Preliminary Report | Regular Meeting of the New gTLD Program Committee 29 April 2014

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 New gTLD Program Committee's actions is presented under the associated Resolution. A draft Rationale is not final until approved with the minutes of the New gTLD Program Committee meeting.

A Regular Meeting of the New gTLD Program Committee of the ICANN Board of Directors was held in Pasadena, California on 29 April 2014 at 14:15 local time.

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: Fadi Chehadé (President and CEO, ICANN), Steve Crocker (Board Chairman), Chris Disspain, Bill Graham, Bruno Lanvin, Olga Madruga-Forti, Erika Mann, Gonzalo Navarro, Ray Plzak, George Sadowsky, Mike Silber, and Kuo-Wei Wu.

Jonne Soininen (IETF Liaison) was in attendance as a non-voting liaison to the Committee. Heather Dryden was in attendance as an observer to the Committee.

Board Member Elect: Rinalia Abdul Rahim (observing).

Secretary: John Jeffrey (General Counsel and Secretary).

ICANN Executives and Staff in attendance for all or part of the meeting: Akram Atallah (President, Global Domains Division); Megan Bishop (Board Support Coordinator); Michelle Bright (Board Support Manager); Xavier Calvez (Chief Financial Officer); Samantha Eisner (Senior Counsel); Dan Halloran (Deputy General Counsel); Jamie Hedlund (Advisor to the President/CEO); Marika Konings (Senior Director, Policy Development Support); Elizabeth Le (Senior Counsel); Olof Nordling (Senior Director, GAC Relations); Erika Randall (Counsel); Ashwin Rangan (Chief Innovation & Information Officer); Amy Stathos (Deputy General Counsel); and Christine Willett (Vice President, gTLD Operations).

This is a Preliminary Report of the Meeting of the New gTLD Program Committee, which took place on 29 April 2014.

  1. Main Agenda
    1. GAC Advice Update
    2. Perceived Inconsistent String Confusion Objection Expert Determinations – Review Mechanism
    3. New gTLD Auction Rules
    4. New gTLD Program Financial Update

 

  1. Main Agenda:

    1. GAC Advice Update

      The Committee continued its discussions of remaining open items of advice from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), focusing on the advice issued in the Durban Communiqué concerning the applications for .AMAZON and related IDNs in Japanese and Chinese. In the Durban Communiqué, the GAC advised that it had reached consensus on "GAC Objection Advice according to Module 3.1 part I of the Applicant Guidebook" on the applications for .AMAZON and related IDNs in Japanese and Chinese. The Committee reviewed the applicable Applicant Guidebook sections regarding consensus advice from the GAC about a particular application, and considered the implications of the GAC issuing such consensus advice.

      As part of its discussion of the GAC advice on .AMAZON (and related IDNs), the Committee considered whether it had sufficient information in the record to make a decision, or whether additional information would be helpful. The Committee also considered the correspondence and comments submitted by the impacted parties throughout the process.

      The Committee deliberated on potential options to address the GAC advice concerning .AMAZON (and related IDNs), and received an update on the steps previously taken by the impacted parties to engage in discussions to address the concerns noted in the GAC Early Warning. Members of the Committee weighed in on the relative merits and disadvantages of various options to address the GAC advice, and also discussed whether there are relevant precedents from previous Board decisions that should be considered as part of the Committee's deliberation. The Committee analyzed whether the impacted parties would benefit from having additional time to continue to address the noted concerns.

      The Committee also received an update on the efforts of some of the relevant impacted parties to continue negotiations on potential safeguards for the .WINE and .VIN gTLDs in light of the Committee's action on 4 April 2014 addressing the GAC advice concerning .WINE and .VIN.

      The Committee directed staff to schedule a meeting in May so that the Committee could continue its discussion on .AMAZON (and related IDNs), in addition to other open items of GAC advice.

    2. Perceived Inconsistent String Confusion Objection Expert Determinations – Review Mechanism

      The Committee did not consider this agenda item and decided that it should be considered at a subsequent meeting.

    3. New gTLD Auction Rules

      The Committee did not consider this agenda item and decided that it should be considered at a subsequent meeting.

    4. New gTLD Program Financial Update

      The Committee did not consider this agenda item and decided that it should be considered at a subsequent meeting.

    The Chair called the meeting to a close.

Published on 8 May 2014