Dear GNSO Council Members and GNSO Community Leaders, Due to the timing of yesterday's GNSO Council meeting (very late for some and very early for others) and the need for a number of Councilors to leave the call early, I thought it would be helpful to review a number of the significant items discussed at the meeting that are related to the effort to transition to the new GNSO Council by the end of the Seoul ICANN meeting next month. 1. With the Bylaw amendments now approved by the Board (see - http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/prelim-report-27aug09.htm) the Stakeholder Group structures approved by the Board are now in effect. Thus, if they have not yet started, members of the four new Stakeholder Groups should be moving toward selecting their Council representatives and existing Constituencies should, at minimum, be working to conform their charter documents to the new GNSO Framework as provided for in the Bylaws. The final versions of the Stakeholder Group Charters are linked to the Board's 30 July meeting report (see - http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/prelim-report-30jul09.htm). The target date for providing names of selected Council representatives to the GNSO Secretariat is 30 September. Staff is available to discuss any questions that GNSO members have about the documents. 2. The Council discussed a revised GNSO Council Transition Implementation Plan (the latest draft version of the plan is attached to this message) at the meeting and agreed that a final plan would be voted on at the next Council meeting (24 September). The current plan version is designed to offer the Stakeholder Groups as much flexibility as possible in the process for selecting their representatives. Olga Cavalli has volunteered to take the lead on developing further revisions to the latest version of the draft plan document with direct support from Avri Doria and Chuck Gomes. All Councilors are encouraged to participate in the discussion on the Council list. 3. The Council also learned yesterday that the Nominating Committee would likely not be able to make assignments of the three Nominating Committee Appointees to their separate slots on the Council. Council members discussed a number of alternative assignment approaches during the Council meeting and a final process will be determined and added to the Transition Implementation Plan after further discussion on the Council's email list. As part of the overall plan, a decision must also be made on the NCA assignment mechanism at the 24 September Council meeting. In addition to the attachment, a copy of the current draft plan discussed by the Council can be found on the GNSO's Draft and Working Documents Web Page (see - http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/). All GNSO Councilors and community leaders are encouraged to forward the draft plan to the groups they represent and, in turn, encourage them to provide timely input/feedback for the Council discussions. Best regards, Rob Hoggarth Senior Policy Director 424.558.4805