The Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Team on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data kicked off its first meeting on 1 August 2018. Due to the expedited timeline, the EPDP Team agreed to meet for two hours, twice a week.
We are aware that keeping up with this fast-moving EPDP may prove challenging, particularly for non-members. Therefore, we plan to utilize a variety of communication channels and platforms for the ICANN community to follow the EPDP's progress to respond to different needs. Below is a summary of the types of ongoing updates you can expect.
Announcements & Blogs
We will keep the ICANN community informed of important milestones and key activities of the EPDP Team via announcements and blogs published on ICANN.org. These updates could include notifications of open or closed public comment periods and official statements from the EPDP Leadership Team.
GNSO Council Updates
Rafik Dammak, the GNSO Council Liaison to the EPDP Team, provides weekly updates on the team's progress to the GNSO Council, which acts in the role of the policy manager of GNSO PDPs. You may access these updates via the EPDP wiki workspace or the EPDP page on the GNSO website.
ICANN Global Newsletters
Subscribe to the monthly ICANN Global Newsletters. Each newsletter will feature EPDP content providing you with a summary of the EPDP Team's progress.
ICANN63 Communications
About a month before ICANN63 begins, a wide array of communications programs and materials will be launched to provide a detailed overview of the policy development activities. The EPDP efforts will be featured in the following ICANN63 communications:
- Pre-ICANN63 GNSO Policy Briefing (check previous editions here)
- Pre-ICANN63 Policy Report (check previous editions here)
- Pre-ICANN63 Policy Webinar
During ICANN63, the daily meeting newsletter and ICANN YouTube channel will also provide timely updates about the EPDP sessions.
Dedicated EPDP Webinars
The EPDP Leadership, in collaboration with ICANN's policy development support staff, plans to hold one or more dedicated webinars about the EPDP. These webinars aim to provide you with details and insights into the EPDP Team's work, as well as opportunities to ask questions. The timing and frequency will depend on the EPDP Team's progress. Watch for future webinar announcements on ICANN.org.
Social Media
Follow @ICANN_GNSO on Twitter! In addition to tweets about the agenda and audiocast to follow our EPDP Team meetings 'live', you will also be alerted to EPDP communications promoted via the other channels noted above.
We sincerely hope the ICANN community will take advantage of these opportunities to closely follow the EPDP and get involved! To learn more about participation as an observer, read the July announcement on ICANN.org.
About EPDP
On 17 May 2018, the ICANN Board adopted the proposed Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data. This is an interim measure to bring existing WHOIS obligations in line with requirements of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation. This also triggered the GNSO Council to undertake a policy development process to confirm, or not, the Temporary Specification as a Consensus Policy within 12 months of its implementation effective date (25 May 2018). The GNSO Council agreed that an EPDP provides the best opportunity to meet this timing requirement. To determine the proposed path forward, a Drafting Team was formed, consisting of Council leadership and interested Council members. The Drafting Team developed an Initiation Request [PDF, 390 KB] for an EPDP and a proposed EPDP Team Charter. During its meeting on Thursday, 19 July 2018, the GNSO Council passed the motion to initiate the EPDP and to adopt the EPDP Team Charter [PDF, 523 KB].