[council] GNSO Council Resolutions passed on 16 November 2006

Fri Nov 17 22:41:23 UTC 2006

[To: council[at]gnso.icann.org]

Dear All,

Ahead of the GNSO Council minutes, Council passed the following 
resolutions at its meeting on 16 November, 2006.

Resolution 1.
===============
Notice and comment on gTLD agreement approvals.

"With respect to any proposed agreement relating to generic top-level
domains that includes provisions that would have an effect materially
different from other past or current ICANN agreements or practices,
including but not limited to gTLD registry and registrar agreements,
ICANN will notify the GNSO Council and post the proposed agreement for
public comment on the ICANN website at least twenty-one days (and if
practical, longer) prior to any final approval of the agreement."

The motion passed with 25 votes in favour:
Marilyn Cade, Phillip Sheppard, Alistair Dixon, (CBUC) Ute Decker, Lucy
Nichols (IPC) Tony Holmes, Tony Harris, Greg Ruth, (ISPCPC) Robin Gross,
Mawaki Chango, Norbert Klein, (NCUC) Maureen Cubberley, Avri Doria,
(Nominating Committee appointees) Bruce Tonkin, Ross Rader, Tom Keller, 
(2 votes each - Registrars constituency) Cary Karp, Ken Stubbs, June 
Seo, (2 votes each - gTLD Registries constituency)

Kiyoshi Tsuru and Sophia Bekele (2) no vote, absent.
Total 27 votes

Resolution 2.
=============

GNSO IDN Working Group Charter
==============================

The IDN Working Group operates in the context of the following related
activities within ICANN:

(1) There is a President's Advisory Committee on IDNs
http://www.icann.org/committees/idnpac/ which has been in operation
since November 2005.  Amongst other things this committee is tasked with
analyzing the challenges relating to the technical implementation of
internationalized top level domains and suggestions towards their
resolution.    IN particular the committee is supervising laboratory
tests (see http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-19oct06.htm).

(2) There has been a working group of gTLD registries and ccTLD
registries to create a set of technical Guidelines for the
Implementation of IDNs at the second level.   See
http://www.icann.org/general/idn-guidelines-22feb06.htm for version 2.1
of the Guidelines dated - 22 Feb 2006.

(3) The GNSO has a Committee developing policy recommendations on new
gTLDs, as part of a policy development process called PDP-Dec05.   The
policies developed for new gTLDs apply to new gTLDs that use the IDN
standards.  See: http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/ for more
information.

(4) The ICANN staff have produced a draft issues report on IDNs dated 2
August 2006 available at:
http://www.gnso.icann.org/issues/idn-tlds/issues-report-02aug06.htm

(5) The ccNSO has formed a ccNSO IDN working group.  From the minutes of
23 Aug 06 (http://www.ccnso.icann.org/minutes/minutes-23aug06.pdf) the
purpose of this group is to: consider what the ccNSO should do on IDN
issues, what policy issues should be considered jointly with the GNSO,
and liaise with the GNSO and prepare a report on the current status and
future steps for the ccNSO on IDN issues.

(6) External to ICANN, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) has
released a document (RFC4690: http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4690.txt)
which provides a review and recommendations for Internationalized Domain
Names.

The purpose of the GNSO IDN Working Group is to identify and specify any
policy issues that should be considered by the GNSO via a policy
development process that have not already been considered within
PDP-Dec05.  It should do this using the following steps:

(i) review the draft recommendations on new gTLDs (which include IDN
gTLDs) from the GNSO's Committee on new gTLDs

(ii) review the current status and outcomes from the laboratory tests,

(iii) review the ICANN staff issues report,

(iv) review the IAB document (RFC4690)

(v) liaise with the ccNSO working Group to discuss any policy issues
which they have identified

Note for a policy issue to warrant a policy development process it must
meet the following criteria:

(A) is within the scope of ICANN's mission statement;

(B) is broadly applicable to multiple situations or organizations;

(C) is likely to have lasting value or applicability, albeit with the
need for occasional updates;

(D) will establish a guide or framework for future decision-making; or

(E) implicates or affects an existing ICANN policy.

Membership: Membership is open to any member of a GNSO constituency or
the GNSO Council.
ICANN advisory committees may appoint liaisons to the working group.

Voting: Voting will be on the basis of 1 vote per member

Duration: The working Group must complete its work by the end of the
ICANN meeting in Portugal on 26-30 March 2007, and provide a report to
the GNSO Council.

Chair: The chair will be appointed via election from the existing
members of the IDN working group established by the GNSO Council on 18
May 2006 to review the IDN issues report in the lead up to the ICANN
meeting in Morocco.

The GNSO IDN Working Group Charter was passed by unanimous acclamation.

3. Procedural motion to vote on whether to vote on the Proposed
===============================================================
  Resolution from Ross Rader:
============================

The recommendations of the LSE regarding term limits for GNSO Council 
members should be adopted immediately by the GNSO Council with no 
grandfathering except in connection with the ability of a council member 
to serve out their existing term. A council member can serve no more 
than two consecutive terms (regardless of duration). Moreover, a former
council member must remain off the GNSO Council for one full term prior 
to serving any subsequent term. However, there shall be an exception to 
the two term limit in connection with special circumstances (I.e. 
Geographic diversity requirements) where a constituency is unable to 
find an alternative representative to serve. In applying this special
circumstance exception, the existence of an otherwise qualified 
candidate willing to serve on the council within that constituency shall 
constitute a non-rebuttable indication that special circumstances do not 
exist. The GNSO Council will forward this recommendation to the ICANN 
Board of Directors for implementation in the bylaws and also recommend
to the GNSO Constituencies that they voluntarily adopt these practices 
until such time that they have been formally implemented by the Council 
and Board.

The motion carried with 13 votes in favour:
Lucy Nichols, (IPC) Robin Gross, Norbert Klein, (NCUC) Ross Rader, Tom 
Keller, (2 votes each - Registrars constituency) Cary Karp, Ken Stubbs, 
June Seo, (2 votes each - gTLD Registries constituency)

7 votes against:
Marilyn Cade, Phillip Sheppard, Alistair Dixon, (CBUC) Tony Holmes, Tony 
Harris, Greg Ruth, (ISPCPC) Maureen Cubberley

2 votes abstaining:
Bruce Tonkin GNSO chair Registrars constituency abstained (2 votes)

5 votes not recorded:
Avri Doria, Ute Decker, Mawaki Chango did not vote, (dropped off call)

Kiyoshi Tsuru and Sophia Bekele no vote, absent.
Total 27 votes

4. Resolution from Ross Rader:
==============================

The recommendations of the LSE regarding term limits for GNSO Council 
members should be adopted immediately by the GNSO Council with no 
grandfathering except in connection with the ability of a council member 
to serve out their existing term. A council member can serve no more 
than two consecutive terms (regardless of duration). Moreover, a former
council member must remain off the GNSO Council for one full term prior 
to serving any subsequent term. However, there shall be an exception to 
the two term limit in connection with special circumstances (I.e. 
Geographic diversity requirements) where a constituency is unable to 
find an alternative representative to serve. In applying this special
circumstance exception, the existence of an otherwise qualified 
candidate willing to serve on the council within that constituency shall 
constitute a non-rebuttable indication that special circumstances do not 
exist. The GNSO Council will forward this recommendation to the ICANN 
Board of Directors for implementation in the bylaws and also recommend
to the GNSO Constituencies that they voluntarily adopt these practices 
until such time that they have been formally implemented by the Council 
and Board.

The resolution carried with 15 votes in favour.
Lucy Nichols, (IPC) Robin Gross, Norbert Klein, (NCUC) Ross Rader, Tom 
Keller, Bruce Tonkin (2 votes each - Registrars constituency) Cary Karp, 
Ken Stubbs, June Seo, (2 votes each - gTLD Registries constituency)

7 votes abstaining: (accompanied with statements that will be noted in 
the minutes)
Marilyn Cade, Phillip Sheppard, Alistair Dixon, (CBUC) Tony Holmes, Tony 
Harris, Greg Ruth, (ISPCPC) Maureen Cubberley

5 votes not recorded:
Avri Doria, Ute Decker, Mawaki Chango  did not vote, (dropped off call)

Kiyoshi Tsuru and Sophia Bekele, no vote, absent.
Total 27 votes

Kind regards,

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