Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Advice Status
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Latest Advice to the ICANN Board
As of 01 September 2023
| Advisory Committee | Advice Document |
|---|---|
| Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) |
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Board Advice Register Phases and Descriptions
Advice Items by Advisory Committee
| Phase | GAC Consensus Advice | GAC Follow-up to Previous Advice |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Receive & Acknowledge | 7 | 1 |
| Phase 2 | Understand | - | - |
| Phase 3 | Evaluate & Consider | 7 | - |
| Phase 4 | Implement | 13 | - |
| Phase 5 | Close | 7 | - |
| Total Open Items by Advisory Committee | 34 | 1 |
| Total Items Closed in Past 12 Months | 4 | - |
Note: "Issues of Importance" are not tracked in the table above.
Advice Status Reports
The following report provides status and details of related resolutions, scorecards, and implementation actions for advice items issued by the GAC:
Open Advice Items
See also "Advice Status Reports" above for PDF/Excel versions of the information below.
| Advice Item | Phase | Action(s) Taken |
|---|---|---|
|
ICANN48 Buenos Aires Communique |
Phase 4 | Implement |
On 15 May 2023, the ICANN Board adopted a scorecard relating to the GAC's ICANN76 Communique, that (among other items) acknowledged the GAC's advice and indicated the Board's intention to instruct ICANN org to develop, as an operational matter, a permanent post-registration notification system for IGOs, to be offered at no cost to IGOs. |
|
Protection of Inter-Governmental Organisation (IGO) Names and Acronyms |
Phase 4 | Implement |
Following its adoption on 30 April 2023 of the GNSO's policy recommendations concerning IGO curative rights, on 15 May 2023, the ICANN Board adopted a scorecard relating to the GAC's ICANN76 Communique, that (among other items) acknowledged the GAC's advice on a permanent post-registration notification system for IGOs,. |
|
Protection of Inter-Governmental Organisation (IGO) Names and Acronyms |
Phase 4 | Implement |
Following its adoption of the GNSO's policy recommendations concerning IGO curative rights on 30 April, on 15 May 2023 the Board adopted a scorecard relating to the GAC's ICANN76 Communique that indicated the Board's intention to maintain the moratorium on second level registrations of domain names matching the temporarily-reserved IGO acronyms and acknowledged the GAC's advice on this matter. |
|
ICANN51 Los Angeles Communique Protection of Inter-Governmental Organisation (IGO) Names and Acronyms |
Phase 3 | Evaluate & Consider |
Following its adoption of the GNSO's policy recommendations concerning curative rights protections for IGOs, on 15 May 2023 the Board adopted a scorecard relating to the GAC's ICANN76 Communique that (among other items) acknowledges the GAC's statement that, in the absence of access to a curative rights protection mechanism, a mere notification of the registration of a domain name corresponding to its identifier is of no real utility to an IGO, because an IGO has no current ability to arbitrate a domain name dispute. The Board also thanked the GAC for clarifying its previous advice in relation to the UDRP in the Board scorecard. |
Phase 4 | Implement |
On 30 April 2023, the Board voted to adopt the GNSO's recommendations on IGO curative rights. These recommendations are the four that the GNSO Council approved from the 2019 IGO-INGO Access to Curative Rights Protection Mechanisms and all five Full Consensus recommendations from the 2022 EPDP. |
|
Phase 4 | Implement |
In its 15 May 2023 scorecard relating to the GAC's ICANN76 Communique, the Board indicated its intention to instruct ICANN org to develop a permanent post-registration notification system for IGOs, to be offered at no cost to IGOs. The Board also noted its intention to maintain the moratorium on second-level registrations of domain names matching the IGO acronyms that are currently reserved on an interim basis. |
|
Phase 3 | Evaluate & Consider |
As per the Board's 12 May 2021 resolution, the Board has considered the GAC's consensus advice to take into account the GAC's Minority Statement. As the 12 May 2021 scorecard states, "the Board will consider all relevant public policy concerns, including those raised by the GAC, along with available legal guidance." The Board has considered the GAC's Minority Statement and continues to confer with the GNSO Council and community to determine next steps regarding the SSAD policy recommendations. On 27 February 2023, the Board adopted a resolution to proceed with the development and up to two-year operation of the WHOIS Disclosure System (now renamed as "Registration Data Request Service") while continuing to pause the consideration of the SSAD-related policy recommendations based on the GNSO Council's request. ICANN org started its implementation work, and the service is expected to launch by November 2023. ICANN Org will continue to provide the GAC and other SO/ACs with updates on the progress of this implementation effort. |
|
Phase 3 | Evaluate & Consider |
As per the Board's 12 May 2021 resolution, the Board has considered the GAC's consensus advice to take into account the GAC's Minority Statement. As the 12 May 2021 scorecard states, "the Board will consider all relevant public policy concerns, including those raised by the GAC, along with available legal guidance." The Board has considered the GAC's Minority Statement and continues to confer with the GNSO Council and community to determine next steps regarding the SSAD policy recommendations. On 27 February 2023, the Board adopted a resolution to proceed with the development and up to two-year operation of the WHOIS Disclosure System (now renamed as "Registration Data Request Service") while continuing to pause the consideration of the SSAD-related policy recommendations based on the GNSO Council's request. ICANN org started its implementation work, and the service is expected to launch by November 2023. ICANN Org will continue to provide the GAC and other SO/ACs with updates on the progress of this implementation effort. |
|
Phase 3 | Evaluate & Consider |
As per the Board's 12 May 2021 resolution, the Board has considered the GAC's consensus advice to take into account the GAC's Minority Statement. As the 12 May 2021 scorecard states, "the Board will consider all relevant public policy concerns, including those raised by the GAC, along with available legal guidance." The Board has considered the GAC's Minority Statement and continues to confer with the GNSO Council and community to determine next steps regarding the SSAD policy recommendations. On 27 February 2023, the Board adopted a resolution to proceed with the development and up to two-year operation of the WHOIS Disclosure System (now renamed as "Registration Data Request Service") while continuing to pause the consideration of the SSAD-related policy recommendations based on the GNSO Council's request. ICANN org started its implementation work, and the service is expected to launch by November 2023. ICANN Org will continue to provide the GAC and other SO/ACs with updates on the progress of this implementation effort. |
|
Phase 3 | Evaluate & Consider |
The Board notes that the GAC is continuing to discuss a proposed mechanism for how it will consider updates that are requested to the IGO List that the GAC submitted to ICANN in 2013, to ensure that in the future the list can be maintained in a manner consistent with Advice in the GAC San Juan Communiqué. The Board had directed that ICANN org conduct a feasibility study in response to the San Juan Communique. |
|
Phase 4 | Implement |
As per the Board's 12 May 2021 resolution, the Board has considered the GAC's consensus advice to take into account the GAC's Minority Statement. As the 12 May 2021 scorecard states, "the Board will consider all relevant public policy concerns, including those raised by the GAC, along with available legal guidance." The Board has considered the GAC's Minority Statement and continues to confer with the GNSO Council and community to determine next steps regarding the SSAD policy recommendations. On 27 February 2023, the Board adopted a resolution to proceed with the development and up to two-year operation of the WHOIS Disclosure System (now renamed as "Registration Data Request Service") while continuing to pause the consideration of the SSAD-related policy recommendations based on the GNSO Council's request. ICANN org started its implementation work, and the service is expected to launch by November 2023. ICANN Org will continue to provide the GAC and other SO/ACs with updates on the progress of this implementation effort. |
|
Phase 4 | Implement |
In its 15 May 2023 scorecard relating to the GAC's ICANN76 Communique, the Board had stated that (among other items) it "intends to resolve all pending issues relating to curative rights protections for IGOs at the second level of the domain name system." |
|
Phase 4 | Implement |
ICANN org continues to work with the GAC to consider how to facilitate accuracy and completeness of the IGO contacts on the list of IGOs prepared by the GAC. |
|
Phase 4 | Implement |
The EPDP Phase 1 implementation work continues to advance, with discussions this month centering on one remaining issue (time requirements for responses to urgent requests) needed to issue the completed policy. Detailed timeline and policy information are available at https://www.icann.org/en/system/files As for the EPDP Phase 2 SSAD-related policy recommendations, the Board is currently pausing the consideration of them while exploring the demand/usage data through the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS). The Service is expected to launch by November 2023, and will be operated for up to 2 years. The data obtain from the RDRS will inform the Board of the next steps as it relates to the SSAD-related policy recommendations. |
|
Phase 3 | Evaluate & Consider |
As per the Board's 12 May 2021 resolution, the Board has considered the GAC's consensus advice to take into account the GAC's Minority Statement. As the 12 May 2021 scorecard states, "the Board will consider all relevant public policy concerns, including those raised by the GAC, along with available legal guidance." The Board has considered the GAC's Minority Statement and continues to confer with the GNSO Council and community to determine next steps regarding the SSAD policy recommendations. On 27 February 2023, the Board adopted a resolution to proceed with the development and up to two-year operation of the WHOIS Disclosure System (now renamed as "Registration Data Request Service") while continuing to pause the consideration of the SSAD-related policy recommendations based on the GNSO Council's request. ICANN org started its implementation work, and the service is expected to launch by November 2023. ICANN Org will continue to provide the GAC and other SO/ACs with updates on the progress of this implementation effort. |
|
Phase 4 | Implement |
In its 15 May 2023 scorecard relating to the GAC's ICANN76 Communique, the Board indicated its intention to instruct ICANN org to develop a permanent post-registration notification system for IGOs, to be offered at no cost to IGOs. The Board also noted its intention to maintain the moratorium on second-level registrations of domain names matching the IGO acronyms that are currently reserved on an interim basis. |
|
|
ICANN72 Virtual Annual General Meeting Communique |
Phase 4 | Implement |
On 16 January 2022, the ICANN Board considered the ICANN72 Virtual Annual General Meeting GAC Communique and provided the following response: The Board approved Recommendations 4.1 and 9.1, which were considered already fully implemented based on the measures of success defined by the SSR2 Review Team in its Final Report, and including rationale for its decision as detailed in the Scorecard accompanying the Board action. With regard to Recommendation 4.1, the Board noted that ICANN org already has policies, plans and programs in place through which Recommendation 4.1 has already been implemented. The Board continues its oversight role over ICANN org's risk management efforts and is supportive of ICANN org in continuing the risk management activities and strategy that it is already carrying out. For Recommendation 9.1, the Board noted that the current Contractual Compliance operations already meet the SSR2 Review Team's defined measures of success for this recommendation as audits are in place, have been completed and been the subject of public reports. For all Specific Reviews recommendations Implementation Operations, the ICANN org department responsible for overseeing the implementation of non-policy work, has deployed new reporting tools, including implementation documentation for each complete recommendation, quarterly updates on the status of Specific Reviews (first one issued in January 2023) and a final implementation report to cover all the recommendations produced by a review team. The enhanced reporting system will support future review teams, SSR3 in the case of SSR2, in the assessment of the recommendations of the previous review cycle. The Bylaws (Section 4.6(b)(iii)) reserve to SSR3 (or other future SSRs) the role of final assessment of the completion of recommendations from prior SSR reviews. Updates regarding the implementation status of SSR2 recommendations are available at: https://www.icann.org/resources/reviews |
|
ICANN72 Virtual Annual General Meeting Communique |
Phase 4 | Implement |
On 16 January 2022, the ICANN Board considered the ICANN72 Virtual Annual General Meeting GAC Communique and provided the following response: The Board agrees that addressing the 34 pending recommendations, noted in the scorecard accompanying the Board resolution 2021.07.22.13, in a timely manner is important. On 1 May 2022, the Board took action on 3 pending recommendations, approving one recommendation which was included in the FY24 prioritization in October 2022, and rejecting the other two. On 16 November 2022, Board action was taken on a set of 21 recommendations, approving 7 as fully implemented, 2 subject to prioritization, and rejecting the others. All the approved recommendations went through the prioritization process. Their status can be consulted at: https://www.icann.org/resources/reviews https://community.icann.org And within the quarterly Specific Reviews report whose last issue is available at https://www.icann.org/en/system/files In line with the plan mentioned in the last update, ICANN org continues to work on the remaining ten pending recommendations. The 7 DNS-abuse related and 2 Contractual Compliance-related pending recommendations are planned to be presented for Board action by the end of Q3 2023 (calendar year). The remaining, pending Recommendation, 17.1, relates to a framework to characterize the nature and frequency of name collisions and resulting concerns, and has dependencies on the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC)'s studies on name collisions, specifically the Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) work. This recommendation will be evaluated after the NCAP Study 2 report is released and could be dependent on further work if the SSAC decides to run an NCAP Study 3. The Implementation Operations department works in close cooperation with ICANN org subject matter experts to ensure progress on the implementation of approved recommendations and to publish a final implementation report on the org and community web pages for those recommendations whose implementation is complete. |
Phase 5 | Close Request |
ICANN org has begun implementation planning, in line with the Board's instructions when it adopted the GNSO policy recommendations on IGO curative rights on 30 April 2023. |
|
Phase 3 | Evaluate & Consider |
On 15 May 2023, the Board acknowledged this advice and provided the following scorecard response: "The Board acknowledges this advice from the GAC. The Board had previously stated that it intends to instruct ICANN org to provide, as an operational matter, an ongoing notification service that would inform an IGO if a domain name is registered that matches that IGO's acronym (https://www.icann.org/en/board-activities-and-meetings/materials/approved-resolutions-regular-meeting-of-the-icann-board-22-10-2020-en#2.b). The Board had also informed that GAC that it plans to offer this service at no cost to IGOs, and to maintain the moratorium on second-level registrations matching the list of IGO acronyms until the post-registration notification system is ready (https://www.icann.org/en/system/files As part of its 30 April resolution adopting the EPDP recommendations on specific curative rights protections for IGOs, the Board requested that ICANN org develop an implementation plan that will include resource estimates and a timeline for implementation. The Board notes that ICANN org uses a default six-month policy change cycle (https://www.icann.org/en/system/files In light of the above, the Board plans to make a decision as to when to lift the moratorium when it has more specific information as to the respective timelines for readiness of the permanent post-registration system and the implementation of the EPDP recommendations." |
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|
Registration Data Request Service (formerly known as the WHOIS Disclosure System) |
Phase 5 | Close Request |
Based on the Board's acceptance of this Advice from 15 May 2023, ICANN org met with the GNSO Small Team and PSWG to discuss the confidentiality of law enforcement requests for the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS). The discussion concluded that the RDRS shall provide law enforcement requestors with an option to ask for confidential treatment of their requests. This confidential treatment request will be relayed to the registrar of record for consideration before the registrar proceeds with a request, and will provide an opportunity for the registrar to notify the requestor if the request for confidentiality cannot be honored, thus giving the requestor an opportunity to withdraw their request. This feature was demonstrated by ICANN org during its May 2023 webinars. |
Phase 4 | Implement |
On 15 May 2023, the Board accepted this advice and provided the following scorecard response: "The Board accepts this advice, noting that the assessment is in progress within the org, and that this will be an important step for the Board to consider in taking action on RDS-WHOIS Review Recommendation R10.1." |
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Phase 4 | Implement |
On 15 May 2023, the Board accepted this advice and provided the following scorecard response: "The Board accepts this advice, and will instruct the organization to provide timely information around the status of activities related to proxy and privacy services in its updates to the GAC." |
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ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communique §1.a.i Predictability in New gTLD Applications (20 June 2023) |
Phase 1 | Receive & Acknowledge |
The ICANN org received the ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communiqué on 20 June 2023 and is currently reviewing. |
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ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communique Registry Voluntary Commitments (RVCs) / Public Interest Commitments (PICs) in New gTLDs |
Phase 1 | Receive & Acknowledge |
The ICANN org received the ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communiqué on 20 June 2023 and is currently reviewing. |
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ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communique |
Phase 1 | Receive & Acknowledge |
The ICANN org received the ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communiqué on 20 June 2023 and is currently reviewing. |
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ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communique |
Phase 1 | Receive & Acknowledge |
The ICANN org received the ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communiqué on 20 June 2023 and is currently reviewing. |
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ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communique |
Phase 1 | Receive & Acknowledge |
The ICANN org received the ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communiqué on 20 June 2023 and is currently reviewing. |
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ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communique Auctions: Mechanisms of Last Resort/Private Resolution of Contention Sets in New gTLDs |
Phase 1 | Receive & Acknowledge |
The ICANN org received the ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communiqué on 20 June 2023 and is currently reviewing. |
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ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communique Auctions: Mechanisms of Last Resort/Private Resolution of Contention Sets in New gTLDs |
Phase 1 | Receive & Acknowledge |
The ICANN org received the ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communiqué on 20 June 2023 and is currently reviewing. |
Phase 1 | Receive & Acknowledge |
The ICANN org received the ICANN77 Washington D.C. Communiqué on 20 June 2023 and is currently reviewing. |
Advice Items Closed in the Last 12 Months
| Advice Item | Close Date | Action(s) Taken |
|---|---|---|
|
Protection of Names and Acronyms for Inter-Governmental Organisations (IGOs) |
01 September 2023 |
Several GAC members and IGO representatives participated in the GNSO's EPDP on Specific Curative Rights Protections for IGOs. The Board adopted the five Full Consensus recommendations from the EPDP on 30 April 2023. |
01 September 2023 |
On 30 April 2023, the Board voted to adopt the GNSO's recommendations on IGO curative rights. These recommendations are the four that the GNSO Council approved from the 2019 IGO-INGO Access to Curative Rights Protection Mechanisms and all five Full Consensus recommendations from the 2022 EPDP. |
|
|
ICANN59 Johannesburg Communique |
01 September 2023 |
On 30 April 2023, the Board voted to adopt the GNSO's recommendations on IGO curative rights. These recommendations are the four that the GNSO Council approved from the 2019 IGO-INGO Access to Curative Rights Protection Mechanisms and all five Full Consensus recommendations from the 2022 EPDP. |
01 September 2023 |
On 30 April 2023, the Board voted to adopt the GNSO's recommendations on IGO curative rights. These recommendations are the four that the GNSO Council approved from the 2019 IGO-INGO Access to Curative Rights Protection Mechanisms and all five Full Consensus recommendations from the 2022 EPDP. |