On 9 August 2016, the ICANN Board of Directors adopted the recommendations of the Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group as listed in its Final Report. Staff from the Global Domains Division (GDD)—responsible for leading the implementation of the policy recommendations—is hereby issuing a call for volunteers to form an Implementation Review Team (IRT) to work with staff to implement the policy recommendations adopted by the Board.
This call for IRT volunteers is for the attention of the members of the Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues PDP Working Group at a minimum. However, other members of the community who did not participate on the IRT are also invited to the IRT. The key responsibilities of the IRT are as follows:
- Work with ICANN staff to ensure that the implementation fulfills the original intentions of the adopted policy recommendations
- Review the proposed implementation work plan, as drafted by staff, for the recommendations as adopted by the Board
- Assist in case questions regarding the PDP or a need for clarification arises in relation to the adopted recommendations
- Advise on technical and operational details related to the implementation of the adopted recommendations
Familiarity with the policy recommendations as well as the deliberations that informed those recommendations is a minimum requirement for IRT members. IRT volunteers should be able to attend regularly scheduled IRT meetings for the duration of this project. Staff currently anticipates that this implementation project could take up to 18–24 months to complete.
All volunteers responding to this call will be expected to understand the role and remit of the IRT for the implementation project. If, in the course of implementation, the IRT identifies a need for potential modifications to the policy recommendations, the team must refer these to the GNSO Council for its consideration and additional guidance.
How to Apply
If you are interested in participating, please send an email to the GNSO Secretariat via gnso-secs@icann.org no later than 30 September 2016, 11:59 UTC.
Background
The Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) is the contract that governs the relationship between ICANN and its accredited registrars (a directory of accredited registrars can be found at http://www.internic.net/regist.html). The RAA also may have impacts on registrants and other third parties involved in the domain name system.
In initiating negotiations for the 2013 RAA between ICANN and the Registrars Stakeholder Group in October 2011, the ICANN Board had also requested an Issue Report from the GNSO that would start a GNSO Policy Development Process (PDP) to address remaining issues not dealt with in the RAA negotiations and that would be suited to a PDP (the Board's Resolution can be found at http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-28oct11-en.htm#7). In June 2013, the ICANN Board approved a new 2013 RAA (the provisions of which can be found at http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/approved-with-specs-27jun13-en.pdf), and this PDP was launched in October 2013.
The Final Recommendations of the Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues PDP Working Group, which GDD is now preparing to implement, are the consensus outcomes of that PDP. Once implemented, this Privacy and Proxy Services accreditation program will supersede requirements in the 2013 RAA's Specification on Privacy and Proxy Registrations.