Final Proposed Agenda 2025-01-09

GNSO Council Agenda 09 January 2025

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/QaefBg.  

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, 09 January 2025 at 05:00 UTC: https://tinyurl.com/p69xapak  

21:00 Los Angeles (Wednesday); 00:00 Washington DC; 05:00 London; 06:00 Paris; 08:00 Moscow; 16:00 Melbourne

GNSO Council Meeting Remote Participation: https://icann.zoom.us/j/91048235847?pwd=bmEHjk0uYT3sR2DIoE0c0yw4HKbM6O.1

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 (Part 1) Minutes (Part 2) of the GNSO Council Meeting on 13 November 2024 were posted on 02 December 2024.

Minutes of the GNSO Council Meeting on 19 December were posted on 30 December 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)

• Confirmation of Standing Selection Committee (SSC) Leadership and Members

Item 4: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Board Readiness Small Team Update (10 minutes)

During the 2023 GNSO Council Strategic Planning Session (SPS), the GNSO Council agreed that it should seek to limit the likelihood of the Council approving PDP recommendations that the ICANN Board is ultimately unable to adopt. To that end, the Council discussed the desire to ensure it submits “board-ready policy recommendations” to the Board, to the extent possible. Generally speaking, a policy recommendation is considered board ready when: the recommendation is likely to achieve board adoption, i.e., the recommendation has been approved by a GNSO Supermajority Vote and will most likely be considered by the Board to be in the best interests of ICANN Community and ICANN org.

In August 2024, a Council Small Team began meeting to further discuss the topic of board readiness. Specifically, the Small Team was tasked by GNSO Council to:

• Develop a survey/questionnaire related to the Board’s rejection/non-adoption of policy recommendations, which may be administered to relevant PDP Chairs, PDP WG members, ICANN org Support Staff, and Board members. (Examples: EPDP Temp Spec Phase 1 and 2; Subsequent Procedures)
• Administer the survey/questionnaire and conduct interviews with relevant PDP Chairs, PDP WG members, ICANN org Support Staff, and Board members. 
• Synthesize the findings from the survey/questionnaire and interviews into a set of findings and develop a set of recommendations intended to inform Council work on improving Board readiness.

Over the past few months, the Small Team has been conducting interviews with community members, beginning with EPDP (Temp Spec) Phase 1.

Here, the Council will hear an update on the Small Team’s progress.

4.1 - Introduction of Topic (Kurt Pritz, Board Readiness Small Team Chair) - Slide presentation

4.2 - Council Discussion 

4.3 - Next Steps

Item 5: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - Update on ICANN’s Enforcement of DNS Abuse Mitigation Requirements - Six Month Progress Update (20 minutes)

On 8 November 2024, ICANN announced the release of a six-month report, "ICANN's Enforcement of DNS Abuse Mitigation Requirements," detailing its enforcement actions under the new Domain Name System (DNS) Abuse mitigation requirements. The requirements, which became effective on 5 April 2024, require generic top-level domain registry operators (ROs) and registrars to take mitigation steps to address well-evidenced DNS Abuse, which, for the purposes of ICANN agreements, is limited to malware, botnets, phishing, pharming, and spam used as a vector for delivering the other forms of DNS Abuse.

During the initial six months of enforcement, from 5 April to 5 October 2024, ICANN's Contractual Compliance team launched 192 DNS Abuse investigations involving contracted parties. This enforcement effort led to impactful results, including:

- Issuing formal Notices of Breach to an RO and a registrar for noncompliance with DNS Abuse mitigation requirements.
- Resolving 154 cases that resulted in the suspension of over 2,700 abusive domain names and the disabling of more than 350 phishing websites.

The six-month report provides additional context and details about the specific actions taken to keep the ICANN community informed and enhance transparency around the enforcement of DNS Abuse requirements.

Here, the Council will hear an update from ICANN Compliance and have an opportunity to ask questions.

5.1 - Introduction of Topic (Leticia Castillo, ICANN org Compliance) - Slide presentation

5.2 - Council Discussion 

5.3 - Next Steps

Item 6: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - EPDP Temporary Specification Phase 1, Recommendation 18 - Urgent Requests Trilateral Meeting Preparation (10 minutes) 

ICANN org convened an Implementation Review Team to assist ICANN in implementing the EPDP on the Temporary Specification Phase 1 Final Report, which began meeting in May 2019. ICANN org published the draft Registration Data Policy for public comment on 24 August 2022. Several commenters expressed dissatisfaction with the implementation of Recommendation 18, specifically around the issue of the response timeline for urgent requests. The relevant portion of Recommendation 18 reads, “A separate timeline of [less than X business days] will considered for the response to ‘Urgent’ Reasonable Disclosure Requests, those Requests for which evidence is supplied to show an immediate need for disclosure [time frame to be finalized and criteria set for Urgent requests during implementation].”

On 3 June 2024, the Board wrote to the GNSO Council, noting concerns with the proposed urgent request timeline of business days as not fit for purpose, as truly urgent requests should be responded to within minutes or hours rather than business days. Recognizing this, the Board also noted there is no universal mechanism for registrars to authenticate law enforcement entities. The GNSO Council responded on 29 August 2024, agreeing with the Board’s concerns and suggesting a trilateral meeting between the Board, GNSO Council, and GAC to discuss a potential path forward in light of the concerns. 

On 15 October 2024, the GAC wrote to the Board, recommending, “[f]or the work on authentication, we would support the establishment of a joint PSWG/CPH task force. For the work on the response time for authenticated requests, we invite the Board and the GNSO Council to identify an expedited procedure for addressing this workstream. We strongly suggest resuming the work of the IRT, which was halted last summer.”

A trilateral meeting was held on 4 November 2024 and the Board, GAC, and GNSO Council discussed next steps, including potentially resuming discussions with the IRT. The Council discussed this issue in detail during its meeting on 19 December 2024. 

Here, the Council will prepare for the next trilateral meeting with the ICANN Board, GAC, and GNSO Council.

6.1 - Introduction of Topic (Nacho Amadoz, GNSO Vice-Chair)

6.2 - Council Discussion

6.3 - Next Steps

Item 7: COUNCIL DISCUSSION - EPDP Phase 1 on the Temporary Specification - Implementation Question re: Billing Contact (20 minutes)

During the ICANN81 GNSO Council Wrap-Up, Thomas Rickert provided an update regarding the implementation of EPDP Temp Spec Phase 1 recommendations. Thomas is the current GNSO Council Liaison to the EPDP Temp Spec Phase 1 Implementation Review Team (IRT). Thomas noted that the IRT expressed the view that the absence of a reference to billing contact data was a drafting error, and the EPDP Team intended for the collection of billing contact data to be optional and not mandatory.

The Registration Data Policy was published on 21 February 2024, and the policy has an effective date of 21 August 2025. The EPDP Phase 1 policy recommendations do not reference billing contact data, and the Registration Data Policy also makes no reference to billing contact data.

In the interest of transparency, Thomas requested that all Councilors consult with their respective groups to ensure that others are properly informed and agree with the interpretation raised by the registrars within the IRT. Accordingly, Councilors were asked to consult with their groups. The Council discussed this topic during its meeting on 19 December 2024 and asked for additional background information on the topic. 

The Council is being asked to consider the questions below:

1. Does the Council confirm billing contact was in scope for the EPDP on the Temp Spec - Phase 1 Team? 
2. Does the Council confirm:

1. the collection of billing contacts by registrars should continue to be required as per current RAA requirements because EPDP Phase 1, by being silent on this, did not mean to change this requirement, OR
2. the collection of billing contacts by registrars should become optional because EPDP Phase 1, by being silent on this, meant to change the RAA requirement?

Here, the Council will discuss the above questions and determine next steps.

7.1 - Introduction of Topic (Thomas Rickert, GNSO Council Liaison to the EPDP (Temp Spec) Phase 1 IRT) 

7.2 - Council Discussion

7.3 - Next Steps

Item 8: COUNCIL DISCUSSION: Review of Projects List and Action Decision Radar (35 minutes)

During the GNSO Council’s 2023 strategic planning session, the Council discussed the topic of how to be an effective manager of the GNSO’s Policy Development Process (PDP). In recognition of the importance of regularly reviewing the Council’s portfolio of work, the Council agreed to the following action item, “During a session at ICANN79, Council to prepare for a careful review of the work captured in the Program Management Tool (PMT) that will conclude or initiate prior to the next AGM, or continue beyond the next AGM[.]” 

The Council conducted this inaugural review of the Projects List during its Working Session at ICANN79 on Sunday, 3 March 2024, and continued its review of the Action Decision Radar (“ADR”) during the 16 May 2024 meeting due to time constraints.

Here, the Council will continue this practice and review the contents of the Projects List and ADR and discuss next steps in preparation for the upcoming Strategic Planning Session.

8.1 - Introduction of Topic (Tomslin Samme-Nlar, GNSO Vice-Chair) 

8.2 - Council Discussion

8.3 - Next Steps

Item 9: Any Other Business (15 minutes)

9.1 - GNSO Liaison to the ccNSO update

9.2 - ICANN82 - update on planning and draft GNSO schedule

9.3 - SPS reminders

9.4 - Public Comment Opportunities

• ICANN FY26–30 Operating & Financial Plan, ICANN/IANA FY26 Op Plans & Budgets
• Draft PTI FY26 Operating Plan and Budget

9.5 - IGF/WSIS+20 Small Team

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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-8 21:00 (Wednesday)

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

New York/Washington DC, USA (EDT) UTC-5 00:00

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

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

Paris, France (CEST) UTC+1  06:00

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

Singapore (SGT) UTC+8  13:00

Melbourne, Australia (AEST) UTC+11 16:00

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For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com and https://tinyurl.com/p69xapak.