Re: [council] ICANN, RySG Propose Amendment to New gTLD Registry Agreement

["James M. Bladel" <jbladel@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Marika.

And for Councilors, please note that I have been asked by the Registry Services 
Team at ICANN to share this message (below) with the Council:

-------------
Today, ICANN published for public comment proposed amendments to the base New 
gTLD Registry Agreement. ICANN is sending this communication to alert the GNSO 
Council of the proposed amendments. Should the GNSO wish to submit comments for 
consideration, they must be received by 23:59 UTC <x-apple-data-detectors://2> 
13 July 2016<x-apple-data-detectors://2>.

Comment 
now<https://www.icann.org/public-comments/proposed-amend-new-gtld-agreement-2016-05-31-en>.

Amendment Process – How We Got Here
A process for amending the Registry Agreement is defined in Section 7.7 of the 
Registry Agreement. All Registry Agreements based on the base New gTLD Registry 
Agreement contain these provisions.

The process is initiated when one party – ICANN or the Registries Stakeholder 
Group (RySG) – notifies the other that it wishes to propose changes to the 
Registry Agreement. The amendment process can be initiated no more than once 
per year and, following its initiation, ICANN and a Working Group appointed by 
the RySG may negotiate and mutually agree on proposed changes before publishing 
said changes for comment by the greater ICANN community.

In July 2014, over one year after the original base Registry Agreement was 
approved, the RySG notified ICANN of its desire to negotiate changes to the 
Registry Agreement.

The RySG then appointed a Working Group to negotiate an amendment with ICANN 
representatives. The goal was to arrive at terms that were mutually acceptable, 
so the revisions could be presented to all Registry Operators and the ICANN 
board for final approval. Following those negotiations, the teams agreed upon 
the proposed changes that have been published for public comment today.

In addition to posting the proposed changes for public comment and sending 
notification to the Applicable Registry Operators, ICANN published an 
announcement and a 
blog<https://www.icann.org/news/blog/amending-the-new-gtld-registry-agreement> 
to ensure community awareness.

ICANN invites the GNSO Council to read the proposed amendments and other 
published information, and provide input through the public comment process.

Next Steps
ICANN has initiated a 43-day public comment period. Once the public comment 
period closes, the RySG Working Group and ICANN will consider the comments 
received and make revisions, where appropriate, resulting in the final proposed 
amendment. The final proposal will be distributed to all Registry Operators and 
the ICANN board for approval. Registry Operator approval will be solicited as 
defined in Section 7.6(j)(ii) of the Registry Agreement.

If the amendments are approved by Registry Operators and the ICANN board, as 
provided in Section 7.7(c) of the Registry Agreement, they shall be effective 
and deemed amendments to the Registry Agreement upon 60 calendar days notice 
from ICANN to you.

Read the 
amendment<https://www.icann.org/public-comments/proposed-amend-new-gtld-agreement-2016-05-31-en>.

Please let me know if you have any questions. We look forward to any feedback 
the GNSO may have on the proposed amendments.

Best regards,

Cyrus Namazi
Vice President, Domain Name Services & Industry Engagement
Global Domains Division
ICANN
-------------

On May 31, 2016, at 15:39, Marika Konings 
<marika.konings@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:marika.konings@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

For your information.
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2016-05-31-en
ICANN, RySG Propose Amendment to New gTLD Registry Agreement

ICANN today issued for public comment a proposed amendment to the base New gTLD 
Registry 
Agreement<https://newgtlds.icann.org/sites/default/files/agreements/agreement-approved-09jan14-en.htm>.
 The public comment period ends 13 July 2016.

Comment 
now<https://www.icann.org/public-comments/proposed-amend-new-gtld-agreement-2016-05-31-en>.

The amendment proposed today reflects over 18 months of negotiations between 
representatives of ICANN and the Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG). These 
negotiations were conducted pursuant to Section 7.7 of the base agreement. The 
RySG initiated the process. Following the conclusion of the public comment 
period, ICANN and the RySG working group for these negotiations will consider 
the comments and submit the proposed final version of the amendment for 
approval by registry operators and the ICANN board (see Section 7.6 of the 
registry agreement). If these approvals are obtained, the amendment will become 
effective upon 60 days notice from ICANN to the registry operators.

Read the blog 
post<https://www.icann.org/news/blog/amending-the-new-gtld-registry-agreement>.

About ICANN

ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet. 
To reach another person on the Internet, you have to type an address into your 
computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know 
where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique 
identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit 
public-benefit corporation and a community with participants from all over the 
world. ICANN and its community help keep the Internet secure, stable and 
interoperable. It also promotes competition and develops policy for the 
top-level of the Internet's naming system and facilitates the use of other 
unique Internet identifiers. For more information please visit: 
www.icann.org<https://www.icann.org/>.