Dear WG members,

We hope the short break from our WG following the face-to-face facilitated meeting in Singapore last month has been refreshing and useful. Thank you again to all who were able to attend that meeting, whether in person or remotely, and for filling out the survey at the end!

Here is the proposed agenda for the WG call scheduled for Wednesday 4 March at the usual time:

Roll call/updates to SOI
Update on research on sovereign immunity (WG Chairs/staff)
Discussion of differences between the UDRP and URS (All)
Next steps/next meeting

You will note that the agenda follows up on the 13 February face-to-face discussions, such that pending receipt of input from international law experts we will be continuing with the next step of our Work Plan, in agenda item #3. For this discussion, please refer to the comparison chart first prepared by Jim Bikoff for Sub-Group A, available on the WG wiki at: https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/49354393/URS-UDRP%20Comparison%20Chart%20v2.doc?version=1&modificationDate=1417621822000&api=v2. The actual UDRP and associated Rules can be found here: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/udrp-2012-02-25-en?routing_type=path; and the URS procedure and rules can be found, respectively, at: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/urs/procedure-01mar13-en.pdf and http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/urs/rules-28jun13-en.pdf.

As a further follow up to our 13 February meeting, staff has updated the draft paragraphs from the UDRP that the WG discussed several weeks ago concerning possible language that could cover the issue of standing, with reference to the legal protections for IGOs contained in Article 6ter of the Paris Convention. We attach the relevant updated language here for your review and subsequent WG discussion.