[To: council[at]gnso.icann.org] Dear All, Ahead of the GNSO Council minutes, Council passed the following resolutions at its meeting on 16 November, 2006. Resolution 1. =============== Notice and comment on gTLD agreement approvals. "With respect to any proposed agreement relating to generic top-level domains that includes provisions that would have an effect materially different from other past or current ICANN agreements or practices, including but not limited to gTLD registry and registrar agreements, ICANN will notify the GNSO Council and post the proposed agreement for public comment on the ICANN website at least twenty-one days (and if practical, longer) prior to any final approval of the agreement." The motion passed with 25 votes in favour: Marilyn Cade, Phillip Sheppard, Alistair Dixon, (CBUC) Ute Decker, Lucy Nichols (IPC) Tony Holmes, Tony Harris, Greg Ruth, (ISPCPC) Robin Gross, Mawaki Chango, Norbert Klein, (NCUC) Maureen Cubberley, Avri Doria, (Nominating Committee appointees) Bruce Tonkin, Ross Rader, Tom Keller, (2 votes each - Registrars constituency) Cary Karp, Ken Stubbs, June Seo, (2 votes each - gTLD Registries constituency) Kiyoshi Tsuru and Sophia Bekele (2) no vote, absent. Total 27 votes Resolution 2. ============= GNSO IDN Working Group Charter ============================== The IDN Working Group operates in the context of the following related activities within ICANN: (1) There is a President's Advisory Committee on IDNs http://www.icann.org/committees/idnpac/ which has been in operation since November 2005. Amongst other things this committee is tasked with analyzing the challenges relating to the technical implementation of internationalized top level domains and suggestions towards their resolution. IN particular the committee is supervising laboratory tests (see http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-19oct06.htm). (2) There has been a working group of gTLD registries and ccTLD registries to create a set of technical Guidelines for the Implementation of IDNs at the second level. See http://www.icann.org/general/idn-guidelines-22feb06.htm for version 2.1 of the Guidelines dated - 22 Feb 2006. (3) The GNSO has a Committee developing policy recommendations on new gTLDs, as part of a policy development process called PDP-Dec05. The policies developed for new gTLDs apply to new gTLDs that use the IDN standards. See: http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/ for more information. (4) The ICANN staff have produced a draft issues report on IDNs dated 2 August 2006 available at: http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/idn-tlds/issues-report-02aug06.htm (5) The ccNSO has formed a ccNSO IDN working group. From the minutes of 23 Aug 06 (http://www.ccnso.icann.org/minutes/minutes-23aug06.pdf) the purpose of this group is to: consider what the ccNSO should do on IDN issues, what policy issues should be considered jointly with the GNSO, and liaise with the GNSO and prepare a report on the current status and future steps for the ccNSO on IDN issues. (6) External to ICANN, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) has released a document (RFC4690: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4690.txt) which provides a review and recommendations for Internationalized Domain Names. The purpose of the GNSO IDN Working Group is to identify and specify any policy issues that should be considered by the GNSO via a policy development process that have not already been considered within PDP-Dec05. It should do this using the following steps: (i) review the draft recommendations on new gTLDs (which include IDN gTLDs) from the GNSO's Committee on new gTLDs (ii) review the current status and outcomes from the laboratory tests, (iii) review the ICANN staff issues report, (iv) review the IAB document (RFC4690) (v) liaise with the ccNSO working Group to discuss any policy issues which they have identified Note for a policy issue to warrant a policy development process it must meet the following criteria: (A) is within the scope of ICANN's mission statement; (B) is broadly applicable to multiple situations or organizations; (C) is likely to have lasting value or applicability, albeit with the need for occasional updates; (D) will establish a guide or framework for future decision-making; or (E) implicates or affects an existing ICANN policy. Membership: Membership is open to any member of a GNSO constituency or the GNSO Council. ICANN advisory committees may appoint liaisons to the working group. Voting: Voting will be on the basis of 1 vote per member Duration: The working Group must complete its work by the end of the ICANN meeting in Portugal on 26-30 March 2007, and provide a report to the GNSO Council. Chair: The chair will be appointed via election from the existing members of the IDN working group established by the GNSO Council on 18 May 2006 to review the IDN issues report in the lead up to the ICANN meeting in Morocco. The GNSO IDN Working Group Charter was passed by unanimous acclamation. 3. Procedural motion to vote on whether to vote on the Proposed =============================================================== Resolution from Ross Rader: ============================ The recommendations of the LSE regarding term limits for GNSO Council members should be adopted immediately by the GNSO Council with no grandfathering except in connection with the ability of a council member to serve out their existing term. A council member can serve no more than two consecutive terms (regardless of duration). Moreover, a former council member must remain off the GNSO Council for one full term prior to serving any subsequent term. However, there shall be an exception to the two term limit in connection with special circumstances (I.e. Geographic diversity requirements) where a constituency is unable to find an alternative representative to serve. In applying this special circumstance exception, the existence of an otherwise qualified candidate willing to serve on the council within that constituency shall constitute a non-rebuttable indication that special circumstances do not exist. The GNSO Council will forward this recommendation to the ICANN Board of Directors for implementation in the bylaws and also recommend to the GNSO Constituencies that they voluntarily adopt these practices until such time that they have been formally implemented by the Council and Board. The motion carried with 13 votes in favour: Lucy Nichols, (IPC) Robin Gross, Norbert Klein, (NCUC) Ross Rader, Tom Keller, (2 votes each - Registrars constituency) Cary Karp, Ken Stubbs, June Seo, (2 votes each - gTLD Registries constituency) 7 votes against: Marilyn Cade, Phillip Sheppard, Alistair Dixon, (CBUC) Tony Holmes, Tony Harris, Greg Ruth, (ISPCPC) Maureen Cubberley 2 votes abstaining: Bruce Tonkin GNSO chair Registrars constituency abstained (2 votes) 5 votes not recorded: Avri Doria, Ute Decker, Mawaki Chango did not vote, (dropped off call) Kiyoshi Tsuru and Sophia Bekele no vote, absent. Total 27 votes 4. Resolution from Ross Rader: ============================== The recommendations of the LSE regarding term limits for GNSO Council members should be adopted immediately by the GNSO Council with no grandfathering except in connection with the ability of a council member to serve out their existing term. A council member can serve no more than two consecutive terms (regardless of duration). Moreover, a former council member must remain off the GNSO Council for one full term prior to serving any subsequent term. However, there shall be an exception to the two term limit in connection with special circumstances (I.e. Geographic diversity requirements) where a constituency is unable to find an alternative representative to serve. In applying this special circumstance exception, the existence of an otherwise qualified candidate willing to serve on the council within that constituency shall constitute a non-rebuttable indication that special circumstances do not exist. The GNSO Council will forward this recommendation to the ICANN Board of Directors for implementation in the bylaws and also recommend to the GNSO Constituencies that they voluntarily adopt these practices until such time that they have been formally implemented by the Council and Board. The resolution carried with 15 votes in favour. Lucy Nichols, (IPC) Robin Gross, Norbert Klein, (NCUC) Ross Rader, Tom Keller, Bruce Tonkin (2 votes each - Registrars constituency) Cary Karp, Ken Stubbs, June Seo, (2 votes each - gTLD Registries constituency) 7 votes abstaining: (accompanied with statements that will be noted in the minutes) Marilyn Cade, Phillip Sheppard, Alistair Dixon, (CBUC) Tony Holmes, Tony Harris, Greg Ruth, (ISPCPC) Maureen Cubberley 5 votes not recorded: Avri Doria, Ute Decker, Mawaki Chango did not vote, (dropped off call) Kiyoshi Tsuru and Sophia Bekele, no vote, absent. Total 27 votes Kind regards, Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat - ICANN gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org http://gnso.icann.org