[council] Adopted Resolutions from ICANN Board Meeting

Thu Oct 19 08:58:44 UTC 2006

[To: ga[at]gnso.icann.org; announce[at]gnso.icann.org]
[To: liaison6c[at]gnso.icann.org; council[at]gnso.icann.org]

http://www.icann.org/minutes/resolutions-18oct06.htm
Adopted Resolutions from ICANN Board Meeting

18 October 2006

Corporate Officer Signing Authorities

Whereas, the organization has grown, and the resulting demands on the 
President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) have increased and made it 
less practical for the President & CEO to handle day-to-day demands of 
business operations whilst performing the broader external functions 
facing ICANN.

Whereas, the annual budget and resulting expenditures have increased in 
amount and frequency over time.

Whereas, increasing the signing authorization levels would improve the 
efficiency of handling day-to-day business operations.

Whereas, the Chief Financial Officer in consultation with the Board 
Audit and Finance Committees, has prepared a proposed statement of 
“Financial Control Procedures: Corporate Officer Signing Authorities” 
dated 17 October 2006.

Whereas, the Audit and Finance Committees have reviewed the proposed 
statement of “Financial Control Procedures: Corporate Officer Signing 
Authorities” and determined that the provisions are reasonable in 
relation to other similar not-for-profit organizations based on size of 
the organization and total annual revenues, and provide appropriate 
financial control while regulating the related risk. The Audit and 
Finance Committees have determined the proposed procedures would be 
beneficial to the organization and recommend that the provisions set 
forth in the statement be adopted by the full Board of Directors.

Resolved (06.__) that the statement of “Financial Control Procedures: 
Corporate Officer Signing Authorities” dated 17 October 2006 is hereby 
adopted.

Payment of Legal Expenses

Whereas, ICANN has had significant needs for legal services during the 
month of July 2006 and August 2006, including general legal advice and 
several pending lawsuits involving ICANN.

Whereas, Jones Day have provided extensive legal services to meet these 
needs.

Whereas, ICANN has received invoices from Jones Day totaling 
US$116,762.52 in connection with legal services provided to ICANN during 
July and August 2006.

Whereas, the General Counsel and the Chief Financial Officer have 
reviewed the invoices and determined that they are proper and should be 
paid.

Resolved (06.__), the President is authorized to make payments to Jones 
Day in the amount of US$116,762.52 for legal services provided to ICANN 
during July and August 2006.

sTLD Agreement with .ASIA (DotAsia Organisation Limited)

Whereas, on 4 December 5, 2005, the board authorized the President and 
General Counsel to enter into negotiations relating to proposed 
commercial and technical terms for the .ASIA sponsored top-level domain 
(sTLD) with the applicant, DotAsia Organisation Limited,

Whereas, on 18 July, 2006, ICANN announced that negotiations with the 
applicant for the .ASIA sponsored top-level domain had been successfully 
completed, and posted the proposed .ASIA sponsored TLD registry 
agreement on the ICANN website,

Whereas, the Board has determined that approval of the agreement, and 
delegation of a .ASIA sponsored top-level domain to DotAsia Organisation 
Limited would be beneficial for ICANN and the Internet community,

Resolved (06.___), the proposed agreement with DotAsia Organisation 
Limited concerning the .ASIA sTLD is approved, and the President is 
authorized to take such actions as appropriate to implement the agreement.

Economic Study of Proposed Registry Agreements

Whereas, proposed new registry agreements between ICANN the operators of 
the .BIZ, .INFO, and .ORG registries have been posted for public comment 
and presented to the Board.

Whereas, the proposed new agreements were the subject of a substantial 
number of comments, especially concerning competition-related issues 
such as differential pricing.

Whereas, ICANN's Core Values include:

Preserving and enhancing the operational stability, reliability, 
security, and global interoperability of the Internet.
Where feasible and appropriate, depending on market mechanisms to 
promote and sustain a competitive environment.
Introducing and promoting competition in the registration of domain 
names where practicable and beneficial in the public interest.
Whereas, the Board has carefully considered the proposed new agreement, 
and the public comments and the registry responses, and finds that 
approval of the proposed new agreements would be beneficial for ICANN 
and the Internet community, provided that ICANN and the registry 
operators are able to agree to appropriate revisions to the proposed 
agreements to address competition-related issues such as differential 
pricing.

Whereas, the GNSO is currently conducting a policy-development process 
that includes study of some of these issues, but ICANN has pressing 
operational questions relating to its bilateral contracts with registry 
operators that need to be resolved, separate from any generally 
applicable new policies on this subject that might be recommended 
through the GNSO process.

Whereas, the domain registration market is very complex and producing 
reliable analysis and findings will require high-levels of economic 
expertise.

Resolved (06.___), the President is directed to commission an 
independent study by a reputable economic consulting firm or 
organization to deliver findings on economic questions relating to the 
domain registration market, such as:

whether the domain registration market is one market or whether each TLD 
functions as a separate market,
whether registrations in different TLDs are substitutable,
what are the effects on consumer and pricing behavior of the switching 
costs involved in moving from one TLD to another,
what is the effect of the market structure and pricing on new TLD 
entrants, and
whether there are other markets with similar issues, and if so how are 
these issues addressed and by who?
Resolved (06.__), after having considered the public comments and the 
responses from the registries, the President and the General Counsel are 
hereby requested to renegotiate the proposed agreements relating to: 
competition-related concerns (in particular price increase 
restrictions); traffic data and review mechanisms resulting from the 
introduction of new studies or additional information.

-- 
Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat - ICANN
gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org
http://gnso.icann.org