Introduction
Rinalia Abdul Rahim, At-Large member from the Asian, Australian and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization (APRALO), composed an initial draft of this Statement [PDF, 231 KB] after discussion of the topic within At-Large and on the Mailing Lists.
On 20 Feburary 2014, this Statement was posted on the "At-Large Second Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT 2) Final Report & Recommendations 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 Recommendations to all At-Large members via the ALAC-Announce Mailing List.
On 28 February 2014, a version incorporating the comments received was posted on the aforementioned workspace and the Chair requested that Staff open an ALAC ratification vote on the proposed Statement.
On 07 March 2014, Staff confirmed that the online vote resulted in the ALAC endorsing the Statement with 14 votes in favor, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions. You may review the result independently under: https://www.bigpulse.com/pollresults?code=3695vv4GhaFC4ReREQfQgfxh.
Summary
- We advise the ICANN Board to: (1) Place equal emphasis on recommendations and observations, and address key issues outlined in the observations indicated in Appendix B and C of the report in advance of the next WHOIS and Security, Stability and Resiliency (SSR) reviews; and (2) Take measures to improve future reviews by ensuring that review processes are accorded sufficient time for a thorough and effective assessment and to ensure that ICANN is better prepared organizationally to support the review process.
- We believe that the Board should examine both Recommendations and Observations in the ATRT2 report with equal diligence. A careful examination of the Observations laid out in Appendix B and C on the reviews of the WHOIS Review Team and the Security, Stability and Resiliency Review Team implementation reveals serious issues requiring Board attention. Developing new recommendations on these topics are outside of the ATRT2 scope, but the issues remain within the purview of the Board. Ignoring these issues at this stage will likely worsen the problems in a few years' time. We recommend that the issues be addressed now through appropriate mechanisms.
- The ATRT2 report includes a section on its review work experience in Appendix E. This section highlights observations and recommendations on "Improving Future Reviews" for the next Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT3). We note with concern that the ATRT1 and the ATRT2 processes had less than 12 full months to undertake their review and that this affected their work. Given the importance of the review process, we recommend that ICANN be better prepared organizationally to support future reviews and that the ATRT3 be provided with a full year (12 months) for its review work, even if review commencement is delayed.