New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP December 2020 Newsletter

CURRENT STATUS

The Working Group has completed its Final Report and is currently conducting a Consensus Call on the recommendations and other outputs contained in the Final Report. The Consensus Call will close on 8 January 2021. Additional information about the Consensus Call can be found here. Working Group meetings in December focused on finishing review of public comments on the Working Group’s draft Final Report and finalizing text to include in the Final Report on the following topics: 1 December: Continuing Subsequent Procedures; Applications Assessed in Rounds; Application Submission Limits; Application Submission Period; Application Queuing 3 December: Security and Stability; Name Collisions; Universal Acceptance; TLD Rollout 7 December: Terms and Conditions; Registrant Protections; Metrics and Monitoring; Closed Generics 10 December: Reserved Names; Geographic Names; Different TLD Types 14 December: Auctions; Conflicts of Interest; Applicant Freedom of Expression; Dispute Resolution Procedures After Delegation The Working Group’s meeting on 17 December included a discussion of the Consensus Call process and final milestones, a review of outstanding issues from the latest redline document, and planning for a reply to ICANN Board comments on the draft Final Report.

NEXT STEPS

The Working Group plans to complete the following final steps in January 2021: 8 January: Consensus Call ends 11 January: Designation of levels of support by Working Group leadership team  12 January: Working Group meeting to discuss designation of levels of support  13 January: Challenges to designation of levels of support are due (if any) 18 January: Minority Reports are due; Working Group submits Final Report to GNSO Council

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?

In June 2014, the GNSO Council established a Discussion Group that was intended to evaluate the experiences of the 2012 round gTLD Program and to identify possible areas for future GNSO policy development. The Discussion Group’s deliverables served as the basis for the GNSO Council request for a Preliminary Issue Report in June of 2015. Following the publication of the Final Issue Report, the GNSO Council adopted the charter for the PDP Working Group, which began its work in February 2016.  The Working Group first concentrated on a set of overarching issues. It then conducted initial deliberations on additional topics in its charter using five separate Work Tracks: Work Track 1 - Overall Process/Support/Outreach, Work Track 2 - Legal/Regulatory, Work Track 3: String Contention/Objections & Disputes, Work Track 4: Internationalized Domain Names/Technical & Operations, Work Track 5: Geographic Names at the Top Level. Following publication of the Working Group’s Initial Report, Supplemental Initial Report, and the Final Report produced by Work Track 5, the Working Group reviewed public comments received on the Initial Report and Supplemental Initial Report, refined its outputs and published a draft Final Report for public comment.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

The Discussion Group identified a number of subjects that may require further analysis and possible formulation of policy language. There are existing policy recommendations adopted by the GNSO Council and ICANN Board, which will remain in place unless the PDP WG determines that changes are needed.

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