Public Comment
EPDP Phase 2 Policy Recommendations for Board Consideration
Open Date
8 February 2021 23:59 UTC
Close Date
30 March 2021 23:59 UTC
Staff Report Due
20 April 2021 23:59 UTC
Brief Overview
Purpose: This Public Comment proceeding seeks to obtain community input prior to Board action on a subset of final policy recommendations of the Generic Names Supporting Organization Expedited Policy Development Process on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data (EPDP) – Phase 2. Specifically, this Public Comment proceeding is seeking input on a set of final recommendations that relate to a proposed System for Standardized Access/Disclosure to non-public registration information ("SSAD").
Current Status: The GNSO Council approved the policy recommendations during its meeting on 24 September 2020.
Next Steps: The ICANN Board is expected to take action on the approved policy recommendations.
Section I: Description and Explanation
On 17 May 2018, the ICANN Board of Directors (ICANN Board) adopted the Temporary Specification for generic top-level domain (gTLD) Registration Data ("Temporary Specification"). The Temporary Specification provides modifications to existing requirements in the Registrar Accreditation and Registry Agreements in order to comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"). In accordance with the ICANN Bylaws, the Temporary Specification expired on 25 May 2019.
On 19 July 2018, the GNSO Council initiated an Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) and chartered the EPDP on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data team. In accordance with the Charter, the EPDP team membership was expressly limited. However, all ICANN Stakeholder Groups, Constituencies, Supporting Organizations, and Advisory Committees interested in participating are represented on the EPDP Team (see https://community.icann.org/x/kBdIBg).
In order to organize its work, the EPDP Team agreed to divide its work into priority 1 and priority 2 topics. Priority 1 consists of the System for Standardized Access/Disclosure and all directly related questions. Priority 2 includes the topics specifically concerning the issues noted in the Annex to the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data ("Important Issues for Further Community Action") and outstanding issues deferred from Phase 1, e.g., redaction of city field, data retention, et. al.
The priority 1 topics deal with the proposed SSAD, and a graphic representation of the proposed SSAD, including the recommendations that correspond to the different components of the system, is provided below for reference.
The topics included in the Priority 1 recommendations on SSAD1, which are the subject to this Public Comment forum, are included below:
Recommendation #1: Accreditation
Recommendation #2: Accreditation of Governmental Entities
Recommendation #3: Criteria and Content of Requests
Recommendation #4: Acknowledgment of Receipt
Recommendation #5: Response Requirements
Recommendation #6: Priority Levels
Recommendation #7: Requestor Purposes
Recommendation #8: Contracted Party Authorization
Recommendation #9: Automation of SSAD Processing
Recommendation #10: Determining Variable SLAs for response times for SSAD
Recommendation #11: SSAD Terms and Conditions
Recommendation #12: Disclosure Requirement
Recommendation #13: Query Policy
Recommendation #14: Financial Sustainability
Recommendation #15: Logging
Recommendation #16: Audits
Recommendation #17: Reporting Requirements
Recommendation #18: Review of implementation of policy recommendations concerning SSAD using a GNSO Standing Committee.
A more detailed overview of the recommendations is provided in the GNSO Council webinar here: https://icann.zoom.us/rec/play/nAfeViHyLcBg4aTfALIFt0LgaLxZiTu2WM0BEPvu0qSyw5v0QadBlifONj_miLeQTJplBdLCB5hC725a.d_u8FgDg7vssL7uO?startTime=1599166830000&_x_zm_rtaid=VNY65wwKR8Cjj2_baKJeLA.1612474226961.a36fa174d000181529341a65b1526592&_x_zm_rhtaid=381.
1 The priority 2 recommendations were the subject of a separate public comment proceeding, see https://www.icann.org/public-comments/policy-recommendations-epdp-phase-2-2020-12-03-en.
Section II: Background
On 17 May 2018, the ICANN Board of Directors (ICANN Board) adopted the Temporary Specification for generic top-level domain (gTLD) Registration Data ("Temporary Specification"). The Temporary Specification provides modifications to existing requirements in the Registrar Accreditation and Registry Agreements in order to comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"). In accordance with the ICANN Bylaws, the Temporary Specification expired on 25 May 2019.
On 19 July 2018, the GNSO Council initiated an Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) and chartered the EPDP on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data team. In accordance with the Charter, EPDP team membership was expressly limited. However, all ICANN Stakeholder Groups, Constituencies, Supporting Organizations, and Advisory Committees interested in participating are represented on the EPDP Team.
During Phase 1 of its work, the EPDP Team was tasked to determine if the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data should become an ICANN Consensus Policy as is, or with modifications. This Final Report concerns phase 2 of the EPDP Team's charter which covers: (i) discussion of a system for standardized access/disclosure to nonpublic registration data, (ii) issues noted in the Annex to the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data ("Important Issues for Further Community Action"), and (iii) outstanding issues deferred from Phase 1, e.g., redaction of city field, data retention, et. al. For further details, please see here.
The EPDP Team published its Initial Report on priority 1 recommendations on 7 February 2020 and the Addendum to the Initial Report, covering priority 2 recommendations, on 26 March 2020. The EPDP Team reviewed all Public Comments received using the Public Comment Review Tool (PCRT). The EPDP Team incorporated Public Comments into its Final Report, where it believed warranted. The Final Report was delivered to the Council on 31 July 2020. Minority Statements were accepted through 24 August 2020, and all statements received by the deadline were incorporated into the Final Report. The GNSO Council considered the Final Report during its meetings on 24 September 2020 and adopted it with the required GNSO Supermajority support. In its adoption of the Final Report, the GNSO Council suggested a consultation with the ICANN Board, in particular, to discuss some of the concerns raised in the minority statements. Additionally, there will be an operational assessment prior to the Board's consideration of these recommendations.
Comments Closed
Report of Public Comments