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PDP Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues

Last Updated:

Please note that the documents linked below related to the PDP are provided for informational purposes. Some documents are produced by the GNSO and others are not. To learn about the materials on the Active Project pages, please see this overview.

Background

The Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) is the contract that governs the relationship between ICANN and its accredited registrars. Its provisions also may have impacts on registrants and other third parties involved in the domain name system. In June 2013, the ICANN Board approved a new 2013 RAA. Registrars wishing to sell domain names in the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program recently launched by ICANN, and accredited registrars currently operating under the 2009 RAA and who will be renewing their contracts with ICANN will have to sign up for the 2013 RAA.

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, upon the conclusion of the RAA negotiations, would start a GNSO Policy Development Process (PDP) to address remaining issues not dealt with in the RAA negotiations that would be suited to a PDP.

The issues related to privacy and proxy services were identified as the only remaining issues. A privacy service allows domain name registration in the registrant's name, but all other contact details displayed in the publicly-accessible Registration Data Directory Service (RDDS) are those given by the privacy service provider, not by the registrant. A proxy service allows the registered name holder to license the use of the domain to a customer who actually uses the domain, while contact information displayed in the RDDS system is that of the proxy service provider.

With the Board's approval of the 2013 RAA, the GNSO initiated this PDP and chartered the working group on 31 October 2013. Its policy recommendations were adopted by the GNSO Council in January 2016 and adopted by the ICANN Board in August 2016. Subsequently, the ICANN Board directed the ICANN org to implement the recommendation.

Learn more about the implementation effort here; see the latest update of current IRT work in the GNSO Policy Briefing here.

Status:

Board Vote Status

Web Presence:

Responsible Staff Member:

  • Mary Wong

Working Group Members & Leadership and GNSO Liaison

For the latest information and status on this project:

Preliminary Issue Report:

Submitted on: 12 December 2011

Final Issue Report:

Submitted on: 6 March 2012

Reports & Documents on the 2013 RAA Negotiations:

Posted on: 15 July 2013

Staff Paper on the Conclusion of the 2013 RAA Negotiations:

Submitted on: 16 September 2013

GNSO Resolution on the Initiation of the PDP:

Adopted on: 31 October 2013

Summary: Resolved: The GNSO Council recommends to the ICANN Board of Directors the adoption of Thick Whois recommendations as detailed in section 7.1 of the Final Report [see link for details]

Working Group Charter:

Adopted on: 31 October 2013

Input from Supporting Organizations/Advisory Committees and GNSO Stakeholder Groups/Constituencies:

Working Group Initial Report:

Submitted on: 5 May 2015

Working Group Final Report:

Submitted on: 8 December 2015

GNSO Adoption of the Final Report:

Adopted on: 21 January 2016

Resolved: The GNSO Council adopts, and recommends that the ICANN Board of Directors adopt, all the PPSAI PDP Working Group's final recommendations in the Final Report.

Adopted on:

Summary: Resolved … [see link for details]

  • Link: TBD

GNSO Council Report to the ICANN Board

Submitted on: 9 February 2016

Public Comment Prior to ICANN Board Consideration:

Submitted on: 5 February 2016

Notification by the ICANN Board to the GAC to Request Input on Whether Policy Recommendations Raise Public Policy Issues:

Submitted on: 19 February 2016

Board Paper

Submitted on: 15 May 2015

ICANN Board Resolution Text:

Adopted on: 9 August 2016

Summary:

Resolved (2016.08.09.08), the Board hereby adopts all the final recommendations of the Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Issues PDP Working Group, as passed by a unanimous vote of the GNSO Council on 21 January 2016 ("Privacy/Proxy Policy Recommendations").

Resolved (2016.08.09.10), the Board acknowledges the GAC's advice from the Helsinki Communiqué regarding the Privacy/Proxy Policy Recommendations. The Board will consider the GAC's advice and provide input to the Implementation Review Team for consideration in implementation planning. [see link for details]

Notice of Policy Actions

Adopted on: 9 August 2016

Implementation Details:

Additional Information:

  • None