[ALAC-Announce] RAA Negotiations Update - December 2012

[At-Large Staff]

https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-3-14dec12-en.htm
RAA Negotiations Update ­ December 2012
14 December 2012
Over many months of negotiations, ICANN and the Registrars have made
significant progress in negotiating the 12 recommendations from law
enforcement authorities on improvements to the Registrar Accreditation
Agreement. At ICANN's October 2012 meeting in Toronto, the negotiation teams
described the agreements in principle on 11 of the 12 key law
enforcement-recommended improvements, including the establishment of an
abuse point of contact at each registrar; enhanced requirements to maintain
updated information with ICANN; and robust data retention requirements. The
documents posted in advance of the Toronto meeting also reflect the progress
made with respect to the amendment topics proposed by the GNSO and ALAC. On
one of the more complex items within the negotiations ­ the institution of
validation and verification requirements on Whois data submitted by
registrants ­ much progress has been made towards outlining an initial Whois
verification process. However, a fundamental area of difference still
remains between ICANN and the registrars, and agreement in principle has not
been reached on this remaining topic.

ICANN and the registrars have jointly initiated work on the development of a
strawman for a Proxy/Privacy Service Provider Accreditation Program. The
working team hosted a session on this topic at ICANN's Public Meeting in
Toronto to start soliciting community input into what such a program should
encompass.

While much progress has been made on the recommendations provided by law
enforcement, the GNSO and the ALAC, additional items remain for ICANN and
the registrars to discuss. Both ICANN and the registrars have additional
proposed changes which have not yet been negotiated. As previously
discussed, it has been ICANN's position that the negotiations on key topics
within the law enforcement recommendations need to come to resolution prior
to concluding negotiations on these additional areas.

In Toronto, ICANN's new President and CEO, Fadi Chehadé, announced to the
community that the changes to the RAA are one of his top priorities, and
assured the community of his focus on this work. While in Toronto, an
ambitious schedule was set out for the completion of the RAA negotiations,
including the posting of a proposed RAA for public comment before the end of
2012. Since the Toronto meeting, the President and CEO has been working
closely with ICANN staff to gain a deeper understanding of the RAA
negotiation topics. The substantial amount of work spent on the Trademark
Clearinghouse for the New gTLD Program as well as the organizational work to
meet the operational excellence goals has pushed the RAA negotiations into
December.  While the registrars and ICANN explored potential dates for
negotiation in December 2012, both sides have agreed that between holidays,
difficult travel schedules and the ICANN Prioritization Draw for New gTLDs,
a December meeting is not feasible. Therefore, negotiations will resume in
January 2013, and the anticipated date for publication of a draft RAA for
community comment will be announced in January as well. ICANN thanks the
registrars for their continued engagement in this negotiation process.

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Regards,


Heidi Ullrich, Silvia Vivanco, Matt Ashtiani, Gisella Gruber, Nathalie
Peregrine and Julia Charvolen
ICANN Policy Staff in support of ALAC
E-mail: staff at atlarge.icann.org


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