[CCWG-ACCT] Work Stream 2 - Board position

[Thomas Rickert]

Dear Bruce,
with this e-mail, we would like to formally approach you in your capacity as Board liaison to provide some clarity on how the Board wishes to deal with WS2.
 
As you know, the concept of two Work Streams has been introduced by the Board more than a year ago as follows:
 
“Following the community requested 21-day second round of comments, ICANN received 17 comments. Based on the input received from these comments, staff believes that the strong community comments in the second round of comments support integrating the originally proposed structure (CCG/Coordination Group) into establishing a Cross Community Working Group (CCWG) that incorporates some key elements that have arisen in the dialogues. Additionally, given the input over the course of the dialogue on this process, it's suggested that the CCWG has two work steams, one focused on accountability in view of ICANN's changing historical relationship with the USG, and the second, on the broader accountability issues the community would like to bring to the forefront.”

(https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/process-next-steps-2014-10-10-en)

This concept was confirmed by NTIA on several occasions and our group has structured its work plan accordingly.

We do note that the Board has recently suggested to deal with certain items in the framework of reviews and continuous improvements. However, many CCWG colleagues are concerned that this might lead to a situation where the items the CCWG has identified as WS2 items would not be dealt with with the required attention.
 
We are also aware of concerns that ICANN must not leave major changes to a later point in time to avoid uncertainty about ICANN changing e.g. its governance model after the transition. We note that areas of work for WS2 will be published with our report and included in our recommendations. It is a finite list of clearly identified subjects, all of which are important, but none of which would substantially change ICANN other than further enhancing its accountability.
 
May we therefore ask the Board to formally commit to honoring WS2 recommendations?
 
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
 
Kind regards,
León Sanchez
Mathieu Weill
Thomas Rickert