[council] NGPC Adopts Resolution Accepting Nine Items of GAC Beijing Advice on New gTLDs

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-06jun13-en.htm
NGPC Adopts Resolution Accepting Nine Items of GAC Beijing Advice on New gTLDs
6 June 2013

The ICANN Board New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) met on 4 June 2013 and 
adopted a resolution accepting nine items of the GAC's Beijing advice with 
respect to New gTLD applications. The Resolution addresses most though not all 
of the GAC's non-Safeguard Advice and does not address any of the Safeguard 
Advice in Annex 1 of the GAC Beijing Communiqué. As such, this Resolution 
represents only the first of what will be a series of NGPC decisions addressing 
the GAC's Beijing advice.

The NGPC took action to adopt the Scorecard attached to the Resolution as Annex 
1. The Scorecard does the following: 1) it lists the nine items of 
non-Safeguard Advice addressed by the NGPC to date; 2) it indicates that the 
NGPC accepts each of those items of advice; and 3) it describes how ICANN will 
implement the advice. You can find the Resolution and Annex 1 Scorecard 
here<https://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-new-gtld-04jun13-en.htm>
 as well as the letter on the NGPC's action from Steve Crocker, Chair, ICANN 
Board of Directors to Heather Dryden, Chair, Governmental Advisory Committee 
here<https://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/crocker-to-dryden-06jun13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 2.68 MB].

The NGPC also addressed the following additional matters from the GAC Beijing 
Communiqué:

1.     Written Briefing on the ability of an applicant to change its 
applied-for string
In Section IV.1.d of the GAC Beijing Communiqué, the GAC requested a "written 
briefing about the ability of an applicant to change the string applied for in 
order to address concerns raised by a GAC Member and to identify a mutually 
acceptable solution." In response to the GAC's request, a written briefing on 
this matter is attached to the letter to Heather Dryden as Appendix 2.

2.     Protections for Intergovernmental Organizations

In Section IV.1.g of the GAC Beijing Communiqué, the GAC reiterated its advice 
that "appropriate preventative initial protection for the IGO names and 
acronyms on the provided list be in place before any new gTLDs would launch." 
The GAC also noted that it was "mindful of outstanding implementation issues 
and commits to actively working with IGOs, the Board, and ICANN Staff to find a 
workable and timely way forward." The NGPC appreciates the GAC's willingness to 
collaborate to address the outstanding implementation issues. So that we may 
move forward, the NGPC formally requests that the GAC and a small number of 
NGPC members and ICANN staff begin a dialogue on the issues raised by the GAC. 
The NGPC's formal request was sent under separate cover and may be seen 
here<https://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/crocker-to-dryden-2-06jun13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 285 KB].

3.     Public Interest Commitments Specifications

In Section IV.5 of the GAC Beijing Communiqué, the GAC requested, "more 
information on the Public Interest Commitments Specifications on the basis of 
the questions listed in annex II." The NGPC's responses to these questions are 
attached to the letter to Heather Dryden as Appendix 3.

Future Work of the NGPC

As noted above, the 4 June 2013 Resolution only addresses a portion of the 
GAC's Beijing Advice. The NGPC has scheduled meetings on 11, 18 and 25 June to 
address the remaining items of advice, most notably the Safeguards Advice in 
Annex 1 of the GAC Beijing Communiqué.

The New gTLD evaluation and objection processes remain on track while the NGPC 
continues its deliberations. The NGPC is prioritizing its work in order to 
allow the greatest number of applications to move forward as soon as possible. 
We will continue to provide updates on the NGPC's progress in responding to the 
GAC Beijing Advice.

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