ICANN formally announced last night that both the GDD Summit and DNS Symposium scheduled to be held in Paris, France in May have been cancelled. The DNS OARC workshop which was slated to take place in the same venue the weekend after the ICANN events has also been cancelled.
The GDD Summit is usually more business and operational focussed than the main ICANN meetings, so ICANN senior staff, including CEO Göran Marby did consult with registries and registrars as to whether the event should take place, be postponed or be cancelled outright.
The announcement will not come as a surprise to anyone. At present the EU’s borders are closed and France is on lockdown due to the COVID 19 pandemic. While many of the current restrictions have an end date it is highly unlikely that the restrictions will not be continued until later this summer.
At this stage any events that are still scheduled are “at risk”.
