[council] Staff report to Council of 18 November

["Paul Verhoef" <paul.verhoef@xxxxxxxxx>]

Staff Report to the GNSO Council of 18 November 2004

1.      The recruitment of the Senior Officer Policy Coordination Support and 
the GNSO Policy
Officer is advancing well. Some logistical problems were encountered after the 
ads where put on a
bulletin board in Brussels where the majority of Brussels-based policy/lobbying 
jobs for the EU are
advertised. It resulted in some 250 applications for 3 vacancies we published 
there. Interestingly
enough, there were many excellent applications and ICANN seem to have become of 
considerable
interest in the mainstream job market which in itself is an encouraging sign. 
We have evaluated all
applications and distilled first lists for the positions. Currently, a first 
round of initial
interviews is conducted with the aim to have shortlists of some 4-5 candidates. 
As soon as those
lists are established, fully-fledged interview will be held and contract 
negotiations will start
with the winning candidates. We have arranged for a representative from the 
Council to participate
in the interview process. The current timeframe is that we hope to conclude the 
interviews of the
senior role before Capetown and that of the policy officer role before the Xmas 
break so that
contract negotiations can be concluded early january. Commencement depends in 
part on availability
of the candidates.

2.      First an overview of broader ICANN developments. ICANN staff is 
advancing on a number of
fronts notably recruitment throughout the organisation, process improvements 
and tools, the
establishment of the first Strategic Plan (launch foreseen for Tuesday 16 
November), the .NET rebid,
the actions regarding ongoing litigation, the initial phases of the ccNSO and 
their imminent
election procedure of 2 Board members, the recent signing of the ASO MoU, 
preparations for the
Capetown meeting, discussions with ccTLD managers, ongoing re-delegations, and 
participation in a
limited number of important conferences and workshops worldwide. I refer to the 
ICANN web-site for
detailed information regarding many of these activities. 

3.      Issue of direct interest to the Council are the active status of the 
transfer policy since
12 November, the approval of new dispute resolution service providers, and the 
commencement of
negotiations with 2 sTLD applicants, namely .TRAVEL and .POST. Details are 
available of the ICANN
web-site.

4.      ICANN staff is progressing on the Strategy for the Introduction of New 
gTLD's and the
Commentary on the initial positions taken in the Council on the New Registry 
Services.  On the New
gTLD Strategy, ICANN staff is in contact with a number of organisations that 
had been approaches in
the first half of this year to provide an expert opinion on issues of their 
competence and relevant
to the issue but they have not yet been able to deliver us their opinions. This 
concerns in
particular the IETF/IAB and WIPO. On the Commentary of the New registry 
Services PDP position, we
are targetting to deliver this to the Council at the first possible 
opportunity, hopefully within
the next week. Staff has had to consider the ramifications of the proposed 
position in the context
of ongoing litigation.

5.      The GNSO Review is underway. As mentioned in earlier correspondence, 
Patrick Sharry a
management consultant has been retained by staff to perfom the external 
consultancy role. Patrick is
foreseen to attend the Council meeting on 18 November to present himself and 
give an overview of his
works schedule. Everything is still on track for a report to the Board by 
Capetown, although
deadlines are very tight.       

6.      Staff has followed in detail the discussions on WHOIS in the relevant 
Task Forces. Senior
Staff would be interested to understand what concrete proposals the Council has 
in mind putting to
the Board in Capetown, what timeline is foreseen, what the timelines are for 
remaining issues, and
how the Council would foresee to treat any GAC advice?

7.      A parallel development of interest to the Council is the establishment 
of the UN Working
Group on Internet Governance (www.wgig.org) and the recent announcement of its 
members. Staff has
invited both the Chair of the Working Group, Mr.Desai, as well as the Head of 
the Secretariat,
Mr.Kummer, to participate in the Capetown meeting.

Paul


____________________________________
Paul Verhoef
Vice President Policy Development Support
ICANN
6 Rond Point Schuman, Bt.5
B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel.: +32.2.234 7872
Fax: +32.2.234 7848
www.icann.org