report<https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/16843360/jig-initial-report...> recommending that these be delegated in the New gTLD Program and the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Program was approved by the ccNSO and GNSO Councils, and sent to the ICANN Board in May 2011; the JIG prepared a follow-up letter for the ccNSO and GNSO Councils, which after adoption was jointly sent<http://ccnso.icann.org/node/29943> to the ICANN Board in February 2012; 4. On IDN Variant TLDs, the JIG published an Initial Report<https://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/jig-idn-tld-variant-policies-initial-r...> in March 2011, and ICANN has launched an IDN Variant TLD Program to develop solutions to ensure a secure and stable delegation of IDN Variant TLDs; 5. On Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs, the JIG published its Final Report<http://buenosaires48.icann.org/en/schedule/mon-jig/presentation-jig-final-id...> in November 2013, and ICANN will be launching a project to facilitate universal acceptance of all TLDs at the ICANN meeting in Singapore; 6. In November 2013, recognizing that further work needed to be done in relation to IDNs, in particular IDN variants and universal acceptance of IDNs, the ccNSO and GNSO Councils requested that the JIG put forward suggestions on how to deal with these issues and deliver these suggestions to the Councils by the ICANN Singapore Meetings in March 2014. 7. Members of the JIG support the ICANN staff recommendations that the ccNSO and GNSO Councils should each continue to monitor ICANN's community efforts to resolve issues relating to single character IDN TLDs, IDN Variant TLDs and Universal Acceptance of All TLDs (including IDN TLDs). RESOLVED, 1. The GNSO Council believes that in view of the ongoing community work at ICANN on these issues the JIG may now be closed, and will terminate the extension of the JIG as outlined in the charter. 2. The GNSO Council will continue to monitor the progress of the various community-based efforts to resolve the issues raised by the JIG, and will evaluate the need for any further policy work on a periodic basis; and 3. The GNSO Council thanks the JIG for all its hard work in ensuring that solutions to these important issues are developed through community-based efforts; 5.GNSO Operating Procedures to Address Resubmission of a Motion and Working Group Self Assessment WHEREAS: 1. The GNSO Council has determined that: a. the current GNSO Operating Procedures do not contain a specific provision on the possibility of resubmitting a motion for voting by the GNSO Council; and b. the current GNSO Working Group Guidelines, which form Annex I of the GNSO Operating Procedures, do not contain a mechanism for Working Groups (WGs) to self-assess their work. 2. The GNSO Council requested that the Standing Committee on Improvements Implementation (SCI) should consider whether there should be a modification to the GNSO Council Operating Procedures to address the issue of the resubmission of a motion and to develop a survey that WGs could use to perform a self-assessment once their work is complete. 3. Accordingly, the SCI developed procedures to be inserted in Section 4.3 (Motions and Votes) of the GNSO Operating Procedures that provide for the resubmission of a motion to the GNSO Council for consideration at a subsequent meeting of the Council, if three criteria are met: a. providing of an explanation for the resubmission; b. timely publication of the resubmitted motion; and c. seconding of the resubmitted motion by a Councilor from each of the two GNSO Houses. The proposed new procedures also include limitations and exceptions for the resubmission of a motion concerning the timing of its submission, disallowing any material changes to the original motion, and clarifying that a previously-submitted motion not voted upon by the GNSO Council is considered a new motion (and not resubmitted) if it is brought before the GNSO Council again. 4. In addition, the SCI developed and tested a WG self-assessment questionnaire, as a result of which the SCI is recommending that procedures for administering the self-assessment be added as a new Section 7.0 to the GNSO Working Group Guidelines, which form Annex I of the GNSO Operating Procedures. 5. The revised GNSO Operating Procedures, including the proposed additions to the Working Group Guidelines, were put out for public comment for a period of a minimum of 21 days beginning on 10 February 2014 and ending on 03 March 2014 (see http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/gnso-op-procedures-10feb14-en.ht...), as required by the ICANN Bylaws. 6. As there were no comments received in the public forum the SCI deemed that no further changes were necessary nor was a public comment reply period needed. RESOLVED 1. The GNSO Council adopts the revised Operating Procedures including the new provisions concerning the resubmission of a motion and a Working Group self-assessment - see http://gnso.icann.org/en/drafts/op-procedures-12mar14-en.pdf 1. The GNSO Council instructs ICANN staff to post the new version of the GNSO Operating Procedures, effective immediately upon adoption. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you. Kind regards, Glen Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org<mailto:gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> http://gnso.icann.org<http://gnso.icann.org/>