ICANN Resolutions » GAC Advice: Copenhagen Communiqué (March 2017)
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GAC Advice: Copenhagen Communiqué (March 2017)
Whereas, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) met during the ICANN58 meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark and issued advice to the ICANN Board in a communiqué [PDF, 190 KB] on 15 March 2017 ("Copenhagen Communiqué").
Whereas, the Copenhagen Communiqué was the subject of an exchange between the Board and the GAC on 27 April 2017.
Whereas, in a 25 April 2017 letter [PDF, 637 KB], the GNSO Council provided its draft feedback to the Board concerning advice in the Copenhagen Communiqué relevant to generic top-level domains to inform the Board and the community of gTLD policy activities that may relate to advice provided by the GAC. The comments were formally adopted by the GNSO on 18 May 2017 and provided to the Board in a 2 June 2017 letter [PDF, 778 KB].
Whereas, the Board developed an iteration of the scorecard to respond to the GAC's advice in the Copenhagen Communiqué, taking into account the exchange between the Board and the GAC and the information provided by the GNSO Council.
Resolved (2017.06.12.01), the Board adopts the scorecard [PDF, 321 KB] titled "GAC Advice – Copenhagen Communiqué: Actions and Updates (12 June 2017)" in response to items of GAC advice in the Copenhagen Communiqué.
Article 12, Section 12.2(a)(ix) of the ICANN Bylaws permits the GAC to "put issues to the Board directly, either by way of comment or prior advice, or by way of specifically recommending action or new policy development or revision to existing policies." In its Copenhagen Communiqué (15 March 2017), the GAC issued advice to the Board on various matters including: (1) protection of identifiers of the Red Cross/Red Crescent in gTLDs; (2) protection of names and acronyms of Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) in gTLDs; (3) mitigation of domain name abuse; and (4) two-character domain names at the second level that correspond to country/territory codes. The ICANN Bylaws require the Board to take into account the GAC's advice on public policy matters in the formulation and adoption of the polices. If the Board decides to take an action that is not consistent with the GAC advice, it must inform the GAC and state the reasons why it decided not to follow the advice. Any GAC advice approved by a full consensus of the GAC (as defined in the Bylaws) may only be rejected by a vote of no less than 60% of the Board, and the GAC and the Board will then try, in good faith and in a timely and efficient manner, to find a mutually acceptable solution.
At this time, the Board is taking action to address the advice from the GAC in the Copenhagen Communiqué. The Board's actions are described in the scorecard [PDF, 321 KB] dated 12 June 2017.
In adopting its response to the GAC advice in the Copenhagen Communiqué, the Board reviewed various materials, including, but not limited to, the following materials and documents:
Copenhagen Communiqué (15 March 2017): https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/gac-to-icann-15mar1... [PDF, 190 KB]
The GNSO Council's review of the advice in the Copenhagen Communiqué as presented in 15 April 2017 and 2 June 2017 letters to the Board: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/bladel-et-al-to-cro... [PDF, 637 KB]
https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/bladel-et-al-to-cro... [PDF, 778 KB]
The adoption of the GAC advice as provided in the scorecard will have a positive impact on the community because it will assist with resolving the advice from the GAC concerning gTLDs and other matters. There are no foreseen fiscal impacts associated with the adoption of this resolution. Approval of the resolution will not impact security, stability or resiliency issues relating to the DNS.
This is an Organizational Administrative function that does not require public comment.