Background

1. As part of the New gTLD Program, ICANN has put in place the Public Interest Commitment Dispute Resolution Procedure [PDF, 208 KB] (“PICDRP”) to address reports of a Registry Operator’s non-compliance with one or more of the public interest commitments included in Specification 11 of its Registry Agreement with ICANN .
2. During the compliance review and investigation process for a report submitted to ICANN under the PICDRP, ICANN may call upon the Standing Panel to review one or more reports in order to evaluate whether the Registry Operator was or was not in compliance with Specification 11 of the Registry Agreement.

Composition of Standing Panel

1. The Standing Panel shall consist of a minimum of three members, with more members to be added as deemed necessary. Not all members of the Standing Panel are necessary to the consideration of each report referred by ICANN .
2. The Standing Panel members should have diversity in geographic and cultural representation. Diversity of experience will be considered in completing the composition of the Panel.

Proposed Qualifications of Standing Panel Members

1. In consideration of the scope and areas of expertise required, that Standing Panel members, in the aggregate, should have expertise and significant knowledge in the following (or similar) aspects/areas.

   1. Online content
   2. Public policy
   3. Trademark protection
   4. International dispute resolution
   5. Cultural studies
   6. Judicial and/or legal experience
   7. DNS technical experience
   8. Regulatory background
   9. Sociological research experience
   10. Contract interpretation experience
   11. Licensing experience
   12. Cybersecurity

2. Panel members should have demonstrated recognition of expertise and knowledge through high-level positions, peer group recognition, and/or history of publications/presentations on relevant topics.

Conflict of Interests

All Panel members must be independent from ICANN (i.e., not an ICANN employee; not a member of any ICANN Sponsoring Organization or Advisory Committee; not affiliated with any registrar or registry holding a contract with ICANN ). Further, all Panel members must adhere to ICANN ‘s conflicts of interest policy and annually complete a Conflicts of Interest Disclosure Form.

Time Commitment

1. To keep the costs and burdens of evaluation as low as possible, absent exceptional circumstances, the Standing Panel is expected to conduct its proceedings by email, by telephone and otherwise via the Internet.
2. It is anticipated that the Standing Panel may start to have matters referred to it by ICANN within one month of the Panel formation. The members of the Standing Panel will be required to review reference and training materials prior to receiving matters such that the Panel members understand the Public Interest Commitments Dispute Resolution Process. For each matter referred, the Standing Panel will be expected to evaluate compliance by the Registry Operator and report its evaluation results to ICANN . The Standing Panel is expected to deliver its evaluation results to ICANN within 15 days of reference by ICANN .
3. At present it is unclear how many matters will be referred to any given Standing Panel member; over time this may become more predictable based on the nature and number of the reports submitted.

Fees for Service on Standing Panel

Fees to be determined based on, among other things, proposals received.

Terms of Standing Panel Member

For the purpose of continuity and consistency, the terms of Standing Panel members will be staggered. For a start, the terms of two of the Standing Panel member shall be two (2) years and the term of the third member shall be one (1) year. Subsequent terms of new members and renewal of terms shall be two (2) years and members, with agreement from ICANN , are allowed to renew for a maximum of two (2) terms.

Timing

It is anticipated that the Standing Panel membership will be announced by end of March 2014.

Submit an Expression of Interest

Send an email to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
by 19 February 2014.

[NOTE: This announcement was first published on newgtlds.icann.org in December 2013. The deadline for expressions of interest has been extended to 19 February 2014 and we’re publishing here on icann.org to get the word out to a broader audience.]

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-05feb14-en.htm

Questionnaire attributes:

• Questionnaire Availability Date: 31 January 2014
• Questionnaire Address: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Privacy_and_Proxy_Services_Survey
• Questionnaire Close Date: 28 February 2014, 23:59 UTC
• Questionnaire Language: English only

All questions can be downloaded in PDF form [PDF, 281 KB] for offline review, with answers submitted either via email to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
or submitting answers online.

The EWG greatly appreciates any insights on this topic from those P/P Providers interested in sharing information about their current practices. The individual responses will be used only to understand current P/P Provider practices and will not be published by the EWG, unless the P/P Provider requests that its individual response be disclosed. The EWG plans to publish a summary of anonymized, aggregated results for ICANN community use in considering future policy recommendations, and will be shared with the GNSO PDP Working Group on Privacy/Proxy Service Accreditation Issues.

Background

In December 2012, ICANN announced the creation of an Expert Working Group (EWG) on next-generation gTLD Registration Directory Services, as a first step in fulfilling the ICANN Board’s directive to help redefine the purpose and provision of gTLD registration data. The EWG’s findings are expected to serve as a foundation to help the GNSO create a new global policy for the provision of gTLD registration data.

A significant milestone was reached on 24 June 2013 with the publication of the Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services (EWG)’s Initial Report and FAQs, opening a consultation period with the ICANN community. The Initial Report [PDF, 1.70 MB] enumerated the users, purposes, data elements, recommended principles and features, and proposed model to guide the development of a next generation Registration Directory Service (RDS) to replace WHOIS.

Prior to the ICANN Meeting in Buenos Aires, the EWG published its Status Update Report [PDF, 2.26 MB] to highlight the EWG’s thinking on these and many other key issues. It also provides a great deal more detail on the analysis that lay behind the Initial Report [PDF, 1.70 MB].

The EWG is currently in its research and information gathering phase. This Questionnaire is one of several research efforts that the EWG is currently undertaking to ensure that its final recommendations are supported by facts and informed by current practices.

What’s Next?

The EWG expects to complete its recommendations in 2014, informed by Community feedback and in-depth analysis of selected areas, including the responses to this Questionnaire. The EWG plans to reconvene in March 2014 to derive fact-based recommendations after carefully examining the results of its research, and expects to deliver its final report to the ICANN Board by June 2014.

Questions

If questions arise about the Questionnaire or the online tool, please contact Margie Milam at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-05feb14-en.htm