[council] RAA Negotiations Update - December 2012

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-3-14dec12-en.htm
RAA Negotiations Update - December 2012
14 December 2012

Over many months of negotiations, ICANN and the Registrars have made 
significant progress in negotiating the 12 recommendations from law enforcement 
authorities on improvements to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement. At 
ICANN's October 2012 meeting in Toronto, the negotiation teams described the 
agreements in principle on 11 of the 12 key law enforcement-recommended 
improvements, including the establishment of an abuse point of contact at each 
registrar; enhanced requirements to maintain updated information with ICANN; 
and robust data retention requirements. The documents posted in advance of the 
Toronto meeting also reflect the progress made with respect to the amendment 
topics proposed by the GNSO and ALAC. On one of the more complex items within 
the negotiations - the institution of validation and verification requirements 
on Whois data submitted by registrants - much progress has been made towards 
outlining an initial Whois verification process. However, a fundamental area of 
difference still remains between ICANN and the registrars, and agreement in 
principle has not been reached on this remaining topic.

ICANN and the registrars have jointly initiated work on the development of a 
strawman for a Proxy/Privacy Service Provider Accreditation Program. The 
working team hosted a session on this topic at ICANN's Public Meeting in 
Toronto to start soliciting community input into what such a program should 
encompass.

While much progress has been made on the recommendations provided by law 
enforcement, the GNSO and the ALAC, additional items remain for ICANN and the 
registrars to discuss. Both ICANN and the registrars have additional proposed 
changes which have not yet been negotiated. As previously discussed, it has 
been ICANN's position that the negotiations on key topics within the law 
enforcement recommendations need to come to resolution prior to concluding 
negotiations on these additional areas.

In Toronto, ICANN's new President and CEO, Fadi Chehadé, announced to the 
community that the changes to the RAA are one of his top priorities, and 
assured the community of his focus on this work. While in Toronto, an ambitious 
schedule was set out for the completion of the RAA negotiations, including the 
posting of a proposed RAA for public comment before the end of 2012. Since the 
Toronto meeting, the President and CEO has been working closely with ICANN 
staff to gain a deeper understanding of the RAA negotiation topics. The 
substantial amount of work spent on the Trademark Clearinghouse for the New 
gTLD Program as well as the organizational work to meet the operational 
excellence goals has pushed the RAA negotiations into December.  While the 
registrars and ICANN explored potential dates for negotiation in December 2012, 
both sides have agreed that between holidays, difficult travel schedules and 
the ICANN Prioritization Draw for New gTLDs, a December meeting is not 
feasible. Therefore, negotiations will resume in January 2013, and the 
anticipated date for publication of a draft RAA for community comment will be 
announced in January as well. ICANN thanks the registrars for their continued 
engagement in this negotiation process.
Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://gnso.icann.org