The ICANN board laid out a new time table for the new gTLD program at its meeting in San Francisco this morning.

Bottom line final response to the  Government Advisory Counsel will be published out on April 15th, there will be a 30 day comment period and then vote on the gTLD program in at the ICANN Singapore Meeting on Monday the June 20th 2011.

“We are going to have a vote early in the meeting so we ALL can have a party and celebrate” said Chairman Thrush

“we are glad to see this time table and are going to stick to it and have a fabulous party to celebrate it.”

The board will also holds its regular board meeting on June 24th 2011.

Here is the actual resolution and well as the relevant discussion from the board meeting:

“”The starting point of this timeline is essentially today, which is when we’re having our board meeting, the 18th of March.

“This week, we had many constituencies that were able to produce written statements, so we had several of those from various constituencies within the gnso, amongst others.”

“We’re going to allow a little further time for other groups at icann to complete their statements and consult with parties that may not have been able to be physically present here. so on this timeline, we’re showing that we hope to get final written feedback by — in about a week’s time, and so that the rough date here is the 25th of march.”

“We’re saying GAC feedback expected, but really that’s shorthand for any advisory committee, whether it’s alac or ssac or rssac or any constituency that wants to submit final written comments based on the discussions this week, please do that by the end of next week.”

“Then the staff will consolidate all that input and produce a final version of the scorecard so that we can track the progress since the GAC scorecard that we received shortly before the brussels GAC-board meeting. and then we will also provide extracts in the guidebook for the text changes that we’re proposing to put into the guidebook that implement the various suggestions we have received this week and the various commitments that we have made in our scorecard.”

“Then we’ll open up for a comment period, and the intent of this comment period is not really a general try to open everything up again comment period. what we are intending there is to get very specific comments, preferably from the same constituencies and advisory committees that actually identify whether they believe that the text changes that we put in the Guidebook do correctly implement the intent that we have indicated in our scorecard. so we want quite focused comment. ”

“So we are allowing a 30-day period for comment.

“We’re also offering the opportunity for the gac to meet with the board by teleconference on around the 20th of may. and so that hopefully we can have any final dialogue or answer any questions that the GAC may have as a result of the document that we provide on the 15th of April.”

“Then as a result of any further discussion we have on the 20th, we will then post a Final Guidebook on the 30th of May. ”

“That’s intended to give sufficient time before our meeting in Singapore for the community to look at that document and especially for the board to make sure it’s comfortable with that document and the intent, then, is the board would consider that final guidebook in a special meeting on the 20th of June.”

“so that’s the time line, and i will now just more formally read the resolution that is associated with that time line so the resolution reads:”

“whereas the board and governmental advisory committee held a successful intersessional meeting in Brussels with the intention to identify areas of difference between the proposed implementation and the GAC’s advice, and, where possible, reach agreement on those issues.

“whereas the board and GAC have conducted in depth discussions during the San Francisco meeting to continue the good-faith effort to reach mutually acceptable solutions on the issues identified by the GAC in its scorecard.”

“whereas, the board has reviewed and considered the comments made by constituency groups, stakeholder groups, and individuals in the broader community during the San Francisco meeting.”

“whereas, ICANN bylaws, article xi, section 2.1j provides that “the advice of the governmental advisory committee on public-policy matters shall be duly taken into account, both in the formulation and adoption of policies. in the event that the icann board determines to take an action that is not consistent with the governmental advisory committee advice, it shall so inform the committee and state the reasons why it decided not to follow that advice. the governmental advisory committee and the icann board will then try, in good faith and in a timely and efficient manner, to find a mutually acceptable solution.”

“whereas, in its efforts to implement the bylaws process, ICANN:

Developed preliminary briefing papers on each of the GAC topics identified in the GAC Communiqué from Cartagena.

Conducted informal calls between ICANN and the GAC subject matter experts.

Participated in a nearly three-day meeting in Brussels with the GAC.

Reviewed the GAC scorecard and provided comprehensive board notes on the scorecard.”

“whereas, these inputs have been duly considered by the board.”

“it is now resolved, the board thanks the GAC for the many hours of intense work preparing for and conducting the recent board-GAC exchanges, and thanks the community for its continuing support and cooperation.”

“it’s resolved the board adopts a working timeline for completion of the applicant guidebook and launch of the new gTLD process, and that will be posted on our web site, but the picture is as you have seen it on the screen.”

“resolved, as set forth in the timetable, ICANN will target 15th of April 2011 as the date for publication of the final response to the GAC scorecard, along with applicant guidebook extracts showing changes.”

“resolved, the board intends to complete the process set forth in the time line in time for final approval of the new gTLD implementation program at an extraordinary meeting of the ICANN board to be held on Monday, the 20th of June 2011, at the ICANN meeting in Singapore.”

“note: the board also intends to hold its usual meeting on Friday morning, 24th of June 2011, to conclude the midyear meeting.”

Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush then made these following comments:

“Just highlighting some features of the timetable that we have adopted. what it provides for is a further opportunity for community input, two further iterations of guidebook text, one further opportunity for an intersessional exchange with the gac, and then a resolution to finish early in the week. you notice we have set up a special meeting early in the week so we don’t have to spend all of the week in Singapore in any kind of last-minute efforts because we want to have a party on — we want to have a resolution to celebrate –closure. and we haven’t finalized the plans for that but it looks like that could very well be the subject of the usual gala.”

“see we also don’t want to upset, we are doing this resolution on the Monday so we don’t upset constituency day.

“We are aware, as I say, we have interfered to a certain extent with many of the plans of people at this meeting in terms of giving this priority.”

“So that’s the contents of the timetable, to make sure that we have gone through all the processes, taken the advice, and bridged all the gaps that we can.”

“So what we want to do is, the idea is we, in Singapore, can all IP Constituency, GAC, ccTLD’s, can come to that party thinking we have built a new gTLD program that we can all be proud off and get behind. ”

“Not everybody will have gotten everything they wanted at the start of the process but we ought to be able to look back at what improvements we have made since we began and what great improvements there are over the current systems.”

“So that’s the board’s thinking about bringing this to closure. and as a result of that i can tell that you the board is very keen to see this timetable and intends to adhere to it.
this is what we are going to do. so get behind us, please, and let’s make sure that we have a fantastic new gTLD launch party in Singapore.”