ICANN 77 Policy Forum, Washington DC

Policy Forum

The Policy Forum is the second meeting in the three-meeting annual cycle, typically held in June, with a duration of four days, Monday through Thursday.

The Policy Forum is dedicated to policy development work of the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees (SO/ACs), and regional outreach activities. The Policy Forum is generally smaller than other meetings and the shortened agenda has, no public forums, and no board meetings.

Internet policy is developed by the ICANN community’s bottom-up, consensus-based policy-making structure. Three groups at ICANN are responsible for developing Internet policy and making recommendations to the ICANN Board: The Address Supporting Organization (ASO), Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), and Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) which is the largest policy-making organization in ICANN. The GNSO’s Policy Development Process (PDP) is a detailed bottom-up, multi-stakeholder process that invites global participation and depends on the Internet community’s input for success. The Policy Forum is an important opportunity for PDP working groups to advance their work in face-to-face meetings with the broader community.