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GNSO Review Draft Report Posted for Public Comment – Provide Your Feedback and Make Your Voice Heard!

8 June 2015
By Jen Wolfe

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picture of ccNSO chair Byron Holland

During this very busy period leading up to ICANN53, I encourage you to make time to provide your feedback on the Draft Report: Review of the GNSO.

Why is this important?

This review is part of ICANN's commitment to continuous improvement, accountability and transparency. It uses mechanisms and measures to maintain public confidence in the viability, reliability and accountability of ICANN.

The Generic Names Supporting Organization plays an important role – it is the policy-making body responsible for generic Top-Level Domains, such as .COM, .NET, and .ORG. The GNSO strives to keep gTLDs operating in a fair, orderly fashion across one global Internet, while promoting innovation and competition. Public comment period will remain open until 20 July. Your feedback will inform the preparation of the Final Report.

Westlake Governance Limited, the Independent Examiner, has drafted a report after conducting extensive work and consultation with representatives from the GNSO and other community members. The GNSO Review Working Party, the group of 20 committed individuals that I am proud to chair, has put in significant energy and time to help make the GNSO Review and recommendations useful and supportive of continuous improvement. After 17 meetings and two rounds of nearly 120 comments leading up to the Draft Report, I am grateful for the support and dedication of the members of our Working Party.

Yes, the Draft Report is long, but then the GNSO is a very complex and important organization. Several helpful features have been incorporated to assist you.

  • The Report Summary (Section 1, pages 4-20) offers a brief overview of Westlake’s work and outlines 36 proposed recommendations classified into four topical themes: Participation and Representation; Continuous Development; Transparency; and Alignment with ICANN’s Future.  
  • Word and pdf templates have been developed to facilitate input to this Public Comment and we encourage you to use them.
  • Members from the Westlake team will provide briefings on the Draft Report to the GNSO Council and several other groups during ICANN53. For more details, visit the GNSO Review Community wiki.

After considering community feedback via Public Comment process, in-person meetings at ICANN53 and ongoing interaction with the GNSO Review Working Party, Westlake will issue its Final Report at the end of August. The final report, along with public comments, will be considered by the Board. Once the Board takes action and accepts the report, the implementation phase will begin.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on the progress.

On behalf of the GNSO, I thank you for making your voice heard!

Jen Wolfe is Chair of the GNSO Review Working Party

Helpful Information

Westlake Governance contact: gnsoreview@westlakegovernance.com

Authors

Jen Wolfe

GNSO Council, Chair of the 2014 GNSO Review Working Party