Preliminary Report | Meeting of the New gTLD Program Committee 27 June 2012

Note: On 10 April 2012, the Board established the New gTLD Program Committee, comprised of all voting members of the Board that are not conflicted with respect to the New gTLD Program. The Committee was granted all of the powers of the Board (subject to the limitations set forth by law, the Articles of incorporation, Bylaws or ICANN's Conflicts of Interest Policy) to exercise Board-level authority for any and all issues that may arise relating to the New gTLD Program. The full scope of the Committee's authority is set forth in its charter at http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/new-gTLD.

Formal Minutes are still to be approved by the New gTLD Program Committee. This has not been approved by the New gTLD Program Committee and does not constitute minutes but does provide a preliminary attempt setting forth the unapproved reporting of the resolutions from that meeting. Details on voting and abstentions will be provided in the Minutes, when approved at a future meeting.

NOTE ON ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED WITHIN PRELIMINARY REPORT – ON RATIONALES -- Where available, a draft Rationale for each of the Board's actions is presented under the associated Resolution. A draft Rationale is not final until approved with the minutes of the Board meeting.

A Meeting of the New gTLD Program Committee of the ICANN Board of Directors was held on 27 June 2012 at 17:00 UTC.

Committee Chairman Cherine Chalaby promptly called the meeting to order.

In addition to the Chair the following Directors participated in all or part of the meeting: Rod Beckstrom, Chris Disspain, Bill Graham, Erika Mann, Gonzalo Navarro, Ray Plzak, George Sadowsky, Mike Silber, Judith Vazquez and Kuo-Wei Wu.

Thomas Narten, IETF Liaison, and Thomas Roessler, TLG Liaison, were also in attendance as non-voting liaisons to the committee.

R. Ramaraj sent apologies.

This is a preliminary report the Meeting of the New gTLD Program Committee, which took place on 27 June 2012.

The Chair introduced the agenda for the meeting.

  1. Consent Agenda

    The Committee took the following action:

    Resolved, the following resolutions in this Consent Agenda are approved:

    1. Approval of Committee Minutes:

      Resolved (2012.06.27.NG01), the New gTLD Program Committee approves the minutes of the 10 April 2012 New gTLD Program Committee meeting.

      Resolved (2012.06.27.NG02), the New gTLD Program Committee approves the minutes of the 6 May 2012 New gTLD Program Committee meeting.

      Resolved (2012.06.27.NG03), the New gTLD Program Committee approves the minutes of the 29 May 2012 New gTLD Program Committee meeting.

    Eleven Directors voted in favor of Resolutions 2012.06.27.NG01, 2012.06.27.NG02, and 2012.06.27.NG03. One Director was unavailable to vote on the Resolutions. The Resolutions carried.

  2. Main Agenda

    1. Reconsideration Request 12-1

      The Committee discussed the recommendation of the Board Governance Committee regarding Reconsideration Request 12-1, including a history of the Request and that there may be new information available to assist the New gTLD Program Committee in its further consideration of the GNSO Recommendations at issue.

      The Committee then took the following action:

      Whereas, the Board Governance Committee has reviewed Reconsideration Request 12-2 submitted by the International Olympic Committee on 10 May 2012 concerning the New gTLD Program Committee's 10 April 2012 decision on the GNSO Recommendation for Protection of Red Cross and International Olympic Committee Names in New gTLDs (http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-new-gtld-10apr12-en.htm).

      Whereas, the BGC has determined that Reconsideration Request 12-1 should be denied.

      Whereas, the BGC stated in its recommendation: "Though reconsideration is not proper in this instance, the BGC notes the use of the phrase "at this time" in the 10 April 2012 decision. As a matter of fairness, the BGC invites the New gTLD Program Committee to evaluate whether its decision on the GNSO Recommendations relating to the IOC is now ripe for determination given that the public comment period on the recommendations has now closed."

      Whereas, Reconsideration Request 12-1 and the BGC's recommendation have been posted on the ICANN website at http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/governance/reconsideration.

      Resolved (2012.06.27.NG04), the New gTLD Program Committee adopts the recommendation of the BGC that Reconsideration Request 12-1 be denied, as the requestor did not satisfy the requirements to bring a reconsideration request. The request did not identify material information that the New gTLD Program Committee failed to take into consideration when taking its 10 April 2012 decision.

      Resolved (2012.06.27.NG05), the New gTLD Program Committee directs the President and CEO to review inputs received after the 10 April 2012 decision on this matter and provide an update to the New gTLD Program Committee.

      Eleven Directors voted in favor of Resolutions 2012.06.27.NG04, 2012.06.27.NG05. One Director was unavailable to vote on the Resolutions. The Resolutions carried.

      Rationale for Resolutions 2012.06.27.NG04 – 2012.06.27.NG05

      ICANN's Bylaws call for the Board Governance Committee to evaluate and make recommendations to the Board with respect to Reconsideration Requests. See Article IV, section 3 of the Bylaws. The New gTLD Program Committee, delegated the powers of the Board on this issue, has reviewed and thoroughly discussed the BGC's recommendation with respect to Reconsideration Request 12-1 and finds the analysis sound.

      Having a Reconsideration process whereby the BGC reviews and makes a recommendation to the Board (here, through the New gTLD Program Committee) for approval positively affects the transparency and accountability of ICANN. It provides an avenue for the community to ensure that staff and the Board are acting in accordance with ICANN's policies, Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation.

      To assure that the New gTLD Program Committee continues to remain accountable to the ICANN community, the Committee now seeks an update on the inputs received on this issue, including the close of public comment, the community comment (including the IOC/Red Cross and the Governmental Advisory Committee) received at the ICANN meeting in Prague, and the status of work within the GNSO on this issue.

      Adopting the BGC's recommendation has no financial impact on ICANN and will not negatively impact the systemic security, stability and resiliency of the domain name system.

      The Chair called the meeting to a close.