[council] GNSO Council Resolutions 7 April 2011

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear All,

Ahead of the official Council minutes, the following three motions were adopted 
by the GNSO Council at its meeting on 7 April 2011. 

1. Motion to adopt the Charter for the Standing Committee on Improvement 
Implementation (SCI)
==========================================================================================

 Whereas the GNSO Council resolved at its meeting on 8 December 2010 to 
establish a drafting team to draft a charter for a Standing Committee to track 
and coordinate implementation of those OSC, PPSC and work team recommendations 
already approved by the Council and adopted, as recommended by the 
Communications and Coordination Work Team in its final report of 9 April 2010;

 Whereas a Drafting Team has formed and its members have developed a Charter 
for consideration by the GNSO Council;

 RESOLVED,

 The GNSO Council hereby adopts the Charter for the Standing Committee on 
Improvement Implementation as proposed (see hereunder);

 The GNSO Council instructs the GNSO Secretariat to send a request for 
volunteers to those entities identified in the Charter as eligible for member 
and observer status of the Standing Committee;

 The GNSO Council appoints Wolf-Ulrich Knoben as the interim Chair of the 
Standing Committee, who will serve as the interim Chair until the Standing 
Committee has selected its own Chair.

 Charter - Standing Committee on Improvement Implementation (SCI)

 General

 The GNSO Standing Committee on Improvement Implementation (SCI) will be 
responsible for reviewing and assessing the effective functioning of 
recommendations provided by the Operational Steering Committee (OSC) and Policy 
Process Steering Committee (PPSC) and approved by the GNSO Council:

 .     On request for those recommendations that have been identified to 
present immediate problems

.     On a periodic timescale for all recommendations in order to identify 
possible issues and/or improvements (subject to a clear definition by the SCI 
on which recommendations should be reviewed)

 The immediate goal of the OSC and PPSC is to develop:

 Recommendations to implement operational changes, and recommendations for all 
process changes needed to meet the requirements contained in the "Board 
Governance Committee GNSO Review Working Group On GNSO Improvements" which are 
to be implemented with approval and under the guidance of the Council.

 It should be acknowledged that OSC and PPSC still have tasks to finish, 
possibly on different timescales. Expiry of their charters has therefore to be 
taken carefully into consideration by the GNSO Council. Nevertheless, since 
several OSC and PPSC recommendations have already been adopted and implemented 
and the practicability of some of them has raised concerns, it is advisable to 
kick off the SCI work immediately. Following the implementation of further 
OSC/PPSC recommendations the SCI will be responsible for reviewing and 
assessing the effectiveness of these new recommendations. This in consequence 
might mean that the OSC/PPSC and SCI will be coexistence for a certain period 
of time.

 Working method

 It is recommended that the SCI follows the "GNSO Working Group Guidelines 
http://gnso.icann.org/council/annex-1-gnso-wg-guidelines-07apr11-en.pdf

(Approved by the GNSO Council on 16 March 2011)", as deemed appropriate

 The SCI is expected to carry out the activities identified in this Charter. In 
carrying out these activities, the SCI may opt to use sub-teams or work teams 
to carry out part of the tasks for which it may attract volunteers that are not 
members or observers of the SCI. However, the SCI remains responsible for 
reviewing and approving any recommendations, which are to be submitted to the 
GNSO Council for its consideration.   

For the periodic review of recommendations, the SCI is expected to develop a 
consistent review plan indicating items to be reviewed, proposed timeline as 
well as additional resources needed, if any. This review plan will be submitted 
to the GNSO Council for its information.

 For items that are submitted for review 'on request', the SCI expects to 
receive detailed input from the group affected by the process/operational 
change concerned. Such requests can be made by either the GNSO Council or a 
group chartered by the GNSO Council. In order to have comprehensive information 
on the issue available this group is requested to provide the following 
information, if applicable: 

1. Which group do you represent? (E.g. Council, WG.) 2. To which rules or 
processes implemented by the OSC or PPSC do you refer?

3. Please outline the problems

4. What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems?

5. Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes easier 
to administer?

 One member of the group which submitted the request should - if not already 
represented on the SCI - be nominated as an observer to the SCI until the 
review of the issue in question has been completed.

 At its kick-off meeting the SCI should nominate a Chair and a Vice Chair from 
its membership. The Chair and Vice Chair are expected to act in a neutral 
manner and avoid any situation where a conflict of interest may arise for 
example as a result of exercising another function or role within ICANN.

 Members of the Standing Committee (Primary and Alternate members)

.     1 representative from each constituency/SG

.     1 NomCom appointee

 Members of the Standing Committee may designate an alternate who can 
participate in the SCI deliberations in case of absence of the primary member. 
Only one of the two, primary or alternate, may take part in a consensus call.

 Observers of the Standing Committee

 .      1 representative from each constituency in formation

.     Liaison or an appointed representative from other ICANN Supporting 
Organizations or Advisory Committees (as determined by the SCI as appropriate)

.     1 observer representing the group that has submitted a request for review 
during the time that the request for review is being dealt with (provided that 
the group is not yet represented on the SCI)

 Staff Support

 The ICANN Staff assigned to the SCI will fully support the work of the 
committee as directed by the Chair including meeting support, document 
drafting, editing and distribution and other substantive contributions when 
deemed appropriate.

 Staff assignments to the SCI:

.     GNSO secretariat

.     1 ICANN policy staff member

 Decision making

 Unless otherwise determined by the SCI members, committee decisions will be 
made by using a "full consensus" process as described in the GNSO Working Group 
Guidelines (see section 3.6).

 Reporting

At a minimum at every public ICANN meeting, the SCI Chair shall provide the 
GNSO Council with an update concerning:

.     The issues dealt with and related status

.     Recommendations expected to be submitted to the GNSO Council

.     An activity timeline

2. Motion on the JIG Final Report on Single Character IDN TLDs
===========================================================

WHEREAS,
The Joint ccNSO/GNSO IDN Working Group (JIG) was created by mutual charters of 
the ccNSO (http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/jiwg-charter.pdf) and the GNSO 
(http://gnso.icann.org/resolutions/#200907);

The JIG identified 3 issues of common interest: 1. Single Character IDN TLDs; 
2. IDN Variant TLDs; and, 3. Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs;
The JIG has issued an Initial Report 
(http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/jig-initial-report-26jul10-en.pdf) for 
public comments 
(http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-27jul10-en.htm), and 
thereupon a Draft Final Report 
(http://ccnso.icann.org/workinggroups/jig-draft-final-report-04dec10-en.pdf) 
for public comments 
(http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-04dec10-en.htm), and have 
incorporated the comments into, and has reached consensus on the Final Report 
on Single Character IDN TLDs;

The JIG recommendations are consistent with the GNSO Final Report on the 
Introduction of New Top-Level Domains 
(http://gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/pdp-dec05-fr-parta-08aug07.htm), 
including the GNSO IDN WG Final Outcomes Report 
(http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/idn-wg-fr-22mar07.htm) and the GNSO Reserved 
Names WG 
(http://gnso.icann.org/issues/new-gtlds/final-report-rn-wg-23may07.htm) on the 
issue of Single Character IDN gTLDs; and,
The JIG recommendations suggested implementable measures for the acceptance of 
Single Character IDN gTLDs.

RESOLVED,
The GNSO Council approves the JIG Final Report on Single Character IDN TLDs, 
and forwards the report to the ICANN board and staff for its implementation 
into the next version of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook as it pertains to the 
new gTLDs.

Resolved further, that the GNSO Council instructs the GNSO Chair to communicate 
its decision to the ccNSO Chair.

RESOLVED FURTHER, that the GNSO Council hereby expresses its appreciation to 
the JIG for their hardwork, and look forward to receiving further reports on 
"IDN Variant TLDs" and "Universal Acceptance of IDN TLDs".

3. MOTION RE: Revision of  Section 5.0 Statements of   Interest of the  GNSO 
Council  Operating  Procedures
=========================================================================================================
  
(This motion allowed for absentee voting and the Secretariat confirms receiving 
the two positive absentee votes from Wendy Seltzer and Zahid Jamil) 

WHEREAS, in October 2008, the GNSO Council established a framework for 
implementing the various GNSO Improvements
http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-26jun08.htm
identified and approved by the ICANN Board of Directors on 26 June 2008; 


WHEREAS, that framework included the formation, in January 2009, of two 
Steering Committees, the Operations Steering Committee (OSC) and the Policy 
Process Steering Committee (PPSC), to charter and coordinate the efforts of 
five community work teams in developing specific recommendations to implement 
the improvements; 


WHEREAS, the OSC established three work teams, which were chartered to focus on 
specific operational areas addressed in the BGC Report recommendations;
http://www.icann.org/topics/gnso-improvements/gnso-improvements-report-03feb08.pdf


WHEREAS, the GNSO Council recently identified areas for improvement in Section 
5 Statements of Interest in the GNSO Council Operating Procedures 
http://gnso.icann.org/council/gnso-op-procedures-05aug10-en.pdf that would 
simplify and clarify the procedures; 


WHEREAS, the GNSO Council tasked the OSC with completing a revision to improve 
Section 5; 


WHEREAS, the OSC submitted to the GNSO Council on 04 February 2011 a proposed 
revision of Section 5 
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-operating-procedures-revisions-23feb11-en.pdf 
that removes the requirement for Disclosures of Interest, and provides clearer 
guidance on the contents of Statements of Interest and on updating them in a 
timely manner; 


WHEREAS, the GNSO Council acknowledged receipt of the proposed revision of 
Section 5.0 at its 24 February 2011 meeting and initiated a 30-day public 
comment period http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#gnso-5 on the document; 


WHEREAS, there were no comments on the proposed revision of Section 5.0 
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-operating-procedures-revisions-23feb11-en.pdf 
in the public forum and the final version 
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-operating-procedures-revisions-23feb11-en.pdf 
is submitted to the GNSO Council for its consideration; 


NOW THEREFORE, BE IT:

RESOLVED that the GNSO Council adopts the revision of Section 5.0 as proposed 
by the OSC and instructs ICANN staff to incorporate the revised Section 5.0 
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/gnso-operating-procedures-revisions-23feb11-en.pdf 
into a new version of the GNSO Operating Procedures (GOP), which becomes 
effective immediately upon adoption. 


RESOLVED, that each Working Group formed after the date of this resolution 
shall utilize the procedures in the revised Section 5.0. 


RESOLVED FURTHER, that the GNSO Council hereby expresses its gratitude and 
appreciation to the members of the OSC for their dedication, commitment, and 
thoughtful recommendations. 


Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you.

Kind regards,
Glen

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