Dear All, Please find attached the GNSO Council Guidance Statement on “.québec”. Context of this guidance is included in the email thread below. Best Regards, Ariel From: Ariel Liang <ariel.liang@icann.org> Date: Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 9:34 AM To: "gnso-epdp-idn-team@icann.org" <gnso-epdp-idn-team@icann.org> Subject: FW: IDN EPDP Phase 1 Initial Report--Public comments out of scope Hello team, As mentioned in the call and for transparency purposes, I’m forwarding Donna’s request to the GNSO Council to provide guidance on the .quebec related comments. Best Regards, Ariel From: Ariel Liang <ariel.liang@icann.org> Date: Friday, July 14, 2023 at 2:53 PM To: "gnso-chairs@icann.org" <gnso-chairs@icann.org> Subject: IDN EPDP Phase 1 Initial Report--Public comments out of scope Hello Seb, As mentioned previously, please find below the communications from Donna Austin regarding the .quebec issue. Thank you, and have a nice weekend. Best, Ariel == Dear Sebastien The IDN EPDP Team (the Team) has recently closed the public comment process for our Phase 1 Initial Report, and we have commenced our review of those comments. In the process of reviewing the comments the Team determined that a number of the comments, namely those related to creating an exceptional process by which the existing registry operator for .quebec could apply “.québec” in a future gTLD round, are out of scope of the IDN EPDP and its Charter. As you are aware, the IDN EPDP Team has been chartered to focus on developing policy recommendations that will allow for the introduction of variant IDN gTLDs. Based on the current RZ-LGR “.québec” is not considered a variant of .quebec. Therefore the proposed exceptional process is not related to variant management but is more generally related to the String Similarity Review process. Rather than dismiss the comments outright, the EPDP Team has agreed to refer the comments to the GNSO Council for consideration and action as determined appropriate. The comments in question were submitted by: Nacho Amadoz on behalf of Amadeu Abril i Abril<https://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/proceeding/phase-1-initial-report-on...> Louis Houle<https://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/proceeding/phase-1-initial-report-on...> Normand Fortier<https://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/proceeding/phase-1-initial-report-on...> Claude Menard<https://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/proceeding/phase-1-initial-report-on...> Yours sincerely Donna Donna Austin Chair IDN EPDP Team