Explanation/Background: The newly-restructured GNSO Council is scheduled to be seated during the upcoming ICANN meeting in Seoul, South Korea. Establishing updated operating procedures consistent with the new ICANN Bylaws is a key step toward seating the new Council.

The GNSO Council Operations Work Team was tasked with a cross-constituency effort to review the existing GNSO operating rules and procedures and to recommend changes consistent with the new GNSO Council's goal to become a strategic manager of the policy process.  The Work Team has developed a package of those recommendations and the GNSO Council has directed the Staff to post them for public review and comment.

Community members are invited to review the recommendations and comment on all aspects of the recommended procedures. The recommended procedures address a number of areas including the selection of officers, the conduct of meetings and how Council votes are cast and counted.

In authorizing the release of the recommendations for review and comment, ICANN Staff was directed to note a specific area of discussion regarding the treatment of instances where Council members may choose to abstain from a particular vote (see - http://audio.icann.org/gnso/gnso-council-20090924.mp3). Alternative treatment of vote abstentions (the original work team recommendation and potential substitute language) in the recommended procedures is noted in Section 4.2 of the package. Commenters should note which treatment they prefer. The Staff has also been asked by Council members to prepare an analysis of how potential Council votes would be tabulated based on different treatments of Councilor abstentions. That Staff analysis will be provided as a submission to the comment forum.

Document Links:

The recommended operating procedures can be found here:
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/draft-gnso-operating-procedures-24sep09-en.pdf
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/draft-gnso-operating-procedures-24sep09-en.doc

The Process from Here:

At the end of this Public Comment Forum period, ICANN Staff will review the comments submitted and prepare a summary analysis of the various submissions. Consistent with the Transition Implementation Plan approved by the GNSO Council at its 24 September meeting, the updated operating procedures will be the first substantial item on the new Council’s agenda of 28 October in Seoul. The new council members will discuss and vote on the updated Council Operating Procedures. Approval of the Procedures will require a majority of the voting members of each house for approval. Any amendment that results from comments submitted, will need to be voted on prior to the vote on the Procedures and will also require a majority of the voting members of each house.

Staff Responsible: Robert Hoggarth

Deadline and How to Submit Comments:

The Staff is opening a 21-day public consultation forum, from 25 September 2009 through 16 October 2009, and invites community comments on this topic.

To submit comments: Comments on the document are welcome via email at gnso-operating-procedures-2009@icann.org. This public forum will be open through 16 October 2009.

To view comments: An archive of all comments received will be publicly posted at http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-operating-procedures-2009/

Announcement | Comments | Summary/analysis of comments

Explanation: In an effort to build on existing best practices, and to encourage the early sharing of documentation that is primarily intended for public review and discussion, a document publication operational policy [PDF, 146K] has been developed for use across ICANN at the organization’s international public meetings.

The intent of the operational policy is to provide a clear framework and guidelines for the consistent publication of work across the organization and so enable wide dialogue throughout the community. It will be reviewed in the light of each meeting in an effort to continuously improve ICANN operations.

That operational policy includes: a single 15-working-day deadline for all documents (including meetings agendas) ; best practice guidelines on the production of meeting agendas, cover sheets and executive summaries ; an emphasis on the use of plain language and minimised use of jargon; and sections considering the issues of translation, earlier provision of presentations, and reporting on the efficacy of the operational policy.

You are invited to discuss and comment any part of the policy online with suggestions for changes. You will need to register to add comments online. The results of the discussion will result in changes to the policy before it is put to the Board for review and approval.

• Is the community (and staff) prepared for the early provision of documents?
• Are you sufficiently persuaded of the need for a document deadline to change established approaches and cultures?
• How do we effectively tackle the issue of language/jargon?
  

Announcement | Discussion space | Summary/analysis of comments

The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), the body of ICANN responsible for policy development relating to generic Top-Level Domains, is asking for public comments on issues relating to procedures for modifying registration information and transferring domain names between registers to inform the deliberations of the Working Group created to address these issues. Specifically, comments on establishing a new urgent return procedure for challenging potentially fraudulent domain name transfers or alterations, potential measures to undo inappropriate transfers and the use of Registrar Lock Status are requested from the broader community. The details of the issues being considered are at http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-14sep09-en.htm.

Announcement | Comments | Summary/analysis of comments