[council] Public Comment: Proposed Bylaw Changes to Improve Accountability

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-27jul09-en.htm
Public Comment: Proposed Bylaw Changes to Improve Accountability

27 July 2009
Two proposed accountability measures have been posted by direction of the Board 
for 60 days of public comments, from 23 July 2009 through 25 September 2009. 
This is the latest step in the Improving Institutional Confidence process.

The first bylaw revision is a new mechanism called the "Community 
Re-Examination Vote". It would allow the ICANN community to request the Board 
to re-examine a Board decision taken by resolution.

The second proposal would revise one of the existing bylaws and replace the 
independent third-party review process with a more robust process, the 
"Independent Review Body".

These proposals represent a significant step forward in ICANN's already 
considerable accountability. The draft bylaw changes have been developed in 
response to community input to the President's Strategy Committee over the last 
12 months.

You are invited to review the proposed changes to the ICANN Bylaws linked to on 
this page and provide your input to the public comments forum.

Details of proposed changes

1. Community Re-Examination Vote

The ICANN Bylaws currently set forth three mechanisms for accountability and 
review of ICANN Board decisions: (1) the Reconsideration Process, Article IV, 
Section 2; (2) the Independent Review Process, Article IV, Section 3; and (3) 
the Office of the Ombudsman, Article V.

The objective is for this procedure to allow the ICANN community to come 
together through the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees and vote 
for the Board to re-examine a Board decision taken by resolution.

The proposed Bylaws setting forth the Community Re-Examination Vote are 
available here [PDF, 53K].

2. Independent Review Body

ICANN has an Independent Review Process in place, as established at Article IV, 
Section 3 (1) of the bylaws:

"ICANN shall have in place a separate process for independent third-party 
review of Board actions alleged by an affected party to be inconsistent with 
the Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws."

The provider for the current Independent Review Process is the International 
Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). (More detail about the Independent Review 
Process is available here: 
http://www.icann.org/en/general/accountability_review.html)

The existing review process is limited in scope, and focuses mainly whether the 
Board has followed ICANN's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws when rendering 
a decision. The current review process relies mainly upon the concepts of 
fidelity and fairness.


However, following extensive and sustained public input on this issue, the PSC 
recommended a broadening of the review process to allow for review of the 
rationality of Board decisions as well.

The proposed changes that would create the Independent Review Body would allow 
reviews of both the rationality and the fairness of Board decisions. These 
concepts are described under the rubrics of Fairness, Fidelity and Rationality 
in the May 2009 the staff report ("Improving Institutional Confidence: The Way 
Forward" (http://www.icann.org/en/jpa/iic/iic-the-way-forward-31may09-en.pdf 
[PDF, 112K]).

The proposed amendments to the Bylaws setting forth the IRB process are 
available at 
http://www.icann.org/en/general/proposed-bylaw-revisions-iv-3-redline-27jul09-en.pdf
 [PDF, 153K]. Please note: the attached document with the proposed bylaw text 
is presented in 'track changes' version to allow you to compare the proposed 
text to the existing text of the bylaws.

ICANN's legal staff expects the procedures and rules for the existing 
Independent Review Process would broadly serve the expanded scope of the IRB 
but that some revisions will be required to make them conform fully to the IRB 
bylaw provisions, if adopted.


Background

The proposed new accountability measures are based on recommendations made to 
the Board by the President's Strategy Committee (PSC) in February 2009. At the 
Mexico City meeting in March 2009, the Board directed staff to produce 
implementation analysis of the PSC proposals.

On 31 May 2009, the report "Improving Institutional Confidence: The Way 
Forward" (http://www.icann.org/en/jpa/iic/iic-the-way-forward-31may09-en.pdf) 
was published for information and discussion ahead of the Sydney meeting in 
June 2009. This report included two detailed proposals for implementing the 
PSC's recommended bylaw changes to modify or create accountability and review 
mechanisms.

At the Sydney meeting in June 2009, the Board acknowledged this report and 
directed the opening of a 60-day period of public consultation on the proposed 
bylaw changes.

(For more information about the PSC's work, including previous documents and 
public comment periods, please visit: http://www.icann.org/en/jpa/iic/. 
Information about the PSC itself is at http://www.icann.org/en/psc)

Deadline and How to Submit Comments:

Public comments on these proposals will run for 60 days, from 27 July 2009 
through 25 September 2009.

To submit comments: 

Comments are welcome via email to: iic-proposed-bylaws@xxxxxxxxx.

To view comments: An archive of all comments received will be publicly posted 
at: http://forum.icann.org/lists/iic-proposed-bylaws/

Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://gnso.icann.org