Final Proposed Agenda 2024-09-19

Please note that all documents referenced in the agenda have been gathered on a Wiki page for convenience and easier access: https://icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/15ifBg.  

This agenda was established according to the GNSO Operating Procedures v3.5, updated on 15 March 2023.

For convenience:

• An excerpt of the ICANN Bylaws defining the voting thresholds is provided in Appendix 1 at the end of this agenda.
• An excerpt from the Council Operating Procedures defining the absentee voting procedures is provided in Appendix 2 at the end of this agenda. 

GNSO Council meeting on Thursday, 19 September 2024 at 05:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/47y2u9fh  

22:00 Los Angeles (Wednesday); 01:00 Washington DC; 06:00 London; 07:00 Paris; 08:00 Moscow; 15:00 Melbourne 

GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: https://icann.zoom.us/j/92283565389?pwd=QnlHK1JSbzdiSFFZSjRjamxMTkNGdz09

Councilors should notify the GNSO Secretariat in advance if they will not be able to attend and/or need a dial out call.

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Item 1: Administrative Matters (5 minutes)

1.1 - Roll Call

1.2 - Updates to Statements of Interest

1.3 - Review / Amend Agenda

1.4 - Note the status of minutes for the previous Council meetings per the GNSO Operating Procedures: 

Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 18 July 2024 were posted on 02 August 2024.

Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 08 August 2024 were posted on 23 August 2024.

Item 2: Opening Remarks / Review of Projects & Action List (0 minutes)

2.1 - Review focus areas and provide updates on specific key themes / topics, to include review of Projects List and Action Item List. 

Item 3: Consent Agenda (5 minutes)

• Motion to Approve Proposed Modifications to GNSO Operating Procedures Relating to Election of Board Seat No. 13 
• Approval of the 2024 Customer Standing Committee (CSC) Slate. In accordance with Section 17.2 (d) of the ICANN Bylaw and per the CSC Charter, the full membership of the CSC must be approved by the GNSO Council. The Council approves the full slate of members and liaisons, noting that the ASO has declined to appoint a liaison.

Members:

Dmitry Burkov (EU)

Appointing Organization: RySG

Term: 1 October 2023 - 30 September 2025

Federico Neves (LAC)

Appointing Organization: ccNSO

Term: 1 October 2023 - 30 September 2025

Pablo Rodriguez (NA)

Appointing Organization: ccNSO

Term: 1 October 2024 - 30 September 2026

Rick Wilhelm (NA)

Appointing Organization: RySG

Term: 1 October 2024 - 30 September 2026

Liaisons:

Joe Abley

Appointing Organization: SSAC

Term: 1 October 2024 - 30 September 2026

Tracy Hackshaw

Appointing Organization: GAC

Term: 1 October 2024 - 30 September 2026

Hiro Hotta

Appointing Organization: RSSAC

Term: 1 October 2024 - 30 September 2026

Milton Mueller

Appointing Organization: GNSO (Non-Registry)

Term: 1 October 2023 - 30 September 2025

Holly Raiche

Appointing Organization: ALAC

Term: 1 October 2023 - 30 September 2025

Amy Creamer

Appointing Organization: PTI

Term: No term limit

ASO has advised that it will not send a liaison to the CSC for the 2024 slate.

Alternates:

Maarten Aertsen

Appointing Organization: SSAC

Term: 1 October 2024 – 30 September 2026

Gloria Atwine Katuuku

Appointing Organization: GAC

Term: 1 October 2024 – 30 September 2026

Ejikeme Egbuogu

Appointing Organization: ALAC

Term: 1 October 2023 – 30 September 2025

John Gbadamosi

Appointing Organization: GNSO (Non-Registry)

Term: 1 October 2023 – 30 September 2025

Daniel Migault

Appointing Organization: RSSAC

Term: 1 October 2024 – 30 September 2026

Nicklas Pousette

Appointing Organization: ccNSO

Term: 1 October 2024 – 30 September 2025

Item 4: COUNCIL VOTE - Supplemental Recommendation on Singulars/Plurals (20 minutes)

In March 2023, the ICANN Board approved the majority of the recommendations contained in the Final Report on the new gTLD Subsequent PDP, but also placed some recommendations into a pending status. The Council convened a small team that worked collaboratively with the ICANN Board to resolve all pending recommendations. While the majority of the pending recommendations were able to be adopted by the ICANN Board, recommendations across six Topics were non adopted by the ICANN Board. 

The Council tasked the Small Team Plus with developing Supplemental Recommendations on five of the six Topics, i.e., Registry Voluntary Commitments / Public Interest Commitments, Applicant Support, Terms and Conditions, String Similarity Evaluations, and Limited Challenge/Appeal Mechanisms. Based on the expected implementation as it relates to the Continued Operations Instrument (COI), the Small Team Plus determined it was unnecessary to develop a Supplemental Recommendation for Topic 22: Registrant Protections. The Small Team Plus developed Supplemental Recommendations for all five topics and shared them with the Council. Because of information received just prior to Council consideration in April 2024, the Council elected to defer consideration of the Supplemental Recommendation related to String Similarity Evaluations, or more specifically, singular/plurals. The new information received was a strawperson developed by ICANN org, which provided a potential path forward for singular/plurals. The Council determined that the strawperson was promising enough to task the Small Team Plus with considering whether the strawperson, or an amended version, could be agreed upon. The Small Team Plus worked to develop a Supplemental Recommendation, seeking to agree on a limited exception procedure for strings found to be singulars and plurals of each other in the same language. The Small Team Plus was ultimately unable to reach agreement on the exception procedure and ultimately reached consensus on proceeding without any exception procedure.

Here, the Council will vote on the Supplemental Recommendation on Singulars/Plurals.

4.1 - Introduction of Topic (Paul McGrady, Small Team Plus Chair)

4.2 - Council Vote (Voting threshold: GNSO Supermajority in order to trigger the threshold that “the Board shall adopt the recommendation unless more than two-thirds (2/3) of the Board determines that such policy is not in the interests of the ICANN community or ICANN.”)

4.3 - Next Steps

Item 5: COUNCIL VOTE - Registration Data Accuracy (20 minutes)

The Registration Data Accuracy (RDA) Scoping Team was initiated by the GNSO Council in July 2021 per the formation instructions. 

The Scoping Team completed Assignment #1 (enforcement and reporting) and Assignment #2 (measurement of accuracy) and submitted its write up to the Council on 5 September 2022. In its write up, the Scoping Team suggested moving forward with two proposals that would not require access to registration data, namely a registrar survey (recommendation #1) and a possible registrar audit (recommendation #2) that may help further inform the team’s work on measuring the effectiveness of current accuracy requirements and determining if further policy work may be needed. 

On 19 October 2023, ICANN org provided an update on Registration Data Accuracy efforts, in which it noted limitations and concerns with proceeding with the Scoping Team’s recommendation #1 (voluntary registrar survey) and registrar audit (recommendation #2). The Council voted to extend the deferral of the Accuracy Scoping Team’s recommendations by another six months during its meeting on 15 February 2024. 

Following discussion during the meetings in June and July, the Council discussed the limitations noted by ICANN org and determined there would be limited value in proceeding with the Scoping Team’s two recommendations (#1 and #2). The Council also discussed the limited value in restarting the Scoping Team at this time due to limitations in access to data for the purpose of assessing accuracy.

Given the importance of this issue within the ICANN community, however, the Council will continue to discuss how to best proceed on this topic and will vote to defer the consideration of the Scoping Team’s two recommendations for an additional six months.  

Here, the Council will vote to defer the Scoping Team’s recommendations #1 (voluntary registrar survey) and #2 (registrar audit).

5.1 - Introduction of Topic (Greg DiBiase, GNSO Chair) 

5.2 - Council Vote (Voting threshold: Simple Majority)

5.3 - Next Steps

Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Accuracy of Registration Data (20 minutes) 

Following the ICANN80 GNSO Council Wrap-Up session, the GNSO Council Chair asked Councilors to consider the following questions: 

1. Evaluation of Proposed Alternatives: In its write-up, ICANN noted limitations in processing data for the purpose of assessing accuracy and proposed two alternatives (analyzing historical audit data and engagement with Contracted Parties on ccTLD practices – see detail below). Is pursuing these alternatives worthwhile? If not, are there other alternatives for obtaining data Council should consider?
2. Consideration of Scoping Team Restart: Given the limitations with respect to access to data, would there be value in restarting the Scoping Team at this time?
3. Advancing the Topic: If restarting the Scoping Team at this time is not deemed advisable, what other ideas do you have to advance this topic given its importance to the ICANN community? 

During the Council’s July meeting, the Council agreed that restarting the Scoping Team at this time is not recommended. However, during the August meeting, some Councilors suggested potentially convening a small team to discuss how to make progress on this topic. Council Leadership has worked on a proposal of how to solicit additional feedback from GNSO groups with directed questions, in order to receive information from which an eventual small team (if that is the Council’s chosen vehicle) can decide how to handle the important topic of accuracy.

Here, the Council will discuss Council’s Leadership’s proposal.

6.1 - Introduction of Topic (Greg DiBiase, GNSO Chair)

6.2 - Council Discussion

6.3 - Next Steps

Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Policy Status Report: GNSO Policy & Implementation Working Group Recommendations (20 minutes)

In July 2013, the GNSO Council formed a Working Group, which was tasked to provide the GNSO Council with a set of recommendations on a number of questions that specifically related to policy and implementation in a GNSO context.

In June 2015, the GNSO Council adopted the Policy and Implementation Working Group Final Report, followed by Board approval of the parts pertaining to the ICANN Bylaws in September 2015. These recommendations resulted in the establishment of a set of new mechanisms, including the Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP), Consensus Policy Implementation Framework (CPIF), and others. 

As part of the GNSO Council resolution, it was recommended that “a review of these recommendations is carried out at the latest five years following their implementation to assess whether the recommendations have achieved what they set out to do and/or whether any further enhancements or changes are needed”.

The PSR discusses the contents of the Policy and Implementation Recommendations and their performance against stated objectives by the GNSO Council and the ICANN community, based on readily available data, staff observations, and analysis to date. The report is intended to serve as input to the GNSO Council’s review of the policy and implementation related efforts, including, for example: 

• The GNSO Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP)
• The GNSO Guidance Process (GGP)
• The GNSO Input Process (GIP)
• The Implementation Review Team (IRT) Principles & Guidelines
• The Consensus Policy Implementation Framework (CPIF)

Here, the Council will receive an update from the ICANN org staff who assisted in drafting the PSR.

7.1 - Introduction of Topic (Peter Eakin, Policy Research Specialist) - Slide presentation

7.2 - Council Discussion

7.3 - Next Steps

Item 8: Any Other Business (30 minutes)

8.1 - GNSO Council SPS 

8.2 - Update on ICANN81 planning and GNSO Draft schedule

8.3 - Latin Diacritics Public Comment Preliminary Issue Report

8.4 - Reminder: Informal Joint Meeting with GNSO Appointed Board Members and GNSO Council (25 Sept at 21:00 UTC) 

8.5 - Update from Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation Review Team Liaisons

8.6 - Contention sets for the New gTLD Program: Next Round (Next Round)

8.7 - Operational Design Phase Community Consultation Survey (deadline 27 Sept)

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Appendix 1: GNSO Council Voting Thresholds (ICANN Bylaws, Article 11, Section 11.3(i))

See https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article11.

Appendix 2: GNSO Council Absentee Voting Procedures (GNSO Operating Procedures, Section 4.4)

See https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/op-procedures-15mar23-en.pdf 

References for Coordinated Universal Time of 05:00 UTC 

Local time between March and November in the NORTHERN hemisphere

See https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/ for Dates for Daylight Saving Time and Clock Changes

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California, USA (PDT) UTC-7 22:00 (Wednesday)

San José, Costa Rica (CST) UTC-6  23:00 (Wednesday)

New York/Washington DC, USA (EDT) UTC-4 01:00

Buenos Aires, Argentina (ART) UTC-3 02:00

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (WAT) UTC+1 06:00

Paris, France (CEST) UTC+2  07:00

Moscow, Russia (MSK) UTC+3 08:00

Singapore (SGT) UTC+8  13:00 

Melbourne, Australia (AEST) UTC+10 15:00

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