The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council seeks volunteers to serve on the Latin Script Diacritics Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group (WG). Simultaneously, the GNSO Council is accepting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from those volunteers that are willing to serve as the WG Chair to this PDP. The objective of this PDP WG is to determine the limited circumstances in which a base ASCII generic top-level domain (gTLD) and the Latin script diacritic version of the gTLD can be simultaneously delegated.
What This PDP WG Will Do
The Latin Script Diacritics PDP WG will examine a single issue, seeking the appropriate mechanism in order to allow a single registry operator to simultaneously operate both ASCII gTLD and the Latin script diacritic version of the gTLD in circumstances where the gTLDs are NOT variants of each other. For clarification purposes, this PDP will use the Latin RZ-LGR as one of the relevant baseline foundational documents when delineating scope. This PDP must understand the work that was completed by the Latin Generation Panel, including the rationale and impact of the various exclusions of Section 3: Variant Sets within the aforementioned document. This PDP was initiated by the GNSO Council on 13 November 2024 during the GNSO Council meeting at ICANN81, with the PDP WG charter being adopted on 19 December 2024.
At a minimum, the WG will develop an Initial Report and a Final Report regarding the WG's recommendations on issues relating to the Latin script diacritics, following the processes described in Annex A of the ICANN Bylaws and the GNSO PDP Manual. If the WG concludes with any recommendations, the WG shall conduct a policy impact analysis and identify a set of metrics to measure the effectiveness of the policy change or recommend the subsequent policy Implementation Review Team (IRT) to do so.
Who Should Join
The GNSO Council invites interested parties within the GNSO community (i.e., GNSO's Stakeholder Groups and Constituencies), as well as parties from other Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees to join the PDP WG. The Latin Script Diacritics PDP WG is structured as an Open Model where it will be open to all parties interested in participating. The GNSO Council asks that volunteers take into account the expected membership criteria for this PDP WG on the basis of, but not limited to, the Working Group Member Skills Guide. Collectively as a group (i.e., not required of each and every member individually), the WG Members must:
- Possess basic knowledge of the Latin RZ-LGR, the new gTLD string similarity process, and Latin script diacritics.
- If possible, possess a practical understanding of what may be involved in a single registry operator running and ASCII and Latin script diacritic simultaneously.
- Be familiar with GNSO Working Group Guidelines and PDPs.
- Be prepared to manage a diverse workload, while collaborating with a WG of individuals with different backgrounds and interests in driving objectives.
- Be available to actively contribute to the discussion and activities of the WG for the duration of the effort.
- Be prepared to facilitate consensus and commit to reviewing the Consensus Playbook.
- Update their GNSO Statement of Interests (SOIs) in accordance with Section 6 of the GNSO Operating Procedures.
All persons actively participating in the WG will be considered Members and are expected to abide by the Statement of Participation, which is enforceable by the WG Chair and GNSO Council Leadership Team. See Section V in the draft charter for details. Anyone can join a WG as a Member at any point as long as they get up to speed and do not reopen previously closed topics, unless they provide new information. Further, where applicable, Members should represent the view of their appointing organization, and may be called on to provide the official position of their appointing organization.
WG Chair
The GNSO Council will appoint one (1) qualified, independent, and neutral Chair for the WG. The GNSO Council leadership and the Standing Selection Committee (SSC) leadership will jointly review the responses and will propose a Chair to the GNSO Council for its consideration.
The WG leadership is expected to carry out the role and responsibilities and meet the qualification as detailed in the Expectations for Working Group Leaders & Skills Checklist.
How to Join
Community members who wish to join the Latin Script Diacritics PDP WG should contact the GNSO Secretariat at gnso-secs@icann.org by Monday, 27 January 2025.
An EOI is requested for the role of Chair. Those who wish to serve as the Chair of the WG should complete the EOI and send it also to the GNSO Secretariat at gnso-secs@icann.org by Monday, 20 January 2025.
Background
For more information and to better prepare for participation on this PDP WG, please read its charter, as well as the Final Issue Report that was presented to the GNSO Council for the initiation of the PDP.