I think we should ask Avri, who is our representative on the Board/GNSO 
committee, to answer these questions....she is also our process guru on 
this stuff.  An important point it that the issues report is now out 
there for comments, so we need to comment on it. I reviewed it when Avri 
sent it around (while still in production) but it needs a serious 
examination....
We should have a discussion on this tomorrow.
cheers Stephanie

On 2015-07-20 9:52, Sam Lanfranco wrote:
> For the benefit of those in NCSG not familiar with the history or 
> technical details here let me see if I understand this correctly (in 
> layman’s/layperson’s terms). The ICANN board can request an Issue 
> Report on a policy issue and the GNSO Council cannot reject that 
> request. The Issue Report, once produced and accepted, also requires 
> that the GNSO Council initiate a Policy Development Process (PDP) 
> based on the content of the Issue Report.
>
> Is this a correct characterization of the process? If so, is it 
> correct that the scope and focus (charter?) for the resulting PDP get 
> refined in the deliberations in the development of the Issue Report? 
> If this is correct what is the dialogue between the GNSO Council and 
> the Board within the development of the Issue Report? Since the GNSO 
> Council is bound to initiate a PDP based on the Issue Report, does the 
> Board have the ability to reject, or refer back, a GNSO Council 
> produced Issue Report? If yes, this seems to leave the Board in the 
> driver’s seat with regard to PDP scope and focus. If no, while the 
> GNSO Council must initiate the PDP, it leaves the GNSO Council in the 
> driver’s seat with regard to PDP scope and focus.
>
> In either case the Board has the power to initiate the process. Does 
> it have the power to stop the process (by objecting to the Issue 
> Report)? What have I got right and got wrong here?
>
> Sam L.
>
>