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<FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Dear Council members,<BR>
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Because of the overlap between the Council call and the Board call, this email is intended to provide additional information from ICANN staff in advance of the discussion on 29 May regarding single-character names at the second-level. <BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><UL><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Contractual provisions in ICANN’s registry agreements govern how we act. In addition, new Registry Services are governed by the GNSO Policy, which was put into the contractual provisions of the registry agreements.
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>ICANN cannot unilaterally change the registry agreements and the Schedule of Reserved Names. There is no Policy which states that registries must release single-character names at the second-level.
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>A registry can be released from its obligations related to its Schedule of Reserved Names on ICANN’s approval pursuant to the specific contractual provisions in the registry agreements. We are going through staff work to determine the appropriate mechanism for release – this work includes the development of a paper on allocation methods and uses of funds from allocation of single-character names, and because this affects all registries, the development of a process for release of single-letter names.
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>The Reserved Names Working Group (RN WG) developed policy recommendations on single-character names at the second-level for new gTLDs, and for existing gTLDs, stating that release should be “contingent upon the use of appropriate allocation frameworks. More work may be needed.”
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>As the Council is aware, these recommendations are not consensus policy because they do not follow the consensus policy process. Therefore, the RN WG recommendations and subsequent staff work does not raise new duties or obligations for registries.
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>A one-size-fits-all method may not work for all registries.
</SPAN></FONT><LI><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Based on the direction of the Council, the public comment period and synthesis document, ICANN staff will publish a paper regarding a proposed allocation method and distribution of funds model for community consideration.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>I will be available on Sunday 21 June during the GNSO Working Session in Paris to answer questions on this topic.<BR>
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Regards,<BR>
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Patrick<BR>
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-- <BR>
Patrick L. Jones<BR>
Registry Liaison Manager &<BR>
Coordinator, ICANN Nominating Committee<BR>
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers<BR>
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330<BR>
Marina del Rey, CA 90292<BR>
Tel: +1 310 301 3861<BR>
Fax: +1 310 823 8649<BR>
<a href="patrick.jones@icann.org">patrick.jones@icann.org</a> <BR>
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