[council] FW: Interaction between the ICANN Board's IDN Variant Working Group and the GNSO

Thu Aug 28 17:07:35 UTC 2014

From: Ram Mohan [mailto:ram.mohan at icann.org] 
Sent: 28 August 2014 13:04
To: 'Jonathan Robinson'
Cc: 'Ram Mohan'; 'Board Variant Working Group'
Subject: RE: Interaction between the ICANN Board's IDN Variant Working Group
and the GNSO 
Importance: High

Dear Jonathan,

The Board's IDN Variant Working Group (BV-WG) members thank the GNSO Council
and its community for maintaining an active interest in the IDN program.  We
are pleased to learn that we were able clarify the status of the IDN Program
during the discussion on topics of mutual interest with the GNSO Council and
community members in London.   

The GNSO Council is correct in its assessment that the current work on the
development of the Label Generation Ruleset (LGR) for the Root Zone (P2.2)
is technical in nature and policy advise is not required at this stage.  If
the Integration Panel or the Generation Panels communicate any such need in
the future, the ICANN staff will issue the call for the advisor position as
per the
<https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/lgr-procedure-20mar13-en.pdf>
procedure for developing the LGR for the Root Zone.  ICANN staff will ensure
that the GNSO Council is informed in this case.  

BV-WG continues to oversee and guide the progress of the IDN Variant TLD
program.  The Program is currently being advised by the BV-WG to focus on
organizing the community efforts for developing the LGR for the Root Zone,
which is the necessary pre-requisite for further implementation. The BV-WG
encourages active involvement of the GNSO community in this current phase of
the work by volunteering for the Generation Panels for the various scripts,
especially for Latin and Cyrillic.  The BV-WG welcomes the GNSO community's
intention to self-organize to review the original New gTLD IDN WG
recommendations, with a view toward assisting Program staff with preparation
for P7 following maturation of the work on LGR.

Based on our prior agreement, IDN Program staff will continue to provide
regular updates to GNSO Council and GNSO members.  The BV-WG also looks
forward to the continued discussion on the status and the future of the IDN
Variant TLD program.  

Regards,

Ram Mohan

Chair, Board Variant Working Group

From: Jonathan Robinson [mailto:jonathan.robinson at ipracon.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2014 4:39 AM
To: Ram Mohan
Subject: Interaction between the ICANN Board's IDN Variant Working Group and
the GNSO 
Importance: High

Dear Ram,

I write to follow up on the meeting in London between the ICANN Board's IDN
Variant Working Group and a number of GNSO Council and community members.
I'd like to thank you and the other Board members for taking the time to
meet with them to discuss the progress of ICANN's IDN Variant Program. We
believe the discussion was helpful to all of us, and appreciate the updates
that ICANN staff has been providing to the GNSO regarding ongoing work on
the Program.

I'd like to follow up on a specific observation that had been shared by a
few GNSO community members in Singapore and London, regarding a perceived
need for policy input into the Program by individuals with experience and
expertise in ICANN policy development. Our discussions in Singapore and now
in London have served to clarify that the current work being done in the
Program (and specifically in P2.2) is largely technical in nature. In
addition, I understand that ICANN's call last summer for advisors and
experts to assist the Label Generation Rule-set (LGR) panels provided that
the LGR panels might call on advisors (including ICANN staff) as the need
arises. I note further that an advisor has already been appointed to the
Integration Panel and that ICANN has announced that any additional advisors
to be appointed will be at the request of the panels, in accordance with the
LGR Procedure.

As the Program progresses, and particularly in the near future as the panels
conclude their work, some GNSO community members have noted that should the
need for policy expertise arise at any point there are individuals within
the GNSO who will be willing to volunteer to assist. In this regard the GNSO
Council will be happy to serve as a contact point for any such requests.
Separately, I note that a suggestion was made at the London meeting for
interested GNSO community members to "self-organize" to review the original
New gTLD IDN WG recommendations, with a view toward assisting Program staff
with preparation for P7. It is my hope as GNSO Chair that these suggestions,
along with ICANN staff continuing to provide their regular update to the
GNSO on the Program, will allow the GNSO community to be of assistance to
the important work of the Program and, in particular, if and when any policy
questions are encountered.

Thank you again for your time. I look forward to continuing our discussion
and to facilitating any appropriate involvement of interested members of the
GNSO community in the current and future work of the IDN Variant Program. 

Best regards,

Jonathan Robinson

GNSO Council Chair

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/council/attachments/20140828/34e53daf/attachment.html>