In response to questions during today's call about the scope of the PDP Working Group on Translation/Transliteration of Contact Information versus the issue of internationalization of domain name registration data in general, please see below more information about the expert working group ICANN is establishing to address the broader issue. The announcement is posted here: http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-08jul13-en.htm and the Call for Volunteers may be found here: http://www.icann.org/en/about/aoc-review/whois/call-for-experts-ird-08jul13-en.pdf.

Note in particular that the Call for Volunteers document distinguishes the work of the expert working group to determine appropriate Internationalized Domain Name registration data requirements and data model for Registration Data Directory Services from the work of the PDP Working Group on Translation/Transliteration of Contact Information as follows:

3. Relationship with GNSO PDP on Translation and Transliteration of Contact Information

At its meeting on 13 June 2013, the GNSO Council initiated a Policy Development Process (PDP) on the translation and transliteration of contact information. The WG is expected to address the following issues:

Whether it is desirable to translate contact information to a single common language or transliterate contact information to a single common script.
Who should decide who should bear the burden translating contact information to a single common language or transliterating contact information to a single common script.

The expert working group will not address these issues raised in the GNSO PDP, and will create placeholders in the final product pending the completion of the PDP.

Thus, the expert working group will

Determine the requirements for internationalized registration data
Produce a data model for the IRD that matches the requirement

The recommendations of the PDP WG on Translation/Transliteration of Contact Information, if they are approved by the GNSO Council, will be incorporated into the data model.

I hope that this information is helpful, but please don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions.

Best regards,

Julie

Julie Hedlund, Policy Director