RE: [bc-gnso] ALERTS From the Secretariat: Proposed 2013 RAA Posted for Comment

[Phil Corwin <psc@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I bring to BC members' attention the statement issued yesterday by the 
Registrar Negotiating Team on this.

I believe that this excerpt raises issues concerning the role of ICANN staff 
and the future of the M-S Model that may deserve some BC discussion, especially 
as this will probably be a "hot" issue in Beijing, along with Closed Generics.

Some of the other new items for inclusion transcend the RAA and could affect 
the entirety of the multi-stakeholder model. For example, ICANN insisted on 
including a proposed Revocation (or "blow up") Clause that would have given 
them the ability to unilaterally terminate all registrar accreditations. After 
major pushback, ICANN staff relented and in its place proposed giving the ICANN 
Board the ability to unilaterally amend the RAA. This is identical to what 
ICANN inserted into the proposed new gTLD registry agreement-a clause met with 
strong opposition not only from the Registry Stakeholder Group but from the 
broader ICANN community.
The effect of such a clause in the primary agreements between ICANN and its 
commercial stakeholders would be devastating to the bottom-up, 
multi-stakeholder model. First, it will effectively mean the end of the GNSO's 
PDP, as the Board will become the central arena for all controversial issues, 
not the community. Second, it creates an imbalance of authority in the ICANN 
model, with no limits on the scope or frequency of unilateral amendments, and 
no protections for registrars and more important registrants.



http://www.internetnews.me/2013/03/08/registrar-negotiating-team-issues-statement-on-raa/

Registrar Negotiating Team Issues Statement On RAA
By Michele Neylon<http://www.internetnews.me/author/admin/> on March 8, 2013in 
icann<http://www.internetnews.me/category/icann/>, 
registrars<http://www.internetnews.me/category/registrars/>
0
inShare<javascript:void(0);>
[RrSG-logo]Last night ICANN 
published<https://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/proposed-raa-07mar13-en.htm>
 a version of the RAA and related documents for public comment. While the 
Registrar Stakeholder Group's negotiating team (RrSG NT) have been in talks on 
and off with ICANN staff for the last 18 months the publication of the 
documents at this time is felt to be premature by the RrSG NT.
Here's the official statement:
Registrar Stakeholder Group Negotiating Team (Registrar NT) statement regarding 
RAA negotiations
After nearly 18 months of negotiations with ICANN over a new Registrar 
Accreditation Agreement (RAA), formal negotiations have concluded. The posting 
of a "proposed" 2013 RAA by ICANN for public comment signals that ICANN staff 
believes that negotiations have concluded and the remaining issues will not be 
resolved.
The Registrars' NT disagrees. To be clear, this is NOT the outcome that 
registrars wanted, and they remain ready and willing to continue negotiations.
Prior to the Toronto ICANN meeting (October 2012), all parties acknowledged 
that they were very close to agreement on all remaining issues. The process 
appeared to be reaching a favorable conclusion and when ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé 
communicated his desire to have RAA negotiations wrapped up by the end of 2012, 
registrars felt it was an ambitious timeframe, but one worth pursuing for the 
benefit of all parties.
When negotiations finally resumed in February 2013 much to the surprise of 
registrars, the few remaining issues were not the only items under discussion. 
ICANN staff presented a list of 10 brand new items for inclusion in the 
agreement, under the pretext of enhancing the "public interest." Furthermore, 
these new items came along with an arbitrary deadline and decision to link the 
2013 RAA to the new gTLD timeline.
Among these new demands was a Registrant Rights and Responsibilities document 
(R3), a temporary privacy accreditation program and a requirement that 
registrars accept and implement recommendations of the WHOIS Expert Working 
Group, which had yet to be formed and whose work is just beginning.
Although registrars were surprised by these new demands, registrars worked in 
good faith with ICANN to accommodate its intentions. For example, registrars 
consulted with their members to fine-tune the R3 document to make it easier to 
understand and readily translatable in other languages.
Some of the other new items for inclusion transcend the RAA and could affect 
the entirety of the multi-stakeholder model. For example, ICANN insisted on 
including a proposed Revocation (or "blow up") Clause that would have given 
them the ability to unilaterally terminate all registrar accreditations. After 
major pushback, ICANN staff relented and in its place proposed giving the ICANN 
Board the ability to unilaterally amend the RAA. This is identical to what 
ICANN inserted into the proposed new gTLD registry agreement-a clause met with 
strong opposition not only from the Registry Stakeholder Group but from the 
broader ICANN community.
The effect of such a clause in the primary agreements between ICANN and its 
commercial stakeholders would be devastating to the bottom-up, 
multi-stakeholder model. First, it will effectively mean the end of the GNSO's 
PDP, as the Board will become the central arena for all controversial issues, 
not the community. Second, it creates an imbalance of authority in the ICANN 
model, with no limits on the scope or frequency of unilateral amendments, and 
no protections for registrars and more important registrants.
In addition to the new items for inclusion there was a surprise announcement 
that all new gTLD registries must only use registrars that have signed the 2013 
RAA, a transparent effort by ICANN to arbitrarily link the new gTLD program to 
the outcome of RAA negotiations. This requirement would create separate 
"classes" or "levels" of registrars, which is unprecedented in the DNS 
industry. There can and must be only one meaning of "ICANN-Accredited."
All of the items that have been agreed to over the past 18 months would, by 
themselves, produce an RAA that is vastly improved over the current 2009 
version. If adopted, that RAA would significantly raise performance 
requirements for every ICANN accredited registrar and bring dramatic 
improvements to the domain name ecosystem. Nearly all of the Law Enforcement 
requests that were endorsed by the GAC have been included, as well as the major 
items that were requested by the GNSO are included in that RAA. That RAA would 
bring registrant verification. That RAA would bring enhanced compliance tools.
Registrars must emphasize that the key differences between that RAA and the one 
currently proposed by ICANN are not issues raised by Law Enforcement, GAC or 
the GNSO but by ICANN staff.
It now moves to the greater ICANN community to review these competing draft 
RAAs, and registrars look forward to those public discussions. We welcome 
engagement with all stakeholders on the new 2013 RAA, and what it means for 
registrars, registrants, and the management of the DNS as a whole.


Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal
Virtualaw LLC
1155 F Street, NW
Suite 1050
Washington, DC 20004
202-559-8597/Direct
202-559-8750/Fax
202-255-6172/cell

Twitter: @VlawDC

"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey

From: owner-bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
Benedetta Rossi
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 6:37 AM
To: bc - GNSO list
Subject: [bc-gnso] ALERTS From the Secretariat: Proposed 2013 RAA Posted for 
Comment

Dear BC Members,

Please find below an ICANN announcement regarding the Proposed 2013 RAA posted 
for Comment.

Thank you,



Kind Regards,



Benedetta Rossi

BC Secretariat

https://community.icann.org/display/gnsobc/Home

www.bizconst.org<http://www.bizconst.org>

bc-secretariat@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:bc-secretariat@xxxxxxxxx>


https://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/proposed-raa-07mar13-en.htm
Proposed 2013 RAA Posted for Comment
Comment / Reply Periods (*)
Comment Open Date:
7 March 2013
Comment Close Date:
28 March 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Reply Open Date:
29 March 2013
Reply Close Date:
19 April 2013 - 23:59 UTC
Important Information Links
Public Comment 
Announcement<https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-07mar13-en.htm>
To Submit Your Comments (Forum)<mailto:comments-proposed-raa-07mar13@xxxxxxxxx>
View Comments 
Submitted<http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-proposed-raa-07mar13/>
Brief Overview
Originating Organization:
ICANN
Categories/Tags:

  *   Contracted Party Agreements
Purpose (Brief):

ICANN is seeking public comments on a Proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation 
Agreement (RAA), particularly on areas where ICANN and the Registrar 
Negotiating Team have not been able to reach agreement in principle. This 
represents the first time in the nearly 18 months of negotiations that 
community comment is formally sought on this document.
Current Status:

ICANN and the Registrar Negotiating Team commenced negotiation on amendments to 
the RAA in October 2011. While the documents posted today show many areas of 
agreement, there are differences between the ICANN and Registrar positions are 
highlighted. In addition, further discussion is still ongoing regarding some of 
the specifications to the agreement.
Next Steps:

After review of the comment received, the proposed 2013 RAA will be reviewed to 
determine if further changes are warranted. In addition, ICANN and the 
Registrar NT are likely to continue discussions regarding the areas where the 
specifications remain open. The ultimate goal is to have a 2013 RAA completed 
and approved in the near future.
Staff Contact:
Samantha Eisner, Senior Counsel
Email Staff 
Contact<mailto:samantha.eisner@xxxxxxxxx?subject=More%20information%20on%20the%20Proposed%202013%20RAA%20Posted%20for%20Comment%20public%20comment%20period>
Detailed Information
Section I: Description, Explanation, and Purpose:

After nearly 18 months of negotiations, ICANN is posting a new version of the 
proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for public comment.

The Registrar Negotiating Team (NT) has continued to engage in good faith 
negotiations to understand ICANN's perspective with respect to the outstanding 
issues, and to share the often divergent positions within the Registrar 
Stakeholder Group. Recently, additional revisions were proposed by ICANN's 
Negotiating Team stemming from the call by ICANN's CEO, Fadi Chehadé, to work 
to improve the image of the domain industry and to protect registrants through 
a further updated contractual framework. The Registrar NT considered each of 
these new issues, and worked towards finding solutions where appropriate. The 
RAA posted today reflects hard-fought concessions on many of key issues raised 
throughout the negotiations, and highlights issues remaining in order for the 
final 2013 RAA agreement to be reached.

Throughout the RAA and its Specifications, there are portions where two 
versions of draft text appear side by side. These highlight areas where ICANN 
and the Registrars have not been able to reach agreement in principle on an 
issue, therefore both positions are provided for comment. Unless otherwise 
noted, the remainder of the document reflects agreements in principle among 
ICANN and the Registrar NT.

A fuller discussion of the status of negotiations and areas of difference is 
available in ICANN's RAA Posting 
Memorandum<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/memo-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 66 KB].
Section II: Background:

The current round of negotiations over the RAA began in October 2011. ICANN and 
the Registrar Negotiation Team have presented updates to the community at each 
of ICANN's public meetings since that time. Information on the history of the 
negotiations, including previously released documentation, is available at the 
community wiki at 
https://community.icann.org/display/RAA/Negotiations+Between+ICANN+and+Registrars+to+Amend+the+Registrar+Accreditation+Agreement.
 This includes the group of documents posted in June 2012, which demonstrated 
the progress to date in the negotiations.
Section III: Document and Resource Links:

There are multiple documents for review as part of this posting. The new RAA is 
anticipated to be a base document with a series of specifications attached. 
This posting includes all documents that are currently anticipated to be part 
of the 2013 a. As noted above, a fuller discussion of the status of 
negotiations and areas of difference is available in ICANN's RAA Posting 
Memorandum<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/memo-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 66 KB].

The base RAA documents:

  *   Proposed 2013 RAA, Annotated to Show Differences Between ICANN and 
Registrar 
Positions<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 281 KB]
  *   Redline showing changes between Proposed 2013 RAA and the June 2012 RAA 
Posting<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-03jun12-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 205 KB]
  *   Redline showing changes between Proposed 2013 RAA and the 2009 
RAA<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-2009-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 259 KB]
  *   A Summary of Changes from the June 2012 RAA 
Posting<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-agreement-summary-changes-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 268 KB] is also available.

The Specifications and Addendums:

For the Consensus and Temporary Policy Specification, the Data Retention 
Specification, and the Whois Accuracy Program Specification, each is available 
in annotated format to show where differences remain with the registrars, as 
well as redlines showing the differences in the documents from the 2012 posting.

  *   Proposed Consensus and Temporary Policy Specification, Annotated to Show 
Differences Between ICANN and Registrar 
Positions<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-consensus-temporary-policy-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 121 KB]
  *   Redline showing changes between to the Consensus and Temporary Policy 
Specification and the June 2012 
Version<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-consensus-temporary-policy-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 95 KB]
  *   Proposed Data Retention Specification, Annotated to Show Differences 
Between ICANN and Registrar 
Positions<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-data-retention-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 113 KB]
  *   Redline showing changes between to the Data Retention Specification and 
the June 2012 
Version<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-data-retention-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 118 KB]
  *   Proposed Whois Accuracy Program Specification, Annotated to Show 
Differences Between ICANN and Registrar 
Positions<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-accuracy-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 116 KB]
  *   Redline showing changes between to the Whois Accuracy Program 
Specification and the June 2012 
Version<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-accuracy-redline-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 142 KB]

For the remaining specifications to the RAA, the versions below are provided as 
ICANN's latest proposal. The Registrar Negotiation Team is still considering 
each of these specifications:

  *   Proposed Registrant Rights and Responsibilities 
Specification<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-registrant-rights-responsibilities-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 48 KB]
  *   ICANN Proposed Specification on Proxy/Privacy 
Services<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-privacy-proxy-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 70 KB]
  *   ICANN Proposed Additional Registrar Operation 
Specification<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-additional-operation-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 78 KB]
  *   ICANN Proposed Registrar Information 
Specification<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-registrar-information-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 76 KB]
  *   ICANN Proposed Whois 
Specification<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-whois-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 160 KB]
  *   ICANN Proposed Compliance 
Certificate<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-compliance-certificate-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 64 KB]
  *   ICANN Proposed Transition Addendum 
<https://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/raa/proposed-transition-addendum-07mar13-en.pdf>
 [PDF, 63 KB]
Section IV: Additional Information:
None
________________________________

(*) Comments submitted after the posted Close Date/Time are not guaranteed to 
be considered in any final summary, analysis, reporting, or decision-making 
that takes place once this period lapses.


Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
http://gnso.icann.org



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