[council] RE: Absentee Ballot on motion Requesting Issues report on vertical Integration and Registry/Registrar cross-ownership

[Adrian Kinderis]

-----Original Message-----
From: Glen de Saint Géry [mailto:Glen at icann.org] 
Sent: Friday, 25 September 2009 2:22 AM
To: Adrian Kinderis
Cc: Glen de Saint Géry
Subject: Absentee Ballot on motion Requesting Issues report on vertical Integration and Registry/Registrar cross-ownership


Dear Adrian,

In keeping with the proxy vote procedures, all councilors who were absent from the Council meeting today, Thursday 24 September 2009 are allowed an absentee ballot.

Councilors noted as absent: Mike Rodenbaugh, Ute Decker, Tony Holmes, Carlos Souza, Jordi Iparraguirre, Adrian Kinderis, Terry Davis.

Below, please find a ballot with an option to vote, YES, NO or ABSTAIN.
The current bylaws require a reason for abstaining on a policy recommendation, so please indicate your reason for abstaining.

PLEASE NOTE:
There is one motion. Please return the ballot, that is, indicate your preference with an X and send the lines preceded with *asterisks directly to the GNSO Council mailing list <council at gnso.icann.org>

* On the motion Requesting an Issues report on vertical Integration and Registry/Registrar cross-ownership I vote:
* [ ] Yes
* [X] No
* [ ] Abstain
* Password: white-0

This process should be completed within 72 hours of the meeting which ended at 15:15 UTC, Thursday September 24, 2009

Completed ballots are due NLT  15:15 UTC Sunday, 27 September 2009.
(08:15 PDT, 11:15 EDT, 12:15 Rio de Janeiro, 16:15 London, 17:15 CEST, 01:15 Melbourne
 Monday 28 September 2009
Motion Requesting an Issues report on vertical Integration and Registry/Registrar cross-ownership
Motion proposed by Mary Wong and seconded by Philip Sheppard

Whereas, Recommendation 19 of the GNSO policy authorizing the new gTLD process states: "Registries must use only ICANN accredited registrars in registering domain names and may not discriminate among such accredited registrars;"

Whereas, opening up the market to many new TLD operators may call into question some of the assumptions on which the separation of registry and registrar functions is based;

Whereas, economic research commissioned by ICANN staff also suggests that changes in these assumptions might be justified;

Whereas, the new gTLD policies passed by the Council do not provide any guidance regarding the proper approach to cross ownership and vertical integration, but instead implicitly suggest that the status quo be left in place;

Resolved: the GNSO Council hereby requests the preparation of an Issues Report for delivery within 45 days on future changes in vertical integration and cross-ownership between gTLD registrars and registries, to assist in determining whether a PDP should be initiated regarding what policies would best serve to promote competition and to protect users and registrants.

Thank you.
Kind regards,

Glen

Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat at gnso.icann.org
http://gnso.icann.org