[council] FYI - Fwd: Constituency Renewal

["Denise Michel" <denise.michel@xxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Denise Michel <denise.michel@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 9:20 AM
Subject: Constituency Renewal
To: liaison6c <liaison6c@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


Constituency Leaders:

As you know, the ICANN Board, among its various decisions during the August
and October meetings, directed existing GNSO Constituencies to confirm their
status with the Board by submitting confirming documents in advance of the
February 2009 Board meeting.

The Board directed the Staff to help with this including the design and
development of a streamlined process and appropriate mechanisms to assist
with the Board's timely recognition and approval of the existing
constituencies.  (Note:  excerpts of the specific resolutions and relevant
Bylaw are provided at the end of this message).

In response to the Board's direction, Staff proposes the following steps to
assist you and the Board with the renewal/confirmation process.  Your
feedback on this proposal is welcomed, along with your guidance on how Staff
can be most helpful in this endeavor.

During November, December and January, each existing constituency:

1)    Reviews its practices, operations, and charter documents, as
appropriate, to evaluate its adherence to the requirements of Bylaw Article
X, Section 5, Subsection 3, which require that each constituency represent
the interests of its stakeholder communities globally and operates to the
maximum extent feasible in an open and transparent manner, consistent with
procedures designed to ensure fairness;

2)    Provides a written report to the Board (that includes its
Board-approved charter) evaluating its compliance with its charter and Bylaw
requirements on or before the February 2009 Board meeting, which is
currently proposed for the first week of the month.

Upon Receipt of Each Constituency submission the Board:

3)    Will direct Staff to post receipt and acknowledgement of the
confirmations on the GNSO Improvements Implementation web page -
http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements;

4)    The constituency reports will be subject to a 21-day public comment
period/forum following the Board meeting;

5)    The Staff will provide a summary/analysis of the comments submitted
regarding each constituency report.

6)    The Board will make a decision on whether to re-confirm/recertify each
constituency.

Staff would be pleased to provide any assistance needed, including providing
feedback on any Constituency's prospective submissions to the Board.

It should be noted that the GNSO Improvements Report approved by the Board
has additional guidelines and recommendations for constituencies.  The
timeline for constituency renewal likely will not allow you to factor all
these into your upcoming Board submission.  It is expected that this work
will be ongoing as part of the GNSO Improvements implementation efforts.

Please send any questions or comments to policy-staff@xxxxxxxxx.

Best regards,

Denise Michel
Denise.michel@xxxxxxxxx
Policy-staff@xxxxxxxxx


Relevant Board Resolution Excerpts:

At its 28 August Board meeting, the Board adopted the following resolution,
"It is, Resolved, … The Board requests that existing constituencies confirm
their status with the Board during the intervening time period (later
specified as February 2009; see below), and requires constituencies to
formally confirm their status every 3 years to ensure that they continue to
meet the requirements of Article X, Section 5, subsection 3 of the ICANN
Bylaws.  This will be an opportunity for existing constituencies to
demonstrate compliance with the principles of representativeness, openness,
transparency and fairness set forth in the ICANN Bylaws.

At its 1 October 2008 meeting, the Board adopted the following resolution,
"It is, Resolved (2008.10.01.10) … Staff also is directed to work with the
existing GNSO constituencies to design and develop a streamlined process
along with appropriate mechanisms that will assist with the Board's timely
recognition and approval of existing constituencies. "

Further, "It is, Resolved (2008.10.01.15), the Board amends its previous
implementation timetable and directs that the transition to a new bicameral
GNSO Council voting structure take place over a phased implementation
schedule that begins immediately and ends in June 2009 with the seating of
the new Council.  The implementation phases will be as follows:

Phase 1 – GNSO Council restructuring implementation plan submitted in
advance of the December 2008 Board Meeting;

Phase 2 – Existing Constituencies submit confirmation documents to the Board
for review in advance of the February 2009 Board Meeting {emphasis added};

Phase 3 – Stakeholder Groups submit formal plans for Board approval for
consideration at the ICANN Mexico City Board meeting; and

Phase 4 – Stakeholder Groups with plans approved by the Board select Council
representatives, and the newly structured GNSO Council is seated by the June
2009 Asia-Pacific ICANN Meeting."

The relevant Bylaw section, referenced above, is included below for your
convenience:

"Article X, Section 5, Subsection 3.  Each Constituency identified in
paragraph 1 of this Section shall maintain its recognition, and thus its
ability to select GNSO Council representatives, only so long as it in fact
represents the interests globally of the stakeholder communities it purports
to represent, and shall operate to the maximum extent feasible in an open
and transparent manner and consistent with procedures designed to ensure
fairness.  No individual or entity shall be excluded from participation in a
Constituency merely because of participation in another Constituency."




-- 
Denise Michel
ICANN VP, Policy
denise.michel@xxxxxxxxx
+1.408.429.3072