Public Comment
GNSO New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Draft Final Report
Open Date
20 August 2020 23:59 UTC
Close Date
30 September 2020 23:59 UTC
Staff Report Due
21 October 2020 23:59 UTC
Brief Overview
Note: It is now possible to download all of the comments received in response to this public comment period.
Purpose: The objective of this Public Comment period is to share the Working Group's draft Final Report and present draft final recommendations and implementation guidance on topics within the Working Group's charter. The draft recommendations and implementation guidance included in this report are the culmination of years of Working Group deliberations and community input that take into account input received through a number of Public Comment periods, including a survey of existing Stakeholder Group / Constituency / Advisory Committee statements from the 2012 round of new gTLDs, a set of dozens of initial questions aimed at getting input on the processes and results of the 2012 new gTLD round, as well as comments on the Working Group's Initial Report and Supplemental Initial Reports. Given that some of the recommendations have been substantively updated since these earlier reports, this draft Final Report is being published for an additional Public Comment period. While the full report is open for comment, the Working Group would like input to focus on areas that have substantively changed since publication of the Initial Report and Supplemental Initial Report and in limited instances, questions that the Working Group has posed to the community for feedback.
Current Status: This draft Final Report is being posted for Public Comment as supported by the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Operating Procedures.
Next Steps: Upon the receipt of this Public Comment period, all comments will be considered by the Working Group, which will adjust the draft Final Report as applicable.
Section I: Description and Explanation
The GNSO's New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Working Group (WG), which was chartered by the GNSO Council to conduct a Policy Development Process (PDP), is seeking to determine what, if any, changes may need to be made to the existing Introduction of New Generic Top-Level Domains policy recommendations from 8 August 2007, as well as the final Applicant Guidebook dated June 2012. As the original policy recommendations as adopted by the GNSO Council and ICANN Board have "been designed to produce systemized and ongoing mechanisms for applicants to propose new top-level domains," those policy recommendations remain in place for subsequent rounds of the New gTLD Program unless the GNSO Council would decide to modify those policy recommendations via a policy development process. The PDP WG created 5 Work Tracks that are responsible for considering the subjects within its charter. The PDP Working Group sought community input through two community comment periods. The Working Group issued its first Initial Report, containing the output of the Working Group on the Overarching Issues as well as preliminary recommendations and questions for community feedback from Work Tracks 1-4, on 3 July 2018. The Working Group also published a Supplemental Initial Report on 30 October 2018, containing additional issues that were deemed to warrant additional deliberations by the Working Group and another Supplemental Initial Report for Work Track 5 on 5 December 2018, focused on Geographic Names at the Top-Level.
The objective of this draft Final Report is to present the Working Group's draft final recommendations and implementation guidance on topics within the Working Group's charter. Some of the recommendations have been substantively updated since earlier reports and as such, the Working Group would like input to focus on those areas that have substantively changed. The Co-Chairs have decided to defer any consensus calls on these draft recommendations until the Working Group's recommendations are finalized. Therefore, this draft Final Report does not contain a "Statement of level of consensus for the recommendations." While no consensus calls have been held at this point, the Co-Chairs believe that this report accurately reflects the direction that the Working Group is taking on the topics included in its charter.
Part 2 of the draft Final Report focuses on the substance of topics addressed by the Working Group. Each topic follows the same basic structure, with a focus on Working Group draft outputs and the rationale associated with these outputs. There are 5 types of outputs: (a) Affirmation, (b) Affirmation with Modification, (c) Recommendation, (d) Implementation Guidance, and/or (e) No Agreement, which are described on page four of the report. Each topic also briefly summarizes key issues that were raised in deliberations since publication of the Initial Report and Supplemental Initial Report. This summary does not repeat the comprehensive explanations, background and discussion material included in the Initial and Supplemental Initial Report and should be read in conjunction with the deliberation's summary included in the Initial and Supplemental Initial Report. Finally, noting the large number of topics and the interdependency between many subjects, each topic summarizes intersections between the topic and other issue areas, in addition to related efforts outside of the PDP, and the reason for the interdependencies.
The purpose of this Public Comment period is to obtain input on recommendations that have changed substantively since publication of the Initial Report and Supplemental Initial Report, as well as a limited number of specific questions. The Working Group would like respondents to focus their input on these specific items. This draft Final Report is the product of several years of Working Group deliberations, numerous Public Comment periods, community consultations at ICANN meetings, and correspondence received and sent. Further, this means that this draft as a whole is carefully balancing the interests of all the Working Group members, including arguments for and against certain outcomes that have been made over the years.
Therefore, respondents are discouraged from repeating input that has been provided in previous Public Comment periods, as this feedback has been extensively discussed and taken into account in the development of the draft Final Report. When providing comment or responding to a question contained in the draft Final Report, the emphasis should be on providing new information that you do not believe the Working Group has previously considered; and accordingly, that response should include an explanation and/or supporting documentation for why the Working Group's proposed outcome should be different.
Because the outputs included in each section of the report are intended to be considered as a package, respondents are requested to consider them in this manner when preparing their Public Comment response. For each section of the report, respondents will be presented with a summary of substantive differences, if any, that have been made since publication of the Initial Report and Supplemental Initial Report and asked to what extent they support the outputs. There will be an opportunity to provide additional explanation. In addition, a limited number of questions are included on specific topics for which the Working Group is seeking additional input from the community. The structure of this Public Comment forum is intended to support the targeted nature of the Public Comment period.
To provide your input, please complete the following form which is intended to focus your attention on those aspects that the PDP Working Group is looking for particular input on, as well as subsequent review by the Working Group: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScF78QWLqyfRwhtd7KpvuWWPdUZXgkFYxT_fGEViOjcX25gwQ/viewform?usp=sf_link. To facilitate off-line work, or for those who may not have access to the form, you can download a PDF or Word version of the form. For a tutorial on how complete the Google form, see here.
This draft Final Report will be posted for Public Comment for 40 days. Please note that similar to other Public Comment proceedings, all responses will be made public.
After a review of Public Comments received on this draft Final Report, the Working Group will finalize the recommendations and other outputs. The Co-Chairs will conduct a formal consensus call on all recommendations and outputs before the Working Group delivers its Final Report to the GNSO Council for its consideration.
Section II: Background
In June of 2014, the GNSO Council created the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Discussion Group, which was focused on reflecting upon the experiences gained from the 2012 New gTLD round and identifying a recommended set of subjects that should be further analyzed in an Issue Report. At the ICANN53 meeting, the GNSO Council approved a motion to request that an Issue Report be drafted by ICANN staff, basing the report on the set of deliverables developed by the Discussion Group, to further analyze issues identified and help determine if changes or adjustments are needed for subsequent new gTLD procedures. The Final Issue Report was submitted to the GNSO Council for its consideration on 4 December 2015 and a PDP on New gTLD Subsequent Procedures was initiated on 17 December 2015. The PDP WG has been meeting on a regular basis since February 2016.
Comments Closed
Report of Public Comments