Council Restructure - Structure and Composition

Excerpt from ICANN Board Minutes - 28 August 2008

Resolved, the Board endorses the direction of the WG-GCR report and supports the bicameral voting structure of the new Council. The Board supports the establishment of one house (described as the "contracted party house" in the report) and directs that this house initially will have 3 representatives from each stakeholder group -- Registrars and Registries -- plus 1 voting NCA (Nominating Committee appointee). The second house (described in the report as the "non-contracted party" house) will be composed of 6 representatives from each stakeholder group -- Commercial and Non-commercial -- plus 1 voting NCA.

Resolved, as noted, the Board accepts the WG-GCR proposal to seat one voting NCA representative in each of the two houses.

The Board also directs that a third "independent" NCA representative continue to serve on the Council.

See chart below for Council Organization structure which became effective on 28 October 2009.

At its 1 October meeting, the Board adopted all voting thresholds proposed in the WG-GCR Report. The Board requested that the GNSO develop any additional voting thresholds or categories that may be needed as part of its proposed GNSO Improvements Implementation Plan.

GNSO Council Voting Matrix

A Voting Matrix has been developed, which shows the exact number of votes needed in each House for every threshold that has been identified and approved as of October 2009. Brief instructions are contained on page 2 of the document.