Implementation Review Team

An Implementation Review Team is a voluntary ICANN team which is convened to assist staff in developing the implementation details for a given policy to ensure that the implementation conforms to this police recommendations. Thus, each IRT is different depending on the issues addressed. The IRT is not a forum for opening or revising policy discussions, unless new information became available.

Guidelines

In August 2016, the IRT Principles and Guidelines was published as part of the GNSO Policy & Implementation Working Group Final Recommedations Report. Since the adoption and the implementation of the Recommendations Report, IRTs have been formed and operated under those principles and guidelines.

CPIF

The Consensus Policy Implementation Framework (CPIF), a document by ICANN org, provides a holistic framework for an implementation process involving several distinct parties. However, its ICANN org-specific focus means that it exists alongside, and in some cases, duplicates alternative implementation guidance produced by the GNSO, notably the IRT Principles and Guidelines. This may lead to confusion regarding the convening of the IRT and its responsibilities.

Formation and Recruitment

According to IRT Principles and Guidelines, an IRT must be lauched after a PDP Working Group adopts Consensus Policy recommendations.

The IRT volunteer recruitment process must take into account what areas of expertise are expected to be needed for each team.

Also, the call for IRT volunteers should at a minimum be sent to all members of the PDP working group that was responsible for developing the policy recommendations. IRTs should include at least one participant from the original PDP WG who can provide insight into the original reasoning behind consensus policy recommendations.

The call for volunteers may need to reach beyond the working group members to ensure broad participation by parties directly impacted by the implementation and parties with specialized expertise needed. In some cases, additional outreach at the start or at a later stage of the IRT may be necessary to ensure that appropriate expertise is available and that directly affected parties are involved. IRTs are open to all interested parties.

The GNSO Council is expected to designate a GNSO Council liaison to each IRT to ensure a direct link to the GNSO if needed.

IRT Before the Guidelines

Before the publication of the Guidelines, each team created its own scope, mailing list, and meeting cadence.

The first documented IRT was the PEDNR Implementation Review Team, as described in the Approved Board Resolutions on October 28, 2011: "The GNSO Council shall convene a PEDNR Implementation Review Team to assist ICANN Staff in developing the implementation details for the new policy should it be approved by the ICANN Board. The Implementation Review Team will be tasked with evaluating the proposed implementation of the policy recommendations as approved by the Board and is expected to work with ICANN Staff to ensure that the resultant implementation meets the letter and intent of the approved policy."

Implementation Review Teams

• Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) Series IRT

• Post-Expiration Domain-Name Recovery (PEDNR) IRT

• UDRP-Lock IRT

• IGO-INGO Identifiers Protection IRT

• Thick WHOIS IRT

• T/T Contact-Info IRT

• Registration Data Policy IRT

• Subsequent Procedures IRT

• IGO-INGO Curative Rights IRT

• Across-Field Address Validation IRT

• Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation (PPSAI) IRT

• Registrar Naming Services Portal (RNSP) IRT

Generic Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities set forth in the Bylaws (ICANN Bylaws).

Policy Development Process