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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b>Sent on behalf of the </b><b><span style='color:black'>Multi-stakeholder Strategy & Strategic Initiatives (MSSI) department:</span></b><b><o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#A61C00'>Dear GNSO Councillors,</span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>The purpose of this note is to highlight the 25 February 2020 Board action on the Registration Directory Service Review Team (RDS-WHOIS2-RT) Final Recommendations - see </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2020-02-25-en"><span style='color:#1155CC'>https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2020-02-25-en</span></a><span style='color:black'>. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>ICANN org wishes to notify you that the ICANN Board resolved to pass through two recommendations to the GNSO Council, in whole or in part, for your consideration, as documented in the </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/resolutions-board-action-rds-whois2-final-recs-25feb20-en.pdf"><span style='color:#1155CC'>scorecard</span></a><span style='color:black'> associated with the </span><a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2020-02-25-en"><span style='color:#1155CC'>Board resolution</span></a><span style='color:black'>. Specifically, please see below Recommendations CC.1 and CC.4</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>RDS-WHOIS2 Recommendation CC.1</span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>: <i>“The ICANN Board should initiate action intended to ensure that gTLD domain names suspended due to RDS (WHOIS) contact data which the registrar knows to be incorrect, and that remains incorrect until the registration is due for deletion, should be treated as follows: (1) The RDS (WHOIS) record should include a notation that the domain name is suspended due to incorrect data; and (2) Domain names with this notation should not be unsuspended without correcting the data.”</i></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Board resolution</span></u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>: The Board approved this recommendation and directed this item “to be included in the next round of contractual negotiations with the Contracted Parties”, with a note that “it cannot require or guarantee any negotiation outcomes”. The Board also noted that “this is an area that the GNSO Council might wish to take into a policy development process separate from any recourse to the policy development process that might be incorporated into the negotiation process”, and passed through this recommendation to the GNSO Council “for purposes of considering such initiation”.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Recommendation CC.4: “</span></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>The ICANN Board should recommend the GNSO adopt a risk-based approach to incorporating requirements for measurement, auditing, tracking, reporting and enforcement in all new RDS policies.</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>”</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Board resolution</span></u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>: The Board passed the recommendation through to the GNSO Council, “with reference to documentation of clarifications received from RDS-WHOIS2 Implementation Shepherds in the 29 January 2020 discussion with the RDS Board Caucus Group”, i.e. “this recommendation could be directed to the GNSO”.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Additionally, we would like to highlight the following language of the Board resolution: “in passing this recommendation through, the Board is neither accepting nor rejecting the recommendation. The Board is careful to respect the remit and roles of the different parts of the ICANN community and is not directing Board or ICANN org action that would usurp another group's remit”</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;background:white'>.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'> These recommendations are for your consideration.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Background</span></u></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>The Registration Directory Service (RDS) Review is one of the four Specific Reviews anchored in Section 4.6 of the ICANN Bylaws. </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>The RDS-WHOIS2 Review Team (RDS-WHOIS2-RT) produced 22 final recommendations for Board consideration and released its</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/rds-whois2-review-03sep19-en.pdf"><span style='color:#1155CC'>Final Report</span></a><span style='color:black'> on 3 September 2019. The RDS-WHOIS2-RT Final Report is the culmination of over two years of work by 11 review team members, representing over 1,000 hours of meetings and countless more hours of work. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>As required by</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article4.6"><span style='color:#1155CC'>section 4.6</span></a><span style='color:black'> of ICANN Bylaws, the Final Report was published for</span><span style='color:#333333'> </span><a href="https://www.icann.org/public-comments/rds-whois2-rt-final-report-2019-10-08-en"><span style='color:#1155CC'>public comment</span></a><span style='color:#333333'> </span><span style='color:black'>to inform Board action on the final recommendations.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>The Board took action on each of the 22 recommendations produced by the RDS-WHOIS2-RT </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2020-02-25-en"><span style='color:#1155CC'>https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2020-02-25-en</span></a><span style='color:black'>. The Board’s action on each recommendation is documented in the scorecard published at </span><a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/resolutions-board-action-rds-whois2-final-recs-25feb20-en.pdf"><span style='color:#1155CC'>https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/resolutions-board-action-rds-whois2-final-recs-25feb20-en.pdf</span></a><span style='color:black'>.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>We thank you for your collaboration and would welcome any updates on your progress in addressing, as appropriate, these recommendations, to be included into ICANN org’s reporting. </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Please let us know whether you have any questions.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Thank you. </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Best regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Multi-stakeholder Strategy & Strategic Initiatives (MSSI) department<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p></div></body></html>