[council] ICANN Board resolution - 10 April 2012 - Establishment of New gTLD Program Committee

[Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From:  http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-10apr12-en.htm

10 April 2012 

Establishment of New gTLD Program Committee
 

Resolved (2012.04.10.01), the Board hereby establishes the Board New gTLD 
Program Committee as follows: (i) the voting members of the Committee will 
consist of: Rod Beckstrom, Cherine Chalaby, Chris Disspain, Bill Graham, Erika 
Mann, Gonzalo Navarro, Ray Plzak, R. Ramaraj, George Sadowsky, Mike Silber, and 
Kuo-Wei Wu; (ii) the liaisons to the Committee will be Thomas Roessler; and 
(iii) the Chair of the Committee will be Cherine Chalaby.

Resolved (2012.04.10.02), the Board hereby delegates to the Board New gTLD 
Program Committee all legal and decision making authority of the Board relating 
to the New gTLD Program (for the round of the Program, which commenced in 
January 2012 and for the related Applicant Guidebook that applies to this 
current round) as set forth in its Charter, which excludes those things that 
the Board is prohibited from delegating by law, or pursuant to Article XII, 
Section 2 of the ICANN Bylaws.

Resolved (2012.04.10.03), all members of the New gTLD Program Committee 
reinforce their commitment to the 8 December 2011 Resolution of the Board 
(Resolution 2011.12.08.19) regarding Board member conflicts, and specifying in 
part: "Any and all Board members who approve any new gTLD application shall not 
take a contracted or employment position with any company sponsoring or in any 
way involved with that new gTLD for 12 months after the Board made the decision 
on the application."

Resolved (2012.04.10.04), the Board directs the CEO to prepare a document 
setting forth a process for the creation of Board Committees to address future 
situations where there may be multiple Board members with perceived, potential 
or actual conflicts of interest on an issue.


Rationale for Resolutions 2012.04.10.01-2012.04.10.04

In order to have efficient meetings and take appropriate actions with respect 
to the New gTLD Program for the current round of the Program and as related to 
the Applicant Guidebook, the Board decided to create the "New gTLD Program 
Committee" in accordance with Article XII of the Bylaws and has delegated 
decision making authority to the Committee as it relates to the New gTLD 
Program for the current round of the Program which commenced in January 2012 
and for the related Applicant Guidebook that applies to this current round.

Establishing this new Committee without conflicted members, and delegating to 
it decision making authority, will provide some distinct advantages. First, it 
will eliminate any uncertainty for conflict Board members with respect to 
attendance at Board meetings and workshops since the New gTLD Program topics 
can be dealt with at the Committee level. Second, it will allow for actions to 
be taken without a meeting by the committee. As the Board is aware, actions 
without a meeting cannot be taken unless done via electronic submission by 
unanimous consent; such unanimous consent cannot be achieved if just one Board 
member is conflicted. Third, it will provide the community with a transparent 
view into the Board's commitment to dealing with actual, potential or perceived 
conflicts.

This resolution should have a positive impact on the community and ICANN as a 
whole as the New gTLD Program Committee will be able to take actions relating 
to the New gTLD Program for the current round of the Program and as related to 
the Applicant Guidebook without any question of conflict arising. No fiscal 
impact is anticipated as a result of this action and there will be no impact on 
the security, stability no resiliency of the domain name system.