[council] GNSO /BOARD dinner Sunday 25 March 2007

Sun Mar 25 10:04:20 UTC 2007

Dear Council Members,

The topic of discussion for the GNSO/ICANN Board dinner will be GNSO 
Improvements.

Dinner will be tonight, Sunday 25 March, at 19:15 will be in Jade 1 & 2 
on level 1.
There will be a suggested seating plan with name cards.

Please appoint a rapporteur for each table and make a bullet point 
summary of the discussion so that these can be collected, combined and 
provided as input to the Board Governance Committee.

Included below are links to the Monday ICANN public Forum on GNSO 
Improvements.
http://www.icann.org/meetings/lisbon/agenda-public2-26mar07.htm

The forum announcement includes specific topics for which the BGC is 
seeking input.
     *  Structural Changes to GNSO Constituencies -- LSE recommendation 
19. Simplify the GNSO constituency structure in order to respond to 
rapid changes in the Internet, including by substituting 3 larger 
constituency groups representing Registration interests, Business, and 
Civil Society; LSE recommendation 18. Create a category of 'Associate 
Stakeholder' to establish a pool of available external expertise.
           o Which entities and individuals should participate in the 
GNSO process, and what will motivate them to want to join? The six 
current groups are the natural point to begin discussion. Do they 
represent the right groups? Are they over or under inclusive? The Bylaws 
acknowledge that the optimal groupings may be different than the ones 
that now exist, and that there is no "magic number." The LSE points out 
several problems with the current structure and suggests the 
substitution of three larger constituencies — is this the right answer?
           o Is it feasible to create a roster of readily available 
experts who can assist with task forces and other aspects of the PDP?
           o What other questions and approaches should the BGC explore 
regarding these two LSE recommendations?

     * Changes to the Policy Development Process -- LSE recommendation 
17. Make greater use of task forces [in policy development processes]; 
LSE recommendation 23. Revise and move PDP operational provisions from 
Bylaws to more flexible GNSO 'Rules of Procedures.'
           o Could greater use of task forces, particularly proposals to 
attract more expertise and geographical diversity, help the policy 
development process? Would limiting the number of Councilors on any task 
force enable the Council to focus more on the task of managing PDPs, 
rather than the substantive aspects of formulating specific policies? 
Would this change increase the number of people willing to serve on the 
Council?
           o There seems to be widespread agreement that the Bylaws are 
overly prescriptive, and the prescribed PDP steps and timelines have not 
captured the requirements of a policy development process. Should the 
PDP principles be preserved in the Bylaws while placing more procedural 
elements in GNSO "rules of procedure'? Do you have specific suggestions 
for how the PDP should be revised?
           o What other questions and approaches should the BGC explore 
regarding these two LSE recommendations?

     * Changes to Voting and Representation -- LSE recommendation 21. 
Increase the threshold for establishing consensus to 75% and abolish 
weighted voting; LSE recommendation 20. Make the Council smaller (16 
members suggested).

           o How would raising the consensus threshold and abolishing 
weighted voting advance the role of the GNSO? The Bylaws task the GNSO 
with both "developing and recommending" gTLD policies to the Board.
           o Weighted voting, in particular, was instituted as part of 
ICANN's Evolution and Reform Process to address the different effect 
policies have on contracted versus non-contracted constituencies. Has 
this approach contributed to, or hampered, effective policy development?
           o What other questions and approaches should the BGC explore 
regarding these two LSE recommendations?

Links

     * Independent review of the Generic Names Supporting Organization 
(GNSO) prepared by the London School of Economics (LSE)
http://www.icann.org/announcements/gnso-review-report-sep06.pdf

     * Archive of public comments on the independent GNSO review
http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-improvements/

     * ICANN Board Governance Committee
http://www.icann.org/committees/board-governance/

     * Independent Reviews of ICANN Structures
http://www.icann.org/meetings/lisbon/agenda-public2-26mar07.htm

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