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Next Steps for the Technical Study Group & EPDP

During ICANN64, the Technical Study Group on Access to Non-Public Registration Data (TSG) presented a Draft Technical Model. The team took feedback from the community of a range of topics and is currently working to revise the Model to reflect the relevant comments. You can read more about this in Ram Mohan’s latest blog.

ICANN will share the model and pose questions to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), to understand if the EDPB sees this model as shifting the legal liability away from contracted parties who provide access to non-public gTLD registration data. We will present the model to the European Commission before that. A heartfelt thank you to the TSG for their hard, fast and impressive work over the past few months.

By design, the TSG’s work did not touch on decisions or recommendations on policy questions, leaving that to the Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Team on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data. Just before ICANN64, the EPDP Team finalized and submitted to the GNSO Council its Final Report, which the Council adopted on 4 March.

The Temporary Specification expires on 20 May. This deadline is looming, and we have to move forward to ensure that we have a gTLD registration policy in place that meets the requirements of the GDPR.

To that end, the next steps in the process are:

  1. ICANN org poses specific questions to the EDPB related to the Draft Technical Model.
  2. The public comment period for the EPDP Final Report closes on April 17. Once the comments have been consolidated, additional questions will be posed to the EDPB.
  3. The ICANN Board will consider the EPDP policy recommendations. I have sent a letter to GNSO Council Chair, Keith Drazek, to thank the council for its efforts, and to communicate the timing and process that remains.
  4. All questions posed to the EDPB will be published on ICANN.org.

The EPDP team is now transitioning into Phase 2 of its work, which will include a standard access mechanism for non-public gTLD registration data and issues in the Annex to the Temporary Specification. Any input we receive from the EDPB will help to inform that important work. Many thanks to the entire team who has worked at an unprecedented pace on Phase 1, and we look forward to supporting Phase 2 in its efforts.

Comments

    MARTYN RIPLEY  01:00 UTC on 15 April 2019

    Two reasons why the GDPR was brought into existence: Ensure that organisations are more aware that data needs protecting, especially concerning how data is managed. The inherent dangers which have come to light in recent years of hacking and cybercrime have, without a doubt, justified the aims of the GDPR. More control is the desire of the European Union to provide increased clarity and uniformity for organisations as to how they should be acting in the whole area of data control. The GDPR was brought in with overwhelming support in May 2016 and applicable to all member states of the EU as of 25 May 2018. As the GDPR is a regulation, it provides for an automatic legal obligation on the member states, so no new legislation is required to be drawn up.

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