[ALAC] Update from Keith Davidson about the FOIWG

Maureen Hilyard maureen.hilyard at gmail.com
Thu Feb 12 13:59:21 UTC 2015


... and answering some of the questions that came up in todays Wrap Up
meeting :)

Keith Davidson keith at internetnz.net.nz via icann.org

Hi FOIWG'ers,

 Reporting from ICANN52 Singapore, firstly please excuse this lengthy
message. I have copied below the ccNSO Council resolutions, the ccNSO
report, the GAC Communique and the report from the ccNSO to the ICANN Board
in the public forum.

In a nutshell, the GAC did not object to the FOI, and the FOI received
final approval from the ccNSO. It therefore is referred to the ICANN Board
for their consideration, and implementation within IANA. Also the ccNSO
will send the FOI to the CWG-IANA and CCWG-Accountability so that relevant
recommendations may be incorporated into the IANA Transition Plan. While
not the perfect outcome of having full GAC support, it nevertheless enables
a useful implementation path.

 With that, the work of the FOIWG concludes and the FOI has become the
property of the ccNSO, and hopefully a property of ICANN in due course.
Byron and I will steward the process within ICANN.

 So as a last act as the Chair of the working group, I would like to extend
my heartfelt thanks to all the active members of the group, and especially
to the vice chair Becky, who assisted above and beyond the call of duty. It
has been a fantastic experience and a very long haul to get us through, and
I admire the tenacity and endurance of you all, and the support you have
given me along the way.

 My last task as your chair will be to ask our secretariat to close the
mailing list.
 Cheers
 Keith

 ===========
 ccNSO Resolutions:

 7.1 Support Framework of Interpretation. The ccNSO Council expresses its
final support for the "Framework of Interpretation" to provide more
accurate and detailed analysis of the existing policies for the delegation,
transfer and revocation of country code Top Level Domains.

 7.2 Submission Framework of Interpretation and recommendations to CWG
Stewardship and CCWG Accountability: The ccNSO Council will provide the
Framework of Interpretation as an input to both the CWG-Stewardship and
CCWG-Accountability working groups, with the request that the Framework and
relevant recommendations from the report be incorporated into their work,
including into the Service Level Agreement that will be included in the
proposal for the IANA Transition Plan."

 7.3 Submission of the Framework of Interpretation and recommendations to
ICANN Board of Directors. The ccNSO Council empowers its chair and Keith
Davidson, former chair of the FOIWG, to recommend the Final Report of the
FOIWG to the ICANN Board of Directors, if they consider that the terms of
the GAC Communiqué are compatible with such recommendations.

 The ccNSO Council also recommends that ICANN adopt the Framework of
 Interpretation and adopt the document as the specific guidance on the
interpretation of the existing, applicable policies.

 With that in mind, the ccNSO Council recommends that certain previous
documents including the GAC Principles 2000 (which the GAC superseded in
2005), ICANN's ICP1 and News Memo 1 should be archived and considered no
longer used by ICANN or IANA staff.
 The ccNSO Council urges ICANN and IANA staff to apply the Framework in the
near future, and the Council stands ready to assist IANA staff with that
work.

==========
 CCNSO Council Report:
 Final Report FOI WG
 Introduction and Background

The Framework of Interpretation WG was established in March 2011. According
to its charter the FOIWG is to develop and propose a "Framework of
Interpretation" (FOI) for the existing policies and guidelines applicable
to the delegation and re-delegation of ccTLDs.
 After a long and intense consultation process of the FOIWG, community and
others, the FOIWG finalized its recommendations during the London meeting
(June 2014).

 The chair of the FOIWG submitted the Final Report of the WG to the ccNSO
recommending that the ccNSO adopts the proposed FOI and Recommendations
contained in the Final Report at the ICANN Los Angeles October 2014 meeting.

 In accordance with the charter of the FOIWG,  its chair submitted the
Final Report to the chair of GAC as well, and actively sought endorsement
or support from the GAC for the FOI and Recommendations.

 After an intense discussion with the ccTLD managers present at the ccNSO
meeting in Los Angeles (October 2014), the ccTLD managers unanimously
endorsed the FOI and expressed their support for the recommendations
contained in the Final Report.

 At its meeting in Los Angeles the ccNSO Council expressed its interim
support for the Framework of Interpretation and the Recommendations
contained in the Final Report of the FOIWG, requested its chair and the
chair of the FOIWG to work with the chair of the Governmental Advisory
Committee to engage with the GAC.

 As part of this engagement the ccNSO has committed to engage with the GAC
going forward to provide further guidance on issues relating to
delegations, transfers and revocations of ccTLDs, to review and identify
any gaps in the existing policies and guidelines, and to consider whether
or not a formal policy development process is needed to cover these policy
gaps. An example of which would be the "retirement" of ccTLDs, where there
is currently no policy basis for decision-making. Further, based on the
dialogue at the ccNSO-GAC joint meeting, the ccNSO Council is optimistic
that the GAC will not oppose to the Framework of Interpretation and hence
not object to submission of the Framework to the ICANN Board of Directors.

 Finally, the ccNSO Council has been made aware that ccNSO appointed
members and ccTLD participants in both the CWG Stewardship and CCWG
Accountability reference the Framework of Interpretation in their work.
 ==========
 ccNSO Chairs Comments to ICANN Public Forum:

 The ccNSO, working closely with the GAC has now completed a multi year
effort that started in 2009 with the Delegation and Redelegation Working
Group.
 Having given unanimous provisional approval to the ccNSO's Framework of
Interpretation at its meeting in <?>, the Council yesterday gave its
overwhelming final approval.

 The FoI WG, in which the GAC was fully represented has been a good example
on how different parts of ICANN can work together.

 The Framework may not constrain the operation of applicable law, nor may
it limit the role of nataonal governments as the ultimate decision-maker in
matters of public policy; and the Framework says so, explicitly.

 We welcome the GAC's consideration of our work, as noted in their
Communique.

 The ccNSO Council directed the Chair of the Council and the Chair of the
FoI to transmit the Framework to the Board and we look forward to working
together with IANA staff as they start to use it as a tool to assist their
day to day operations
 =========
 GAC Communique:

1.     Framework of Interpretation Working Group (FOIWG) Report

 The GAC notes the work of the ccNSO FOIWG, and its efforts to provide
interpretive clarity to RFC1591.  The GAC welcomes the FOIWG’s recognition
that, consistent with the GAC’s 2005 Principles, the ultimate authority on
public policy issues relating to ccTLDs is the relevant government.  As
such, nothing in the FOIWG report should be read to limit or constrain
applicable law and governmental decisions, or the IANA operator´s ability
to act in line with a request made by the relevant government.



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