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Notes on 16 February 2017 APAC Space web conference – Recap of New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process (PDP)

Notes on 16 February 2017 APAC Space web conference – Recap of New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process (PDP)

Owned by Philadel Yeo
Last updated: Mar 04, 2025 by Aleksey Khapchenko (Unlicensed)Version comment

Introduction

 To kick off the first APAC Space of 2017, the meeting did a recap of the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process (PDP) for the benefit of newcomers to APAC Space. The inaugural APAC Space Survey 2017 was also introduced and officially launched to gather community’s feedback on interests and priorities for discussion topics at APAC Space.

Attendance at the web conference was good with 58 participants in total, including 41 community members ranging from regional Contracted Parties, Fellows, Civil Society members, Academics to Business stakeholders.\

Jia-Rong Low, VP and Managing Director, Asia Pacific, ICANN and Edmon Chung, CEO DotAsia, welcomed the participants. Jia-Rong explained that APAC Space is a “Practice Ground” to facilitate community to contribute to ICANN’s policy work. Hence, APAC Space discussions are community-led and community-moderated. Community members are urged to speak up during the community-led discussion.

Recap: New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process (PDP)

To provide background on what led to the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP, Mary Wong, Senior Policy Director, ICANN, briefly introduced the ICANN community structure, how a Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) PDP was developed, and the 2012 New gTLD Program. 

Mary provided an update on the scope and issue highlights of the PDP and stressed that recommendations will remain in place for future expansion of gTLDs unless the PDP Working Group (WG) determined that changes were needed. The WG meets bi-weekly and has a bi-weekly plenary session. Apart from participating in the WG, community could also contribute to its work by providing input during public comment periods.

The PDP WG aims to issue an initial report by end-2017 followed by a community comment period. Thereafter, a final report is targeted to be issued in mid-2018 and implementation may take place starting in 2019.

More details of the PDP can be found in the presentation slides at https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/GSEAPAC/pages/114296860/APAC+Space.

Community Discussion

Community lead Edmon Chung, CEO, DotAsia, led the subsequent community discussion and Q&A. The salient points of discussion are:

  • Jeffrey Neuman, PDP WG co-chair, and Michael Flemming, co-group lead for Work Track 2, introduced themselves to the community. Jeffrey highlighted that the PDP WG is constantly looking for participants in the WG, and in community comment periods. Michael further updated that the PDP WG is looking for new ways to facilitate the policy development work so that it would be easily understood and accessed, with the aim of boosting community participation.
  • The Community Comment 2 for the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP is targeted to be launched in early March 2017 prior to ICANN58 and will be open to community comment for 40 days. The PDP WG is looking for community feedback on their experience in the 2012 New gTLD round, and recommendations for policy.
  • When joining a PDP WG, APAC community is encouraged to ask questions, as well as to read the basic documents such as the WG Charter and the latest work done by the WG’s.
  • A community member raised that discussion on geographic names had been overlooked in relation to the PDP’s Work Track 4: Internationalized Domain Names/Technical & Operational. It was clarified that discussion on geographic names issues is already part of the PDP’s Work Track 2: Legal/Regulatory/Contractual Obligations. The WG is also waiting for input from Cross-Community Working Group (CCWG) on Use of Country/Territory Names as Top-Level Domains (TLDs). The CCWG is expected to complete its discussion in the next two months, after which the focus will turn to use of country codes in Second-Level Domains.

Launch of APAC Space Survey 2017

The APAC Space Survey 2017 was officially launched and open from 16 February 2017 to 8 March 2017. The survey intends to gather community’s feedback on their interests and priorities for current ICANN-related policy issues that can be discussed at subsequent APAC Space meetings. Preliminary results of the survey will be shared during the APAC Space face-to-face meeting at ICANN58 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

AOB

  • Pam Little encouraged the APAC community to vote on the Global Amendment to the Base New gTLD Registry Agreement. The voting period closes 10 April 2017. While the amendments to the Base New gTLD Registry Agreement were not substantial, Pam highlighted two notable changes if the amendments were approved by voting:

i)               Registries may now seek a waiver on fees paid to ICANN

ii)             Registries may only need to notify registrars of changes to domain name prices i.e., registries need not notify ICANN of price changes

  • The next APAC Space will be a face-to-face meeting during ICANN58 on Wednesday, 15 March 2017, 08:30AM-10:30AM (CET). Community discussion on New gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDP will continue during this APAC Space. Breakfast refreshments will be provided to participants. There will be a meeting with the Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) during breakfast to discuss developments and challenges of APAC registries, and to find out more about how the Registries Stakeholder does its work. To suggest topics for general discussion during the upcoming APAC Space, please write to discuss@tld.asia.