[council] Board Resolution on Individual Users in the GNSO

[Denise Michel]

Dear Councilors and other interested parties:

At its 3 February meeting, the ICANN Board recognized ongoing efforts in the
community to develop a recommendation for the Board on on how to incorporate
the legitimate interests of individual Internet users in the GNSO in
constructive yet non-duplicative ways. The Board also acknowledged the
requests from the GNSO and ALAC Chairs, and from the NARALO "New
Constituencies" Working Group, to extend the deadline for recommendations
previously set by the Board. The Board subsequently passed a resolution
asking that a consensus recommendation (or recommendations, if no consensus
is reached) be submitted to the Board by 20 February 2009.  The resolution
is expected to be posted shortly.

Included below, for your reference, is my previous email on this topic.

Regards,
Denise

Denise Michel
ICANN Vice President
Policy Development
policy-staff at icann.org



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Denise Michel <denise.michel at icann.org>
Date: Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 9:20 PM
Subject: Board Resolution on individual users

Dear Councilors and other interested parties:

There has been some community discussion over the past weeks regarding the
11 December Board Resolution seeking a recommendation on how to incorporate
the legitimate interests of individual Internet users in the GNSO in
constructive yet non-duplicative ways.  I would like to try to clarify the
context of that resolution and clear up any misperceptions about its intent.

This particular Resolution is the latest step on the part of the Board to
resolve a fundamental strategic issue for the organization, that is, the
appropriate role and representation of individual (commercial and
non-commercial) Internet users in ICANN, and specifically within the GNSO.
Its intent is to garner a recommendation from the interested community to
assist the Board in resolving a recommendation made to the Board by the
Working Group on GNSO Council Restructuring (WG-GCR) that the composition of
the non-contracted party voting house of the GNSO Council should

"…be open to membership of all interested parties … that use or provide
services for the Internet, … and should explicitly not be restricted to
domain registrants as recommended by the BGC."

Because ongoing independent review proceedings of other ICANN structures
have suggested different representational approaches, I think the Board
wanted to ensure ample input and advice was received before resolving the
matter. The full context and description of this issue was contained in the
November Public Comment Forum request for input (see background materials,
comments filed, and Staff summary of those contributions).

The 11 December Resolution is an effort to help the Board identify a
strategic solution that balances ALAC/At-Large and GNSO opportunities for
all user and registrant stakeholders.  In addition to the previous public
comments, the Board hoped that the Resolution would spur additional
community dialogue and agreement between interested parties. Given that the
original WG-GCR recommendation was a consensus position supported by
representatives from all the GNSO constituencies as well as GAC, ALAC and
Nominating Committee participants, and that the Board decision on this
matter could have broad impact, the Board did not mandate any particular
methodology regarding the form that dialogue would take and the Resolution
was drafted to offer flexibility in that regard. The Resolution also
recognizes that this matter has particularly important (and time sensitive)
implications for creation of the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG).

In view of various community comments since the Resolution was published, it
is important to emphasize that it is not intended to be a referendum on the
different approaches that have been advanced by groups working on proposed
NCSG charters.  Staff has been corresponding with and providing assistance
to participants about their efforts to produce draft NCSG charters that will
ultimately be submitted to the Board.  There appear to remain a few
fundamental differences of opinion about the interpretation of the Board
Governance Committee (BGC) Working Group recommendations, endorsed by the
Board, particularly regarding the continued primacy of the constituency
structure outlined in the ICANN By-laws.  Proposed charters are not intended
to be within the scope of the 11 December Resolution.  When community
members formally submit to the Board one or more petitions/charters for NCSG
formation (and other Stakeholder Group charters), those efforts will be
publicly posted for comment by all members of the community and will
subsequently be evaluated by the Board.

As directed by the Board at its 1 October 2008 meeting, it is Staff's
obligation to work with the community to encourage new participants,
facilitate the creation of new constituencies, and support the development
of four new Stakeholder Groups.  We remain committed to that process and
stand ready to assist members of the community.  Please contact me and the
Policy Staff if you need assistance or would like to discuss these matters.


Regards,

Denise Michel
ICANN Vice President
Policy Development
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