Proposed Addition to Bylaws
(Posted 3 March 2003)

Proposed Addition to Bylaws
3 March 2003

To the Board:

On 25 February 2003, the ICANN Board considered a set of clarifications, technical corrections, and minor modifications, proposed by the Evolution and Reform Committee, to the New Bylaws that went into effect on 15 December 2002. At the 25 February meeting, the Board unanimously adopted resolution 03.16, which made all but one of the ERC's proposed amendments to the bylaws. The Board did not, however, take action on the ERC's proposal to add an Article VII, Section 8, concerning ineligibility of Nominating Committee members for selection to ICANN bodies. The Board believed that the restrictions in the ERC's proposed language should be strengthened and requested the General Counsel to prepare a revised version of the proposed section.

In consultation with the ERC, I have prepared the revised proposal that appears below for addition of an Article VII, Section 8, of the bylaws. This provision meets the Board's concern that participants on a Nominating Committee should be not be eligible for selection to the Board during the Nominating Committee's term, whether by the Nominating Committee or by a supporting organization. This same principle would apply to selections to the GNSO Council, the ALAC, and any other ICANN body with at least position that the Nominating Committee is responsible for filling.

Once the Nominating Committee's term ends at the conclusion of an annual meeting, participants in that Nominating Committee would become eligible for selection to these bodies. In the ordinary course, the first vacancies to be filled would be Board seats filled by Supporting Organizations six months after the annual meeting.

In the presentation below, added text is underlined and in magenta.

Respectfully submitted,

Louis Touton
General Counsel

ARTICLE VII: NOMINATING COMMITTEE, Section 8. INELIGIBILITY FOR SELECTION.

No person who serves on the Nominating Committee in any capacity shall be eligible for selection by any means to any position on the Board or any other ICANN body having one or more membership positions that the Nominating Committee is responsible for filling, until the conclusion of an ICANN annual meeting that coincides with, or is after, the conclusion of that person's service on the Nominating Committee.

[Explanation: The addition of section 8 corrects an unintentional omission by clarifying that those serving in any capacity on each year's Nominating Committee are ineligible to be selected to membership (by the Nominating Committee or otherwise) on the Board or any other body including membership having at least one position that the Nominating Committee is responsibility for filling. (The possibility of a vacancy to be filled during the Nominating Committee's term should be considered in making this determination.) The ineligibility lasts only until the Nominating Committee's term expires at the conclusion of the next annual meeting. If a person continues to serve for even part of the next Nominating Committee's term, however, he or she would also be ineligible for selection during that Nominating Committee's term.]

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