GNSO Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data Policy Recommendations for ICANN Board Consideration

Purpose: This public comment proceeding seeks to obtain community input prior to Board action on the final policy recommendations of the Generic Names Supporting Organization Expedited Policy Development Process on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data.

Current Status: The GNSO Council approved the policy recommendations during its meeting on 4 March 2019.

Next Steps: The ICANN Board is expected to take action on the approved policy recommendations.

At its meeting on 4 March 2019, the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council voted to adopt all the recommendations contained in the Final Report from the Team that it had chartered to conduct an Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) to develop policy recommendations concerning the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data. The GNSO's adopted recommendations will now be sent to the ICANN Board for its review. In line with the ICANN Bylaws, this public comment forum is being opened so that the community has a reasonable opportunity to comment on the adopted recommendations prior to Board action.

The Final Report contains twenty-nine (29) recommendations addressing amongst others: purposes for processing data; details on the collection and transfer of specifically-identified data elements; display and redaction of specifically-identified data elements; treatment of current ICANN Consensus Policies; a proposed implementation bridge, and; items to be further discussed during Phase 2 of the EPDP Team's work.

On 17 May 2018, the ICANN Board of Directors (ICANN Board) adopted the Temporary Specification for generic top-level domain (gTLD) Registration Data ("Temporary Specification") pursuant to the procedures for the establishment of temporary policies in ICANN's agreements with Registry Operators and Registrars ("Contracts"). The Temporary Specification provides modifications to existing requirements in the Registrar Accreditation and Registry Agreements in order to comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"). Following adoption of a temporary specification, the procedure for Temporary Policies as outlined in the Registrar Accreditation and Registry Agreements, provides the Board "shall immediately implement the Consensus Policy development process set forth in ICANN's Bylaws." Additionally, the procedure provides this Consensus Policy development process on the Temporary Specification must be carried out within a one-year period as the Temporary Specification can only remain in force for up to one year; from the effective date of 25 May 2018, i.e., the Temporary Specification will expire on 25 May 2019.

On 19 July 2018, the GNSO Council initiated an Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) and chartered the EPDP on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data team. Unlike other GNSO PDP efforts, which are open for anyone to join, the GNSO Council chose to limit the membership composition of this EPDP, primarily in recognition of the need to complete the work in a relatively short timeframe and to resource the effort responsibly. GNSO Stakeholder Groups, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC), and the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) were each invited to appoint up to a set number of members and alternates, as outlined in the charter. In addition, the ICANN Board and ICANN Org were invited to assign a limited number of liaisons to this effort. A call for volunteers to the aforementioned groups was issued in July and the EPDP Team held its first meeting on 1 August 2018.

The EPDP Team published its Initial Report for public comment on 21 November 2018. From 21 December-31 January 2019, the EPDP Team reviewed all public comments received using the Public Comment Review Tool (PCRT). The EPDP Team incorporated public comments into its Final Report, where it believed warranted. The report, which was finalized and delivered to the GNSO Council on 20 February 2019 contains 29 recommendations, all of which received full consensus / consensus support, apart from two recommendations (#2 – additional purposes and #16 – geographic basis, which were labelled as 'divergence'). The GNSO Council considered the Final Report during its meetings on 14 February, 21 February and 4 March 2019 (see https://gnso.icann.org/en/group-activities/calendar for further details).

EPDP Team Final Report

• EPDP Charter
• EPDP Wiki
• Temporary Specification for generic top-level domain (gTLD) Registration Data

• Report