[Gnso-epdp-team] IMPORTANT: Chair Update and Documents for Thursday's EPDP 2A Plenary

Wed May 26 20:24:38 UTC 2021

Hi EPDP 2A Team,

Thanks to all who contributed input to the draft Initial Report. Unfortunately, the input received (and now reviewed by the leadership team and staff) indicates we are very far apart and may not be able to reach consensus on publishing an initial report for public comment if groups are not willing to rethink the “cannot live with” items identified . Please read this message very carefully and come prepared to discuss during tomorrow’s plenary.

Some Chair observations:

1.      “Can’t Live With” designations:  By our count, there are now 77 (yes, seventy-seven) items assigned “can’t live with” by a range of groups. This is really troubling after five months of work. First, we are not conducting a consensus call on a Final Report, where we typically use “can’t live with” to indicate areas of fundamental disagreement that would put final consensus assessments at risk, or where a minority statement might be needed. Instead, in this case, at this time, we are working to publish an Initial Report to seek public comment and feedback from the community. I’m really struggling to understand how there can be so many “can’t live withs” for an Initial Report, when we could instead turn challenging text into a question for community feedback. ACTION: All groups need to review their “can’t live with” designations and reconsider or recraft if possible. Note that in the attached table the Staff Support Team has gone through each and has made a number of updates to the Initial Report which hopefully address some of the “cannot live with” items, but there are over 40 items for which no changes have been applied. If we can’t bridge these gaps, I don’t see an obvious path forward for this group. Ahead of tomorrow’s meeting, please share with the list which items remain of a “cannot live with” nature, after having reviewed and taken to heart this message (please use numbering in the attached table to indicate the specific item(s)).

2.      Repeating/Relitigating: We continue to see input that re-states previous well-known and long-discussed positions, or re-surfaces issues that were previously addressed. We are at a stage where all groups need to propose compromise text OR questions that will generate public comment feedback to help inform the group’s future deliberations and development of a Final Report. ACTION: All groups need to review their input to ensure we’re working to bridge gaps and refrain from reiterating the same points again and again.

3.      Completely new ideas / concepts: There are also a couple of instances where completely new ideas are put forward that have never been raised or discussed previously. How are these “cannot live with” items if these were never brought up previously? There is no limitation in submitting new ideas / concepts to the public comment forum so that due consideration can be given to these by the group, but now doesn’t seem to be the moment to flag these as “cannot live with” (or without). Similarly, “cannot live with” concerns have been raised in relation to text that has been stable for a while, or where there have not been any concerns flagged previously.

4.      Next Steps? I’m very concerned we’re on a path towards suspending or terminating the work of this EPDP 2A effort. If we can’t come together on an Initial Report for public comment, we will be challenged to reach any future agreement, even on guidance. I think that’s a terrible shame and I hope that everyone can take a (short) breath and look for opportunities to bring this Initial Report together so we can keep moving forward to a meaningful public comment period.

5.      Timing: We are still working toward a publication date of June 1, in recognition that Monday, May 31 is a holiday observed by ICANN Org. If I thought we were getting close and needed an extra few days, I’d be willing and able to push the publication date, but with 77 “can’t live with” designations after five months of work, I don’t see how I can make the case to the GNSO Council that more time (weeks or a month) via a Project Change Request (PCR) would help the group bridge these gaps. We were given 3 months to report to Council and we’re now at 5 months for an Initial Report, as planned and communicated.

6.      ACTION FOR ALL: Please review the attached documents, including the Thursday plenary agenda and the “blue items” for discussion. The updated Initial Report document also has some proposed language to try to resolve some of the issues flagged in your input. We still have an opportunity to publish an Initial Report, but it’s time for compromise so we can seek community input.

attached:

*       Proposed Agenda for Thursday’s meeting
*       Updated version of Initial Report incorporating in redline edits that have been made to address cannot live with items
*       Initial Report Input Form with the proposed resolution for each item
*       Blue list of items for discussion during tomorrow’s meeting (these items have been pulled out from the Initial Report Input Form list)

Thanks to you all.

Best,

Keith

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