Hi everyone, please find below information about a new GNSO working group which was setup recently. there was discussion within the mailing list and during our latest monthly NCSG calls regarding the topic. we need now people to participate there as members or observers. our GNSO councillors can of course debrief more about the WG scope and related issues (as described in the charter below) Thanks! please feel free to contact Maria and me about this. Best Regards, Rafik http://gnso.icann.org/en/correspondence/background-briefing-10nov13-en.pdf Call for Volunteers to New GNSO Working Group on Curative Rights Protection for IGOs and INGOs Date: 11 July 2014 In Brief The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council seeks volunteers to serve on a Working Group to develop policy recommendations relating to access to curative rights protection mechanisms for certain international governmental organizations (IGOs) and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). What This Team Will Do The Working Group (WG) is tasked to provide the GNSO Council with a set of recommendations regarding whether: (1) the current Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and Uniform Rapid Suspension procedure (URS) should be amended to enable their access and use by IGOs and INGOs whose names or acronyms have been listed as protected identifiers, and if so how; or (2) if a new, separate, narrowly-tailored dispute resolution mechanism should be created for these protected IGO and INGO identifiers. Specific issues to be discussed by the WG are detailed in the WG's charter: http://gnso.icann.org/en/drafts/igo-ingo-crp-access-charter-24jun14-en.pdf. How This Team Will Work ICANN Working Groups use transparent, open processes. The meetings of this WG will be recorded, and the recordings will be available to the public. The mailing list for the WG will be archived publicly. WG members are expected to submit Statements of Interest (SOI <https://community.icann.org/display/gnsosoi/New+SOIs>). The group will collaborate using a public workspace. The WG is expected to follow the GNSO Working Group Guidelines <http://gnso.icann.org/council/annex-1-gnso-wg-guidelines-08apr11-en.pdf>. Working Group * members* are expected to attend conference calls and to actively participate in online discussions. If you are concerned about the amount of time or input that you will be able to provide to the group, but would like to remain informed of the group's activities, you are encouraged to participate as an *observer*. Participating as an *observer* will allow you to follow the group's work on the mailing list. Should you wish to actively participate in conference calls and online discussions, you will need to change your status from* observer* to *member*, which can be accomplished by simply emailing your request to the GNSO Secretariat ( [log in to unmask]). The GNSO Secretariat will endeavor to ensure your status is changed in time for the group's next meeting. How to Join The GNSO Council invites interested parties to join the WG, which will be open to anyone interested to join, including representatives from IGOs and INGOs. As noted above, you can join the WG either as a member or an observer. Please contact the GNSO secretariat <[log in to unmask]> ([log in to unmask]) if you wish to join the WG. Background In October 2012 the GNSO Council initiated <http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#201210> a Policy Development Process (PDP) to explore possible protections at the top and second level for IGOs and INGOs in all gTLDs. In November 2013, the GNSO Council unanimously adopted <http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#201311> the consensus recommendations developed by the IGO-INGO WG chartered to develop the PDP recommendations. One of these recommendations was for the GNSO Council to request an Issue Report – a mandatory preceding step to a PDP – on the question of access by IGOs and INGOs to the curative rights protections provided by the existing UDRP and URS. The Preliminary Issue Report was published <https://www.icann.org/public-comments/igo-ingo-crp-prelim-2014-03-10-en> for public comment on 10 March 2014 and a report of public comments received was published <https://www.icann.org/news/public-comment/report-comments-igo-ingo-crp-prelim-16may14-en.pdf> on 16 May 2014. On 25 May 2014 a Final Issue Report <http://gnso.icann.org/en/issues/igo-ingo-crp-access-final-25may14-en.pdf> incorporating relevant public comments received was sent to the GNSO Council. On 5 June 2014 the GNSO Council voted <http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#20140605-2> to initiate a PDP on the topic. The Charter for the PDP WG was adopted <http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#201406> by the GNSO Council on 25 June 2014. The WG Charter expressly limits consideration to those IGO and INGO identifiers that the original IGO-INGO WG had previously noted as eligible for protection. It also requires that the WG review previous community work on the topic. This WG is an opportunity for the GNSO and other interested community members to help develop specific recommendations that will assist in determining the nature and extent of access to and use of curative rights protections by IGOs and INGOs, in the form of the most appropriate dispute resolution mechanism (if any).