[wg-b] WG-B Deadline

["Michael D. Palage" <mpalage@infonetworks.com>]

As most of you are aware, I posted a Working Group B Status report to the
list earlier this week. According to the resolution adopted in Cairo, Egypt
earlier this month, an interim report is due to the Names Counsel by the
15th of April. The Names Counsel then has until April 20th to submit a
report to the ICANN Board. After the 20th, the ICANN staff will prepare a
report for public comment prior to the Japan meeting in July. Therefore, the
work of this group is drawing to a close. I anticipate that Working Group B
will be dissolved in Japan. Although the time of this group is limited, I
still believe that there remains a lot of consensus building that remains to
be accomplished. As I reported in the status report earlier this week, the
Intellectual Property and Registrar Constituencies are optimistic that a
jointly agreed position can be reached prior to the April 15th deadline.
However, I would encourage all participants in this list to voice their
concerns now so that I can properly reflect your concerns in the interim
report. I anticipate this interim report being made available for WG-B
comment on or around April the tenth.

Best regards,

Michael D. Palage
Chair Working Group B

P.S. Working Group C (new top-level domain names are under a similar time
line)