Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Advice Status

• ICANN85 Mumbai Communiqué (16 March 2026)

ICANN48 Buenos Aires Communique
4.a.i.
Protection of Inter-Governmental Organisations (IGOs)
(20 November 2013)

Phase 5 | Close

The ICANN organization has completed work on a permanent notification system that will be at no cost to IGOs. The system focuses on post-registration notifications, in accordance with the outcome of consultations between the Board and GAC. This item of advice may be closed.

ICANN49 Singapore Communique
8.
Protection of Inter-Governmental Organisation (IGO) Names and Acronyms
(27 March 2014)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Board’s adoption of the GNSO’s policy recommendations on curative rights, in line with GAC advice, this item of advice may be closed.

ICANN50 London Communique
5.
Protection of Inter-Governmental Organisation (IGO) Names and Acronyms
(25 June 2014)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Board’s adoption of the GNSO’s policy recommendations on curative rights, in line with GAC advice, this item of advice may be closed.

ICANN51 Los Angeles Communique
5.a.I-II - 5.b.I.
Protection of Inter-Governmental Organisation (IGO) Names and Acronyms
15 October 2014

Phase 5 | Close

The ICANN organization has completed work on a permanent notification system that will be at no cost to IGOs. The system focuses on post-registration notifications, in accordance with the outcome of consultations between the Board and GAC. This item of advice may be closed.

ICANN52 Singapore Communique
2
IGO Protections
(11 February 2015)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Board’s adoption of the GNSO’s policy recommendations on curative rights, in line with GAC advice, this item of advice may be closed.

ICANN58 Copenhagen Communique
2.a.III
IGO Protections
(15 March 2017)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Board’s adoption of the GNSO’s policy recommendations on curative rights, in line with GAC advice, this item of advice may be closed.

ICANN58 Copenhagen Communique
2.a.II
IGO Protections
(15 March 2017)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Board’s adoption of the GNSO’s policy recommendations on curative rights, in line with GAC advice, this item of advice may be closed.

ICANN58 Copenhagen Communique
2.a.I
IGO Protections
(15 March 2017)

Phase 5 | Close

The ICANN organization has completed work on a permanent notification system that will be at no cost to IGOs. The system focuses on post-registration notifications, in accordance with the outcome of consultations between the Board and GAC. This item of advice may be closed.

ICANN60 Abu Dhabi Communique
1.a.I
IGO Protections
(01 November 2017)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Board’s adoption of the GNSO’s policy recommendations on curative rights, in line with GAC advice, this item of advice may be closed.

ICANN61 San Juan Communique
2.a.I
IGO Reserved Acronyms
(15 March 2018)

Phase 5 | Close

In December 2025, the GAC notified the ICANN Board and organization that the GAC has finalized its process for modifying and updating the IGO list: https://gac.icann.org/contentMigrated/protections-for-names-and-acronyms-of-intergovernmental-organisations-in-gtlds. This process will apply to all changes to the IGO list for the New gTLD Program: Next Round. This item of advice may be closed.

ICANN62 Panama Communique
2.a.II.
Protection of IGO Identifiers
(28 June 2018)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Board’s adoption of the GNSO’s policy recommendations on curative rights, in line with GAC advice, this item of advice may be closed.

ICANN62 Panama Communique
2.a.III
Protection of IGO Identifiers
(28 June 2018)

Phase 5 | Close

In December 2025, the GAC notified the ICANN Board and organization that the GAC has finalized its process for modifying and updating the IGO list: https://gac.icann.org/contentMigrated/protections-for-names-and-acronyms-of-intergovernmental-organisations-in-gtlds. This process will apply to all changes to the IGO list for the New gTLD Program: Next Round. This item of advice may be closed.

ICANN64 Kobe Communique
1.a.V
WHOIS and Data Protection Legislation
(14 March 2019)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Registration Data Policy taking effect in August 2025, only one matter remained to be resolved to complete implementation of the Phase 1 Recommendations of the Expedited Policy Development Process on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data, namely, determining how the Registration Data Policy should impose a requirement upon registry operators and registrars to respond to requests for disclosure of non-public gTLD registration data in “Urgent” circumstances.

In October 2025, ICANN org published a proposed 24-hour urgent request response timeline for Public Comment. Based on an analysis of comments received and discussions at ICANN85, the GNSO Council, GAC, and ICANN Board agreed that ICANN org should publish the 24-hour urgent request response timeline language in an update to the Registration Data Policy. ICANN org published the updated Registration Data Policy on 12 May 2026.

The ICANN Board is closing this advice, as the work to develop a timeline for urgent requests for the lawful disclosure of domain name registration data has been completed and the 24-hour urgent request response timeline policy has been published. The Board notes that enforcement of the 24-hour response timeline is pending the availability of an authentication mechanism for requesters.

ICANN70 Virtual Community Forum GAC Communique

1.a.i

EPDP Phase 2 Final Report

(25 March 2021)

Phase 5 | Close

During ICANN85, the ICANN Board resolved not to adopt the 18 SSAD policy recommendations in order to trigger the development of Supplemental Recommendations as recommended by the GNSO Standing Committee, agreed in discussion with the GNSO Council, and defined in Annex A, Section 9(d) of the ICANN Bylaws. The Board believes this action is in the best interests of ICANN and the community, and will serve the global public interest by allowing the GNSO to make the necessary modifications to the SSAD recommendations and align the various policies affecting requests for generic top-level domain (gTLD) nonpublic registration data.

The Board’s decision not to adopt the SSAD policy recommendations took into account the body of community discussions from the EPDP stage through the RDRS pilot, including the GAC Advice from ICANN64, ICANN70, and ICANN79, as well as input received from the RDRS Standing Committee’s findings report and community comments on the RDRS Policy Alignment Analysis.

The Board looks forward to receiving Supplemental Recommendations from the GNSO. The Board is closing this advice and belives that the GAC’s concerns relating to gaps in the EPDP Phase 2 Final Report on gTLD Registration Data, as set forth in the 24 August 2020 GAC Minority Statement, will be addressed during this process.

ICANN71 Virtual Policy Forum GAC Communique
1.a.i
IGO Protections
(21 June 2021)

Phase 4 | Implement

The Implementation Review Team (IRT) is finalizing its work, completion of which is a dependency for releasing the currently-reserved IGO acronyms (in accordance with GAC advice that was accepted by the Board).

ICANN72 Virtual Annual General Meeting Communique
1.b.1
Board Scorecard on SSR2 Review Final Report
(1 November 2021)

Phase 5 | Close

ICANN released a close-out report (timestamped February 2025) https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/ssr2-rec1-1-implementation-report-18feb25-en.pdf to address the SSR2 assessment of SSR1 implementation work and document how SSR1 recommendations are effectively addressed.

ICANN72 Virtual Annual General Meeting Communique
1.a.1
Board Scorecard on SSR2 Review Final Report
(1 November 2021)

Phase 4 | Implement

ICANN org continues to implement the SSR2 recommendations with a total of 23 recommendations complete and 2 in progress. Implementation status is tracked at https://www.icann.org/resources/reviews/specific-reviews/ssr and ICANN publishes quarterly reports on implementation progress for all Specific Reviews, including the SSR2 Review.

ICANN76 Cancun Communique
§ 1.a.i
IGO Protections
(20 March 2023)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Board’s adoption of the GNSO’s policy recommendations on curative rights, in line with GAC advice, this item of advice may be closed.

ICANN76 Cancun Communique
§ 1.a.ii
IGO Protections
(20 March 2023)

Phase 4 | Implement

The Implementation Review Team (IRT) is finalizing its work, completion of which is a dependency for releasing the currently-reserved IGO acronyms (in accordance with GAC advice that was accepted by the Board).

ICANN79 San Juan Communique
§1.a.vi
Applicant Support Program (ASP)
(11 March 2024)

Phase 5 | Close

In consultation with GAC leadership, the New gTLD Program Team is organizing a facilitated dialogue on this topic at ICANN86. Following this dialogue, the team will review with the ICANN Board whether this advice can be closed.

ICANN79 San Juan Communique
§2.a.i
Urgent Requests for Disclosure of Registration Data
(11 March 2024)

Phase 5 | Close

With the Registration Data Policy taking effect in August 2025, only one matter remained to be resolved to complete implementation of the Phase 1 Recommendations of the Expedited Policy Development Process on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data, namely, determining how the Registration Data Policy should impose a requirement upon registry operators and registrars to respond to requests for disclosure of non-public gTLD registration data in “Urgent” circumstances.

In October 2025, ICANN org published a proposed 24-hour urgent request response timeline for Public Comment. Based on an analysis of comments received and discussions at ICANN85, the GNSO Council, GAC, and ICANN Board agreed that ICANN org should publish the 24-hour urgent request response timeline language in an update to the Registration Data Policy. ICANN org published the updated Registration Data Policy on 12 May 2026.

The ICANN Board is closing this advice, as the work to develop a timeline for urgent requests for the lawful disclosure of domain name registration data has been completed and the 24-hour urgent request response timeline policy has been published. The Board notes that enforcement of the 24-hour response timeline is pending the availability of an authentication mechanism for requesters.

ICANN80 Kigali Communique
1.a.iii.
Applicant Support Program (ASP)
(17 June 2024)

Phase 5 | Close

In consultation with GAC leadership, the New gTLD Program Team is organizing a facilitated dialogue on this topic at ICANN86. Following this dialogue, the team will review with the ICANN Board whether this advice can be closed.

ICANN83 Prague Communique

1.a.i.

Policy Development Related to DNS Abuse

(16 June 2025)

Phase 5 | Close

The Final Issue Report on DNS Abuse Mitigation was delivered to the GNSO Council in December 2025. On 11 December 2025, at the earliest opportunity, the Council resolved to initiate two targeted and narrowly scoped Policy Development Processes (PDPs) to further mitigate DNS Abuse. DNS Abuse Mitigation PDP 1 is on Associated Domain Checks and DNS Abuse Mitigation PDP 2 is on Safeguards for Application Programming Interface (API) access to new customers.

The Council subsequently adopted the Charter for DNS Abuse Mitigation PDP 1 on 15 January 2026, enabling the PDP to begin its necessary administrative steps. The Council will consider the charter for DNS Abuse Mitigation PDP 2 when enough progress has been made for PDP 1 and there are adequate community and staff resources available to begin PDP 2.

Nearly every step of the process to date has been completed on an accelerated timeline. For that, the Board thanks the community and ICANN support staff for their diligence and focus on this important topic.

Advice Item

Close Date

Action(s) Taken

None

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