[council] Preliminary GNSO Issue Report on the Registrar Accreditation Agreement Amendments Comment Period

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-12dec11-en.htm

Preliminary GNSO Issue Report on the Registrar Accreditation Agreement 
Amendments Comment Period
Deadlines (*)

Open Date: 12 December 2011
Close Date: 13 January 2012 Time (UTC): 23:59

Important Information Links:
Public Comment 
Box<http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/raa-amendments-prelim-issue-report-12dec11-en.htm>
To Submit Your Comments 
(Forum)<mailto:raa-amendments-prelim-issue-report@xxxxxxxxx>
View Comments 
Submitted<http://forum.icann.org/lists/raa-amendments-prelim-issue-report/>

Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose

The Preliminary Issue Report on the Registrar Accreditation Agreement Amendment 
is published in response to the Board Resolution (2011.11.10.18.32) in Dakar 
regarding proposed amendments to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). 
Recognizing that continuing to evolve the RAA is an important element of a 
program to protect registrants and safeguard the stability of a single 
interoperable Internet, the Board directed Staff to commence immediate 
negotiations with registrars on the RAA. The Board further requested an issue 
report to address any amendment topics that remain unaddressed upon the 
conclusion of these bilateral negotiations.

This Report summarizes and categorizes these various amendment topic proposals 
and recommendations to amend the RAA in order to facilitate the commencement of 
a Board-requested policy development process (PDP) on the RAA.

ICANN seeks community input on the Preliminary GNSO Issue Report on the RAA 
Amendments. This Report will be updated to reflect such feedback in the Final 
Issue Report to be presented to the GNSO Council after the closing of this 
public comment forum. A PDP is expected to be commenced by the GNSO Council, as 
requested by the Board, after the release of the Final Issue Report.
Section II: Background

The RAA is the contract that governs the relationship between ICANN and its 
accredited registrars. The RAA was last amended by the ICANN Board in May, 
2009. At the time, some community members expressed their support for the 2009 
RAA, while others insisted that it had not gone far enough to address concerns. 
A joint drafting team ("RAA-DT") with members of the GNSO and At-Large 
Community was subsequently formed, and published proposals to improve the RAA. 
The RAA-DT Final Report contained a list of specific topics for potential 
future amendments to the RAA, including proposals from representatives from the 
law enforcement community to enhance their ability to respond to cyber-crime 
and DNS abuse.

In the Dakar RAA Resolution, the Board directed negotiations between the 
contracted parties & ICANN and Registrars, to be commenced immediately, so as 
to result in proposed amendments to be provided for consideration at ICANN's 
meeting in Costa Rica in March 2012. The Dakar RAA Resolution clarified that 
the subject of the negotiations is to include the recommendations made by law 
enforcement, those made by the GNSO RAA Drafting Team in its Final Report, as 
well as other topics that would advance the twin goals of registrant protection 
and DNS stability. This resolution further requested the creation of an Issue 
Report to undertake a GNSO PDP as quickly as possible to address remaining 
items suited for a PDP.

Separately, on 6 October 2011, the GNSO Council motion passed a motion 
requesting an issue report on certain of these law enforcement recommendations. 
Because of overlap in topics identified in this GNSO Council motion with the 
topics referenced by the Board in its Dakar RAA Resolution, the Preliminary 
Issue Report on the RAA Amendments addresses each of these requests.
Section III: Document and Resource Links

Documents posted for comment

 *   Preliminary GNSO Issue Report on the Registrar Accreditation Agreement 
Amendments:
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/raa/prelim-issue-report-raa-amendments-12dec11-en.pdf
 [PDF, 415 KB]

Additional Resources

 *   The ICANN Board's Dakar resolution on the RAA is posted at:
http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-28oct11-en.htm#7
 *   The Final Report on Proposals for Improvements to the RAA:
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/raa/raa-improvements-proposal-final-report-18oct10-en.pdf
 [PDF, 6.78 MB]
 *   Staff-published Discussion Paper on the Next Steps for the RAA:
http://gnso.icann.org/issues/final-raa-discussion-paper-13oct11-en.pdf [PDF, 
1.58 MB]
 *   Registrar Accreditation Agreement:
http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/agreements.html
Section IV: Additional Information None Staff Contact: Margie Milam, Senior 
Policy Counselor Email: 
Margie.milam@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:Margie.milam@xxxxxxxxx?subject=More%20information%20on%20the%20Preliminary%20GNSO%20Issue%20Report%20on%20the%20Registrar%20Accreditation%20Agreement%20Amendments%20public%20comment%20period>

Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
http://gnso.icann.org