Thank you for yesterday's meeting.  It was incredibly productive and within the room it seemed as if there was consensus that the new gTLD Program requires a change regarding the EPP Issue referred to us by the GNSO Counsel.  As a reminder I have attached their original submission that described the nature of the issue to our group.  

I encourage everyone to re-watch (or watch for the first time) Elaine's presentation on the issue.  She did a fantastic job describing what could be highly technical into an easily digestible format that those who do not run registries can understand.  

FYI, Here is the motion that was passed by the Council on Wednesday.  

Motion -  Referral of RSP Issue to the SPIRT

Submitted by: Samantha Demetriou

Seconded by: Osvaldo Novoa

Whereas,

1. On 21 May 2026, the RySG through Samantha Demetriou shared a Registry Service Provider (RSP) issue with the GNSO Council for potential referral to the SPIRT;
2. A draft version of the Base Registry Agreement (Base RA) for 2026 Next Round applicants required that all registry operators only use extensible provisioning protocol (EPP) extensions that are registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA);
3. gTLD registries have historically used EPP extensions that are not included in that database;
4. ICANN org agreed to remove this requirement, and the ICANN Board adopted the Base RA that does not include the prohibition of the use of non-IANA registered EPP extension;
5. The RSP evaluation questions require RSP applicants to attest that they will only use the EPP extensions that are registered in the IANA registry, which is also tested during Registry System Testing;
6. This creates a misalignment between what is tested for and what is required to be attested to during Registry System Testing, and what is required under the Base Registry Agreement;
7. The RSP Evaluation Program has already evaluated numerous RSPs and is currently accepting applications from prospective RSPs and will be conducting Registry System Testing on those applicants, further underscoring the need to address the aforementioned misalignment;
8. The Council has now considered the RySG’s request to refer this issue to the SPIRT to consider how to address this misalignment.

Resolved,

1. The GNSO Council confirms the referral of the RSP issue brought forth by the RySG to the SPIRT for discussion and alignment with ICANN org.
2. The GNSO Council requests that its liaison to the SPIRT provide this information to the SPIRT for discussion and alignment with ICANN org.
3. The GNSO Council requests that the liaison to the SPIRT advise the Council of the proposed solution when finalized by ICANN Org in cooperation with the SPIRT.

Please let us know by 23:59 on Tuesday whether you support or object to the determination that a change is required to the new gTLD program to resolve the issues as described in the GNSO Council's motion and further set forth in the attached submission form.  Also remember that this is the only question pending before the group.  Any solutions described in the Submission Form will be discussed but only AFTER we determine that a change is required AND ICANN also states that it believes that a change is required as well.