-----Original Message----- From: Bruce Tonkin Sent: Thursday, 22 December 2005 4:32 PM Subject: Consensus policy recommendation on WHOIS service To: Chair, ICANN Board From: Chair, GNSO Council Hello Vint, At the GNSO Council meeting in Vancouver on 28 November 2005, the GNSO Council approved the following consensus policy recommendation relating to the WHOIS service provided by gtld registries and gtld registrars by super-majority vote. "In order to facilitate reconciliation of any conflicts between local/national mandatory privacy laws or regulations and applicable provisions of the ICANN contract regarding the collection, display and distribution of personal data via the gTLD WHOIS service, ICANN should: 1. Develop and publicly document a procedure for dealing with the situation in which a registrar or registry can credibly demonstrate that it is legally prevented by local/national privacy laws or regulations from fully complying with applicable provisions of its ICANN contract regarding the collection, display and distribution of personal data via the gTLD WHOIS service. 2. Create goals for the procedure which include: (a) Ensuring that ICANN staff is informed of a conflict at the earliest appropriate juncture; (b) Resolving the conflict, if possible, in a manner conducive to ICANN's Mission, applicable Core Values and the stability and uniformity of the Whois system; (c) Providing a mechanism for the recognition, if appropriate, in circumstances where the conflict cannot be otherwise resolved, of an exception to contractual obligations to those registries/registrars to which the specific conflict applies with regard to collection, display and distribution of personally identifiable data via the gTLD WHOIS service; and (d) Preserving sufficient flexibility for ICANN staff to respond to particular factual situations as they arise. The GNSO recommends the ICANN staff consider the advice given in the task force report as to a recommended procedure (see http://gnso.icann.org/issues/tf-final-rpt-25oct05.htm)." I have asked the ICANN staff to complete a Council report incorporating details of the recent vote, for consideration by the Board in its meeting in Feburary 2006. Regards, Bruce Tonkin