GNSO Council Status Update Notes 28 January 2010
Note: The latest status update date is provided for each item.
Inter- Registrar Transfer Policies Part B (IRTP B) - Michele Neylon - chair - 14 January 2010
ICANN Staff aka Super Marika is going to be drafting something initial based on our work to date I believe. She already did so for PEDNR, so I think IRTP is on her rather long "todo" list ..
We're meeting weekly now ..
David Giza from ICANN's compliance team has been able to provide us with tangible data ie. actual complaints related to IRTP and this is helping to identify where issues actually lie, as opposed to some theoretical assertions without any real evidence
What's been interesting to note is that the larger registrars may get talked about a lot, they actually don't get that many complaints, whereas some of the small ones have a stupidly high level of complaints. This would seem to indicate that some of the smaller registrars are not able to handle their customer service effectively OR are not complying (or maybe a mixture of both .. )
Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) - Tim Ruiz - Working Group Liaison to GNSO Council - 5 January 2010
Following the ICANN meeting in Seoul, ICANN Staff continued to gather information for the registrar survey which is intended to help inform the deliberations of the Working Group. The survey reviews current registrar practices regarding domain name expiration, renewal, and post-expiration recovery. The final results have now been posted at
https://st.icann.org/post-expiration-dn-recovery-wg/ and were on the agenda to be discussed by the group on today's call. (5 January 2010)
Following the finalization of the registrar survey, the Working Group will need to review the results in further detail to determine how these may potentially influence its response to the charter questions.
JIG (Joint ccNSO/GNSO IDN Group - Edmon Chung - 17 December 2009 - no update
- ccNSO in the process of appointing co-chair
- Some discussions being started on mailing list
- Identified IDN TLD acceptance as a potential item of common interest
- kick off discussion between co-chairs and chairs of GNSO/ccNSO planned
International Registration Data (IRD) Working Group - Edmon Chung - co-chair - 17 December 2009 - no update
- Bi-weekly phone conference being established
- Co-chairs identified: Myself from GNSO, Jeremy Hitchcock from SSAC
- Continuing from staff initial study
- Context of other WHOIS studies along with IRD being considered (i.e. what should be done by this group versus other items)
- Schedule and scope of work to be laid out
Internationalized Domain Names Group (IDNG) - Edmon Chung - co-chair - 17 December 2009 - no update
- Conference calls conducted and planed
- Identified a potential item for council discussion: acceptance and process for application of a confusingly similar TLD string
- Will redraft potential special IDN gTLD track WG for consideration
Registration Abuse Policies (RAP) Working Group (WG) - Greg Aaron - chair - 15 January 2010
The RAPWG targets February 12th for the publication of its Initial Report.
The RAPWG will prepare a presentation update for the GNSO Council meetings in Nairobi, and plans to offer an open meeting at Nairobi to present the Initial Report's highlights to interested members of the community.
However, due to security concerns, my company will be sending a smaller-than-usual contingent to Nairobi and I will be unable to attend in person.
Geo Regions Working Group - Olga Cavalli - 14 January 2010
No new activities
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) Sub-team A (Registrant Rights Charter) - Beau Brendler coordinator - 25 January 2010
As of January 14 there are no updates. Meetings were postponed awaiting staff's completion of a plain-english translation of the RAA document. We did get the document in the middle of January; the group's next meeting was postponed until Jan. 20. I was not able to attend that meeting; Michele Neylon co-chaired.
Now that the plain-English document is in hand the goal is to create the charter document based on the existing RAA by February 4, and concurrently the "aspirational document," which contains suggestions for what might be included in a new version of the RAA, which will be passed on to subteam B or directly to the GNSO.
Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) subteam B (identifying issues for possible RAA amendments) - Steve Metalitz coordinator - 26 January 2010
I can now report that subteam B continues to meet to go through the list of topics identified for potential amendments to the RAA.
We have adopted a timetable which calls for our report to be submitted in time for the Council's April 21 meeting.
We will of course submit a status report for discussion in Nairobi.
ccNSO update - Olga Cavalli - 14 January 2010
Malaysia is the 101st member of ccNSO and Colombia is the 102nd member of the ccNSO.
Travel drafting team - Olga Cavalli - 14 January 2010
No Update
GNSO Work Prioritization Model Drafting Team - Olga Cavalli - chair - 15 January 2010
The GNSO Work Prioritisation model drafting team is in the process of revising the prioritization procedures that have been definied and used in a first excercise among the drafting team.
When this procedure is revised and defined it will be presented to the whole GNSO council.
Also a red team will be formed to review the process from the outside, Adrian Kinderis has volunteered to be part of this red team, other council members may join Adrian in this effort, if this is the case please let Olga know.
Operations Sreering Committee (OSC) - Chuck Gomes - OSC chair - 14 January 2010
- The OSC has not received any new recommendation documents from WTs since November.
- An in-person meeting is planned on Sunday afternoon in Nairobi.
- Now that Chuck is GNSO Council Chair, change of OSC chair is under consideration.
OSC Constituency & Stakeholder Group WT progress report - Olga Cavalli - chair - 14 January 2010/ Julie Hedlund staff - 20 January 2010
The Work Team is reviewing draft documents produced by subworking team. Conference calls are held every week in order to finish draft document´s revisions.
- The WT divided task 1 work into 4 SubTask (ST) teams.
- On 17 December the Council approved the recommendation for a Constituency/SG services toolkit (ST 4);
- The full WT is reviewing proposed recommendations for ST1 a framework for participation in any ICANN Constituency that is objective, standardized, and clearly stated;
- The WT will shortly discuss ST 2 developing recommendations for operating principles that are representative, open, transparent and democratic; and ST3 -- for creating and maintaining a database of all constituency members and others not formally a part of any constituency.
OSC Community Coordination Communications Work Team - Mason Cole - chair/Julie Hedlund - Staff - 20 January 2010
- In late October the WT provided recommendations to the OSC to enhance the GNSO¹s ability to solicit meaningful community feedback, to improve GNSO¹s coordination with other ICANN structures, and how to make gnso.icann.org more usable.
- In December the Staff provided to the WT a draft final report that included comments and revisions from the OSC.
- The Staff will work with the WT to make changes to the recommendations (now in the form of two reports) and the WT may reconvene to discuss further revisions. At present, there is no available estimate for delivery of the final set of recommendations.
OSC GNSO Council Operations Work Team (GCOT) - Ray Fassett - chair/Julie Hedlund - Staff - 20 January 2010
- In Seoul, the Council asked WT to review ³interim² abstention procedure and recommend more permanent solution by 25 Nov. WT continues to discuss abstention procedure and has advised Council Chair of need for additional time to complete this task. Staff has assisted by drafting a new section of the procedures on abstentions and has submitted it to ICANN Legal staff and to the WT for review and discussion at the next WT meeting on 27 Jan.
- WT to resolve paper regarding the role of the Council as "strategic manager of the policy process",
- WT to finalize draft statement of interest policy
PPSC Policy Development Process work team (PDP-WT) - Jeff Neuman - chair/Marika Konings - Staff support - 20 January 2010
The PDP-WT divided its work into five stages and "overall issues". They are:
Stage I - Planning and Initiation
Stage II - Proposal Review and Voting Thresholds
Stage III – Working Group phase
Stage IV - Voting and Implementation
Stage V - Assessment of Policy Effectiveness and Compliance
The PDP WT is currently discussing Voting and Implementation (Stage IV) and reviewing report and recommendations for stage I, II and III. It will then consider final PDP phase, post-PDP assessment, in addition to other issues such as translation and timing.
PPSC Working Group model work team (WGWT) - J. Scott Evans - chair/ Marika Konings - Staff support - 20 January 2010
A call for consensus was launched to the WG WT to review the Working Group Guidelines and put the document out for public comment. The consensus call will end on 26 January and a public comment period is expected to be opened shortly following that, if no objections are received.
The proposed timeline for next steps is as follows:
- Consensus call to WG-WT to publish Working Group Guidelines document for public comment - deadline 26 January
- Final discussion / updates, if any on WG-WT meeting - 27 January
- Open public comment period on Working Group Guidelines document for 30 (?) days - end of January
- WG will decide at its meeting in early February whether a public consultation session will be organised in Nairobi
- Initial presentation of WG Guidelines to PPSC in Nairobi
- Following Nairobi, review public comments received during public comment period and comments made during Nairobi sessions and update Working Group Guidelines if appropriate - timing to be decided (TBC)
Constituency/Stakeholder Group Update Report For 23 November GNSO Council Meeting - Rob Hoggarth - Update remains the same - 21 December 2009
Renewed “Re-confirmation” Efforts For Existing GNSO Constituencies -
The Board adopted a concept of “re-confirming” the charters and operational mechanisms of each GNSO Constituency every three years (see - http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-28aug08.htm). The initial Constituency re-confirmation process was slated for earlier this year, but the process took a back seat as the Board focused its efforts on evaluation and approval of the new GNSO Stakeholder Group structures and approval of the processes and recommended Bylaws changes necessary for seating the new GNSO Council. Now that the Board has generally resolved those issues, it has set a deadline of March 2010 for formal re-submission of any revised re-confirmation proposals by the existing GNSO Constituencies and has directed the ICANN Staff to assist constituency leaders in developing those submissions (see - 30 October 2009 Board Meeting Resolutions - Consent Agenda Item 1.3).
The GNSO Constituency Operations Work Team is also continuing to make progress on a set of recommendations for review by the Operating Steering Committee. A document may be completed by the work team next month and that work product could be combined with the re-confirmation effort. Staff will reach out to community leaders to discuss these matters shortly after the upcoming holiday season.
The Commercial and Business Users Constituency and the Internet Service and Connectivity Providers Constituency have now provided their charter updates to reflect the new Stakeholder Group structures.
Potential New GNSO Constituencies Remain Under Consideration – ICANN Board members conducted substantial discussions in Seoul regarding the proposals for four new GNSO Constituencies. At its 9 December meeting the Board decided to “not approve” the proposed charters for the potential new CyberSafety, City TLDs and IDNgTLDs constituencies. The proponents for those potential constituencies can revise and re-submit their proposals in the future. The proposal for a new Consumers Constituency remains “pending.” The latest public documents regarding the proposals are located here - http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/newco-process-en.htm. The process also remains available for other interested parties to develop proposals for new GNSO Constituencies and to submit them to the Board.
Permanent Stakeholder Group Charters – When the Board approved the four (4) new GNSO Stakeholder Group structures earlier this year it acknowledged that the charters for the Commercial Stakeholder Group and the Non Commercial Stakeholder Group were to be transitional/temporary and that permanent charters were to be developed over the course of the coming year. The Board is already examining some options being considered by the community for what permanent charters might look like. Based on discussions in Seoul, the Staff will be working to develop opportunities for dialogue and further community discussion of these important matters.