Hi all,

I am sending here a report and summary of the last GNSO Council call as it was done previously by other councilors.

The previous GNSO council call was held on the 22nd February and we had our NCSG Policy call prior to it

You can review the agenda, motions, listen to recordings, and  check the transcript :

• We voted unanimously the motion for the Adoption of the Charter related to the next steps for the ICANN Procedure of Handling WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law, creating a new Implementation Advisory Group. This was a topic of discussion for a while and we finally reached closure. We discussed it with regard to the context of different Whois related efforts such as GDPR compliance, RDS WG, Privacy and Proxy Services implementation and ongoing Whois review. Taking into consideration the current workload and uncertainty, it was agreed to postpone the call for volunteers after 1st June. By that time, NCSG will be able to appoint representatives (up to the 3).

• We voted unanimously the motion for the replacement for GNSO member for the Second Security, Stability, and Resiliency of the DNS (SSR2) Review Team. GNSO council had to do the replacement since James Gannon resigned from the review team. The council tasked the Standing Selection Committee (SSC) to nominate a replacement from the existing pool of candidates. The SSC nominated Rao Naveed bin Rais to replace James Gannon on the SSRT-RT. Congratulations to Rao who is also an NCSG member. the SSR2 RT is  still discussed by SO/AC leaders (previous status update)

• Discussed the update to the council regarding the proposal for a new vehicle to replace the Cross Community Working Group on Internet Governance (CCWG-IG). The CCWG-IG was tasked in last August by GNSO council to work on suggesting a new vehicle since several parts of GNSO expressed concerns regarding the CCWG-IG and if the CCWG model fits the purpose. The group chose a new structure called Engagement Group to alleviate concerns about CCWG and made an adjustment to revised charter to add more provisions on reporting and accountability. The topic will be discussed again during the public council meeting in Puerto Rico and during the joint meeting between GNSO and ccNSO.

• Discussed the update from GNSO Standing Committee on Budget and Operations (SCBO) regarding the council comment on Draft FY19 ICANN Operating Plan and Budget. The SCBO, composed by councilors and some subject matter experts. was tasked by the council to review the budget and provide comments relevant to GNSO core business in term of Policy work. The SCBO is finalizing the latest version of the comment that should be submitted by 8th March in absence of objection from the council

• ICANN staff provided an update regarding Draft Post-Implementation Review Framework. While the policy development process includes details on the policy and implementation phases, the review of policy as a fairly new component that is still under development. The staff provided several questions to the council such as what should be a trigger for policy review. The staff was tasked to further develop the draft policy post-implementation review framework, including the development of a detailed process flow document. That will be topic for discussion in April council call.

• GNSO council leadership provided a planning for ICANN61 and in particular GNSO schedule there. One change concerns the agenda of the Sunday GNSO working session with replacing usual policy updates with a discussion on effective policy development with PDP WGs leadership. This topic comes as an outcome of the discussion held during the GNSO council strategical meeting last January in LA.

• Council finished the call with a fairly administrative item regarding the assignment of Council Liaisons to different groups (the liaisons should be councilors), confirming or appointing new liaisons. The position of council liaison to ccNSO was left to next meeting. Council had previously a discussion, again during the strategical meeting, about the role of liaison and that description will be documented in GNSO website at procedures web page.

Please feel free to ask any question or clarification, I will be glad to provide more details.

Best Regards,

Rafik Dammak

NCSG Policy Committee Chair