ICANN 66 Montreal Canada 2-7 November 2019

The AFTLD Secretariat participated in the 66th ICANN Public Meeting and Annual General Meeting in Montreal Canada. AFTLD participated in various country code Name Supporting Organization (ccNSO) sessions, the Africa Strategy Session organized by the Global Stakeholder Engagement team from Africa, as well as the Internet Organizations (IStar) meeting that brings together all the key organizations managing critical Internet Infrastructure around the world. A number of AFTLD members were present at the 66th ICANN Public meeting. These included, .MW, .KE, .TD, .ZA, .BI, .BW.
The Secretariat also attended the joint Regional Organizations Staff meeting that brought together the Regional ccTLD Associations APTLD, AFTLD, CENTR and LACTLD to exchange views on developments in their respective Regions that are of mutual interest.

At the ICANN66 meeting, one of the top subjects in the GAC was DNS Abuse, which was discussed on numerous occasions. Furthermore, the on-going work within the EPDP (and beyond) to comply with the GDPR continues to be a high-priority topic for the GAC.
There was also another update on the Dot Amazon file, though no further GAC advice on this topic was issued in Montréal.
Link to the GAC Montréal communiqué
The ccNSO held an excellent table-top exercise to test ccTLD disaster recovery and business continuity planning. The Strategic and Operational Planning Committee (SOPC) is reviewing its charter and warns of volunteer fatigue.
Discussions with the ICANN Board underlined that the community is struggling with the concept of DNS Abuse. It is to be expected that this discussion will remain high on the ICANN agenda and those of the different constituencies.
Registry updates on abuse prevention, auction processes and platform migration showed that the ccTLD industry is innovating at a fast pace.
The PTI sessions confirmed that PTI is doing an excellent job. Additional review mechanisms are not seen as a priority.
The Internet Governance session provided a good overview of the different ways in which ccTLDs contribute to local and global Internet Governance
initiatives.
The ccNSO is running an election process for an ICANN Board Member to replace Chris Disspain at the end of his term. There are three candidates for the seat: Patricio Poblete, Calvin Browne and Nigel Phair.
Additional Information from the CENTR Report available on www.centr.org