http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-28may10-en.htm ________________________________ Public Comment: Initial Report on Proposals for Improvements to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement 28 May 2010 The Joint GNSO/ALAC RAA Drafting Team is seeking comments on its Initial Report on Improvements to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA)<http://gnso.icann.org/issues/raa/report-raa-improvements-proposal-28may10-en.pdf> [PDF, 3.24 MB]. This Initial Report describes the recommendations from the Joint GNSO-ALAC RAA Drafting Team for producing a Registrant Rights and Responsibilities Charter, and for identifying topics for possible additional future amendments to the RAA. The public comment<http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201007-en.htm#raa-improvements2010> period ends on 9 July 2010. Background: In March 2007, Dr. Paul Twomey called for a comprehensive review of the RAA and the accreditation process. The results of that review ultimately produced a new form of RAA (2009 RAA) which was approved by the GNSO Council and the At-Large Advisory Committee, and adopted by the ICANN Board on 21 May 2009. In approving the 2009 RAA, the GNSO Council conditioned its recommendation on the beginning of work on further RAA amendments. The GNSO Council formed a joint drafting team with members of the At-Large Community (known as the RAA Drafting Team) to conduct further work related to proposals for improvements to the RAA. Various stakeholders submitted proposals for amendment topics that were carefully evaluated by the RAA Drafting Team, including, representatives of the law enforcement community, the Intellectual Property Constituency, and ICANN Staff. The Initial Report to the GNSO Council describes the recommendations on (i) the proposed form of a Registrant Rights and Responsibilities Charter, and (ii) potential topics for additional amendments to the RAA, as well as a proposal for next steps for the GNSO Council to consider in determining whether to recommend a new form RAA to be adopted by the ICANN Board. This public comment forum is an opportunity to comment on any of the proposals for improvements to the RAA described in the Initial Report. The Initial Report will be posted for a public comment period that closes on 9 July 2010. Comments can be sent to raa-improvements2010@icann.org<mailto:raa-improvements2010@icann.org> and reviewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/raa-improvements2010/. The community will have additional opportunity to discuss certain proposals from the law enforcement community for amending the Registrar Accreditation Agreement in an open forum discussion at the Brussels Meeting. For additional information: * To review the current versions of the RAA, please see: http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/agreements.html * To understand the process followed in developing the 2009 RAA, please review: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/raa/ * To review the GNSO resolution related to the RAA, please see: http://gnso.icann.org/resolutions/#200903 * To learn more about the RAA, please refer to the Non-Lawyers Guide to the RAA, posted at: http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/non-lawyers-guide-to-ra-agreement-15feb10... Staff responsible: Margie Milam