Dear all, Please find below the agenda for the Extraordinary GNSO Council on 09 October 2025 at 13:00 UTC This will be posted on the agenda wiki page<https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/i4CTHQ> shortly. Thank you. Kind regards, Terri Policy Team Supporting the GNSO Extraordinary GNSO Council Agenda 09 October 2025 Please note that all documents referenced in the agenda have been gathered on a Wiki page for convenience and easier access: https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/aACSHQ This agenda was established according to the GNSO Operating Procedures<https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/op-procedu...> v3.5, updated on 15 March 2023. For convenience: * An excerpt of the ICANN Bylaws defining the voting thresholds is provided in Appendix 1 at the end of this agenda. * An excerpt from the Council Operating Procedures defining the absentee voting procedures is provided in Appendix 2 at the end of this agenda. GNSO Council meeting on Thursday, 09 October 2025 at 13:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/vjvhe8w4 06:00 Los Angeles; 09:00 Washington DC; 14:00 London; 15:00 Paris; 16:00 Moscow; 23:00 Melbourne GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: https://icann.zoom.us/j/91048235847?pwd=bmEHjk0uYT3sR2DIoE0c0yw4HKbM6O.1 Councilors should notify the GNSO Secretariat in advance if they will not be able to attend and/or need a dial out call. ___________________________________ Item 1: Administrative Matters (5 minutes) 1.1 - Roll Call 1.2 - Updates to Statements of Interest 1.3 - Review / Amend Agenda 1.4 - Note the status of minutes for the previous Council meetings per the GNSO Operating Procedures: Minutes<https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/policy/2025/minutes/minutes-gnso-...> of the GNSO Council Meeting on 14 August 2025 were posted on 2 September 2025. Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 18 September 2025 will be posted on 02 October Item 2: COUNCIL VOTE - New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP - Interpretation of Intent for Select IGO/INGO PDP Recommendations (30 minutes) During its September meeting<https://icann.zoom.us/rec/play/XYy4NN_IZZv08C-bg6V2CiZv-C_HxrwTqlFeWgVvkHfma...>, the Council discussed an issue that recently arose in the proposed implementation of the Subsequent Procedures PDP recommendations. Specifically, ICANN org staff prepared a discussion paper<https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SPIR/pages/460783617/2025-...> to explain the issue and to provide a path forward. The IRT was not aligned with ICANN org’s proposal. The Council was requested to provide guidance on the intent of relevant recommendations; without this guidance, the timeline for the Board’s adoption of the Applicant Guidebook and launch of the Next Round are likely to be negatively impacted. GNSO support staff sought to identify the underlying question for the Council to consider: What does it mean for the full name identifiers to be “protected,” but available for the relevant organization via an exception procedure? Based upon discussions within the SubPro IRT, there are two interpretations: 1. Protected only means that no organization other than the relevant organization can apply for the exact match of the full name identifier. This implies that an unrelated third party could apply for a confusingly similar string, thereby preventing the relevant organization from securing their protected string in the future. 2. Or, protected means that no organization other than the relevant organization can apply for the exact match of the full name identifier AND the ability for the relevant organization to secure their protected string should persist. This implies that unrelated third parties would need to be prevented from securing confusingly similar strings (i.e., include the protected strings in string similarity). The Council has been asked to help determine whether the intent of the relevant IGO/INGO PDP recommendations are aligned with interpretation 1 or 2 above. Councilors have been asked to consult with their respective groups to help reach alignment on the original intent of the recommendations. Here, the Council will vote on its interpretation of the original intent of the relevant recommendations and to provide that guidance to the SubPro IRT. 2.1 - Introduction of Motion (Anne Aikman-Scalese & Susan Payne, GNSO co-liaisons to the PDP) 2.2 - Council Vote (threshold: simple majority of each House) 2.3 - Next Steps Item 3: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Board Reversal of its Adoption of a GNSO PDP Recommendation (20 minutes) During the Council’s last Strategic Planning Session (SPS), the Council came to general agreement on an approach for the ICANN Board to reverse its adoption of a GNSO recommendation. The resulting action item was to identify the proper place to document that generally agreed upon process. On 19 August 2025<https://lists.icann.org/hyperkitty/list/council@icann.org/thread/LOD5WHIQ6I2...>, GNSO support staff sent a message to the Council, noting that support staff coordinated with ICANN legal colleagues to determine the most appropriate location to capture the process, and, following that discussion, recommended updating the EPDP, PDP, and GGP manuals. Having received no objections to this approach, GNSO Support Staff provided draft redlines for the EPDP, PDP, and GGP manuals for the Council’s consideration on 19 September 2025<https://lists.icann.org/hyperkitty/list/council@icann.org/thread/RMMJYAX6NCF...> with an accompanying request to provide comments and concerns prior to this Special Meeting. Here, the Council will discuss the proposed updates to the GNSO processes in preparation for discussing the proposal with the Board at the upcoming ICANN84 ICANN Board and GNSO Council bilateral. 3.1 - Introduction of Topic (Tomslin Samme-Nlar, GNSO Interim Co-Chair) 3.2 - Council Discussion 3.3 - Next Steps Item 4: Any Other Business (5 minutes) * None _______________________________ Appendix 1: GNSO Council Voting Thresholds (ICANN Bylaws, Article 11, Section 11.3(i)) See https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article11. Appendix 2: GNSO Council Absentee Voting Procedures (GNSO Operating Procedures, Section 4.4) See https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/op-procedu... References for Coordinated Universal Time of 13:00 UTC Local time between March and November in the NORTHERN hemisphere See https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/ for Dates for Daylight Saving Time and Clock Changes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- California, USA (PDT) UTC-7 06:00 San José, Costa Rica (CST) UTC-6 07:00 New York/Washington DC, USA (EDT) UTC-4 09:00 Buenos Aires, Argentina (ART) UTC-3 10:00 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (WAT) UTC+1 14:00 Paris, France (CEST) UTC+2 15:00 Moscow, Russia (MSK) UTC+3 16:00 Singapore (SGT) UTC+8 21:00 Melbourne, Australia (AEST) UTC+10 23:00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com<http://www.timeanddate.com/> and https://tinyurl.com/2n3uanbb