[council] Topic for Senegal Board-GNSO Council Meeting

[Tim Ruiz]

Thanks Bruce. I think the concerns I expressed in Singapore, and some of
those of others, relates to transparency, accountability, and
institutional confidence as well as good governance. We don't know all
the facts in regards to Peter's situation, but as it appears now on the
surface it seems there would be a good case for someone to file for
Indepedent Review of the Board decisions in Singapore related to new
gTLDs. That would be unfortunate, especially if it turns out that it
could all have been avoided by a simple disclosure of potential
conflicts.

In any event, I agree that it may be helpful to review the existing
documents you mention and offer comments/advice on how to improve them
to avoid this type of situation. 

I am also still concerned about what internal policies are in place to
protect against undue influence when the door revolves (people moving
back and forth between Staff/Board and the community), especially as it
applies to contracted parties. I don't really care that Peter went to
work for M&M, but I do care about what protection there is from Peter
using his connections and previous position to influence Staff or Board.
IMO, there should be clear guidelines on how/when current Staff/Board
interacts with Ex-Staff and Ex-Board and making sure that when/if it
occurs it is disclosed. I think the same should be true in reverse,
although some of the protections may be somewhat different.

And as was also discussed in Singapore, there is a real danger of
ICANN's Staff being recruited by the parties it is contracted with. Is
it time that ICANN minimize this potential? It is fairly standard for
two contracted parties in the USA to agree not to actively recruit each
others staff during the term of the agreement. That seems like a
reasonable approach to me.

Tim

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: RE: [council] Topic for Senegal Board-GNSO Council Meeting
> From: "Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin at melbourneit.com.au>
> Date: Wed, July 20, 2011 7:20 am
> To: "GNSO Council List" <council at gnso.icann.org>
> Cc: "John Jeffrey" <john.jeffrey at icann.org>,        "Steve Crocker"
> <steve at shinkuro.com>
> 
> Hello All,
> 
> Just to elaborate a little further on current rules, the Board also has a code of conduct and a conflicts policy.
> 
> 
> Code of conduct is available at:
> 
> http://www.icann.org/en/committees/board-governance/bod-code-of-conduct-21apr11-en.htm
> 
> Code of conduct guidelines at:
> 
> http://www.icann.org/en/committees/board-governance/bod-code-of-conduct-guidelines-21apr11-en.htm   (this was something updated recently to deal with confidentiality guidelines).
> 
> The conflicts policy is available at:
> 
> http://www.icann.org/en/committees/coi/coi-policy-30jul09-en.htm
> 
> 
> As chair of the Board's Governance Committee - we are constantly evolving such documents, and beginning to extend the base documents with operating guidelines.
> 
> As a result of this recent case, I welcome suggestions for how any of these documents can be improved.
> 
> Each Board director is also required to make an annual statement of interest, which includes the following question:
> 
> " An existing or potential ownership, professional or investment interest in, or employment or any other Compensation arrangement with, any entity whose business or operation has been or will be directly affected by a decision or action of ICANN, including by reason of a potential or planned application or possible agreement for operation of a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) or delegation of a country code internationalized domain name (ccIDN);"
> 
> We do have processes for dealing with a potential conflict - including an undisclosed conflict by a currently sitting Board member.   We don't have an explicit process for dealing with any cases that come to light after a director leaves the Board.
> 
> A short overview of statements of interest is maintained at:
> 
> http://www.icann.org/en/board/summary-board-soi-en.htm
> 
> and the 24 June version is available at:
> 
> http://www.icann.org/en/board/summary-soi-24jun11-en.htm
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Bruce Tonkin
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