Dear SubPro IRT members,

On behalf of Jonathan Zuck, Chair of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), please see the following message and attached PDF for information regarding the ALAC/At-Large Procedure for Filing Comments and Objections.

Sincerely,

Andrew Chen

Policy Development Support Sr. Specialist, Policy Development Support

Dear Elisa Busetto,

On behalf of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and At-Large Community, I would like to thank you and the ICANN Org's SubPro IRT Team for your 5 June email invitation to provide an updated ALAC Procedure for Filing Comments and Objections in the New gTLD Program: Next Round. The ALAC and At-Large Community believes that this procedure will better support their review of applications for the Next Round. 

The ALAC convened an ALAC Objections Small Team that assessed the 2012 Round procedure and made recommendations to simplify the process, while maintaining the three criteria required of us: 

1. Bottom-up development of potential objections;
2. Discussion and approval of objections at the Regional At-Large Organization (RALO) level; and
3. A process for consideration and approval of the objection by the ALAC. 

This updated procedure was reviewed by the At-Large Operations, Finance and Budget Working Group (OFB-WG) on 24 October 2024 and adopted by the ALAC on 04 November 2024.

Please take note that there currently remain several placeholders in this updated procedure with respect to applicable time periods, which will be inserted once we receive appropriate confirmation from our ALAC Representative to the SubPro IRT on stable or settled timelines for the Application Comment Period and Objection Period in the draft Next Round AGB. Further, the ALAC will also be looking to amend this updated procedure, in consultation with ICANN org, to account for the feasibility of the ALAC filing appeals against any of its objections which are dismissed.

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Zuck, 

Chair, At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC)