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ALAC Statement on the Proposed Final 2013 RAA

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Introduction

Carlton Samuels, ALAC member from the Latin American and Caribbean Islands Regional At-Large Organization (LACRALO) and ALAC Executive Committee Vice-Chair, and Holly Raiche, ALAC member from the Asian, Australasian and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization (APRALO) and APRALO Chair, composed an initial draft of this Statement [PDF, 448 KB] after discussion of the topic within At-Large and on the Mailing Lists.

On 13 May 2013, this Statement was posted on the At-Large Proposed Final 2013 RAA Workspace.

On that same day, Olivier Crépin-Leblond, Chair of the ALAC, requested ICANN Policy Staff in support of the ALAC to send a Call for Comments on the draft Statement to all At-Large members via the ALAC Announce Mailing List.

On 23 May 2013, a version incorporating the comments received was posted and the Chair requested that Staff open a five-day ALAC ratification on the Statement.

On 4 June 2013, Staff confirmed that the online vote resulted in the ALAC endorsing the Statement with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions. You may review the result independently under: https://www.bigpulse.com/pollresults?code=3184unhm7SZmCzLNxSA5AGaQ

The Chair then requested that the Statement be transmitted to the Public Comment process, copying the ICANN Staff member responsible for this Public Comment topic.

Summary

  1. We recognize the efforts to forge a stronger clause on conditions for changing the relationship midstream, including termination of the agreement. This development has our full endorsement, although it would have been helpful if some examples of 'material breach' were enumerated.
  2. Some have argued the intent in this clause undermines the bottom-up multi-stakeholder model on which ICANN is built. We disagree and take a different and more benign view of the role reserved for ICANN as the public benefit corporation. Indeed, there might be exceptional circumstances in which ICANN would have to take unilateral action - part of being prepared for unknown unknowns.
  3. The ALAC was among those who condemned the severe restrictions placed on some stakeholder parties from the negotiating sessions and even at this stage, we remain convinced it was unwise to exclude the community from even an active 'watching brief' of the negotiations especially for a contract intended to convey consensus policies and around which so many stakeholder interests converge. We deplore the flagrant lack of transparency in this process.
  4. We applaud the contractual obligation imposed on Registrars to support future development in Whois specifications, inclusive of an ability to develop centralized Whois service across all Registrars.