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<DIV><SPAN>Dear Community Members:<BR> <BR>At last Thursday's Board
meeting, the Directors considered a number of issues related to GNSO
Improvements, and made significant progress towards seating the new GNSO Council
in Seoul. <BR> <BR>Specifically, the Board <A
href="http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/prelim-report-30jul09.htm"
target=_blank>adopted resolutions</A> that: (i) approved all of the Stakeholder
Group Charters as recommended by the Structural Improvements Committee, and (ii)
approved the ability of the Contracted Party House to select Board Seat #13, and
the ability of the Non Contracted Party House to select Board Seat #14.
<BR><BR>The Board also discussed pending new Constituency applications, and
acknowledged that Staff is posting a complete set of Bylaws Amendments for
public comment. The Amendments, which <A
href="http://icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200908.html#gnso-restructure"
target=_blank>have been posted</A>, reflect the Board's recent decisions and
other GNSO restructuring matters necessary to seat the new Council.
</SPAN></DIV>
<P><SPAN>Please note that these Bylaw Amendments (Version 2) address a
number of issues that impact the work of the GNSO Restructuring Work
Teams. Because these proposed Bylaws include provisions that the GNSO
Restructuring Drafting Team did not review during its work, Staff posted two
documents to assist the community in its review. One document
highlights the differences between the GNSO proposed Bylaws proposals (<<A
href="http://icann.org/en/general/proposed-gnso-council-bylaw-amendments-notes-comments-03aug09-en.pdf"
target=_blank>http://icann.org/en/general/proposed-gnso-council-bylaw-amendments-notes-comments-03aug09-en.pdf</A>>)
and the other is a Staff Explanation for some of the more substantive amendments
included in Version 2 (<<A
href="http://icann.org/en/general/proposed-gnso-council-bylaw-amendments-explanation03aug09-en.pdf"
target=_blank>http://icann.org/en/general/proposed-gnso-council-bylaw-amendments-explanation03aug09-en.pdf</A>>).
These include a discussion of issues such as: changes to Annex A; additional
voting threshold for certain contracting parties; and procedures for adopting
the GNSO Operating Rules and Procedures. </SPAN></P><SPAN>We encourage the
GNSO Restructuring Work Teams to review and discuss these materials at their
next meetings, and to provide comments during the public comment period, which
closes on 23 August. The Board expects to act on a comprehensive set of
amendments at its 27 August meeting. <BR>
<DIV class=im> . <BR>Additional information on GNSO Improvements
follow-up actions that should be completed in the next few months will be posted
shortly.<BR> <BR>Regards,<BR>Denise <BR clear=all><BR>Denise
Michel<BR>ICANN Vice President<BR>Policy
Development<BR></DIV></SPAN></BODY></HTML>