[council] Council Resolutions Thursday 29 September 2016

[Glen de Saint Géry <Glen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Councillors,

Please find below  the resolutions the Council adopted at its meeting on 
Thursday 29 September 2016.

1 GNSO Validation of CCWG-Accountability Budget Request

WHEREAS,

1.      Per its Charter, the Project Cost Support Team (PCST) has supported the 
CCWG-Accountability in developing a draft budget and cost-control processes for 
the CCWG-Accountability activities for FY17, and has also developed a 
historical analysis of all the transition costs to date (see 
https://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/pdfpklU5q6Ojg.pdf).

2.      The CCWG-Accountability FY17 budget was presented at its plenary 
meeting of June 21st and approved for transmission to the Chartering 
Organizations for validation as per the process agreed with the PCST. This 
request for validation was received on 23 June.

3.      Following review and discussion during ICANN56, the GNSO Council 
requested a webinar on this topic which was held on 23 August (see transcript 
at 
https://gnso.icann.org/en/meetings/transcript-ccwg-accountability-webinar-23aug16-en.pdf,
 recording at 
http://audio.icann.org/gnso/gnso-ccwg-accountability-webinar-23aug16-en.mp3 and 
AC recording at https://icann.adobeconnect.com/p8fu99qpt7d/).

4.     The GNSO Council notes that many members of the GNSO community have 
expressed the view that the projected budget does not likely support revisiting 
the topic of the jurisdiction of ICANN's organization in that such exploration 
would likely require substantial independent legal advice on alternative 
jurisdictions and their potential impact on the text and structure of ICANN's 
Bylaws.

5.      The GNSO Council has discussed and reviewed all the relevant materials.

RESOLVED,

1.      The GNSO Council hereby accepts the proposed CCWG-Accountability FY17 
budget, as well as the cost-control processes presented in conjunction with the 
CCWG budget, expects the working groups to be restrained and judicious in their 
use of outside legal assistance, and believes that the Legal Committee should 
exercise reasonable and effective controls in evaluating requests for outside 
legal assistance and should approve them only when deemed essential to assist a 
working group to fully and objectively understand and develop a particular 
course of action for which the group has reached a substantial degree of 
consensus and requires legal advice on its risks and feasibility.

2.      The GNSO Council expects to receive regular updates on actual 
expenditures as tracked against this adopted budget, and reserves the right to 
provide further input on the budget allocation in relation to the 
CCWG-Accountability related activities.

3. The GNSO Council expects ICANN staff, including its office of General 
Counsel, to provide the assistance requested by the CCWG and its working groups 
in an expeditious, comprehensive, and unbiased manner.

4.      The GNSO Council expects the CCWG-Accountability and staff to work 
within the constraints of this approved budget, and that excess costs or 
requests for additional funding beyond said budget should be recommended by the 
Legal Committee only when deemed essential to completion of the CCWG's work and 
objectives. .

5.      It is the position of the GNSO Council that revisiting the jurisdiction 
or organization of the ICANN legal entity, as established by 
CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 1,  would not likely be supported by this 
projected budget and, further, that such inquiry should not be undertaken at 
this time because the new accountability measures are all premised and 
dependent on California jurisdiction for their effective operation, and any 
near-term changes in organizational jurisdiction could be extremely 
destabilizing for ICANN and its community.

6.      The GNSO Council requests the GNSO Secretariat to communicate this 
resolution to the CCWG-Accountability Chairs, and to the office of the ICANN 
CFO.

Voting 
results<https://gnso.icann.org/en/meetings/gnso-council-motion-recorder-29sep16-en.pdf>

2. Interim appointment of the GNSO Representative on the Empowered Community 
Administration

WHEREAS

1. As stated in Section 1.1(a) of Article 6 of the new ICANN Bylaws, concerning 
the composition and organization of the Empowered Community (EC), "The 
Empowered Community ("EC") shall be a nonprofit association formed under the 
laws of the State of California consisting of the ASO, the ccNSO, the GNSO, the 
ALAC and the GAC (each a "Decisional Participant" or "associate," and 
collectively, the "Decisional Participants")."

2. The sole purpose of the EC is to exercise its rights and perform its 
obligations under ICANN's Articles of Incorporation and the ICANN Bylaws, and 
the EC shall have no other powers or rights except as expressly provided in the 
ICANN Bylaws. The EC may only act as provided in these Bylaws. Any act of the 
EC that is not in accordance with these Bylaws shall not be effective.

3. As outlined in section 6.3 of the new ICANN Bylaws, the GNSO, as a 
Decisional Participant, shall act through its respective chair or such other 
person as may be designated by the GNSO (collectively, such persons from all 
communities are the "EC Administration"). Each Decisional Participant shall 
deliver annually a written certification from its chair or co-chairs to the 
ICANN Secretary designating the individual who shall represent the Decisional 
Participant on the EC Administration.

4. The GNSO created a Drafting Team (DT) on 30 June 2016 to identify the GNSO's 
new rights and obligations, and work with ICANN staff to prepare an 
implementation plan to address any needed changes by 30 September (see 
http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions - 201606).

RESOLVED

1. The GNSO Council hereby confirms that the GNSO Chair (currently James 
Bladel) will represent the GNSO as the Decisional Participant on the Empowered 
Community Administration on an interim basis.
2.  The GNSO representative shall act solely as directed by the GNSO Council in 
accordance with the ICANN Bylaws and other related GNSO Operating Procedures.
3. Within three months after the completion of the work of the GNSO Rights & 
Obligations under Revised ICANN Bylaws Drafting Team and adoption of its 
recommendations by the GNSO Council, the GNSO is expected to finalize its 
decision on the appointment of the person designated to represent the GNSO as 
the Decisional Participant on the Empowered Community Administration and will 
communicate this accordingly to the ICANN Secretary.
4. The GNSO Council requests the GNSO Secretariat to communicate this decision 
to the ICANN Secretary which will serve as the required written certification 
from the GNSO Chair designating the individual who shall represent the 
Decisional Participant on the EC Administration.

Voting 
Results<https://gnso.icann.org/en/meetings/gnso-council-motion-recorder-29sep16-en.pdf>

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

Kind regards,
Glen


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

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