First Supplemental Implementation Report of the Committee on ICANN Evolution and Reform
Posted: 11 October 2002

Committee on ICANN Evolution and Reform
First Supplemental Implementation Report
11 October 2002

In issuing our Final Implementation Report and Recommendations on 2 October 2002, we noted that "it can be expected that there may be additional inputs as a result of review of these recommendations that would call for some slight modifications [and that] the ERC is likely to augment these recommendations on one or more occasions prior to the Shanghai meeting . . . ." The ERC has been receiving thoughtful reactions and commentary on various aspects of the 2 October report and recommended bylaws and will be posting supplemental reports to reflect additional or revised recommendations. This is the first of those supplemental reports.

I. Elaboration of At-Large Advisory Committee

Some of the commentary received on the Final Implementation Report and Recommendations concerns the description of the At-Large Advisory Committee in Article XI, Section 2.5 of the recommended bylaws. One point made in that commentary is that the recommended bylaws should more specifically describe the steady-state future characteristics of the At-Large Advisory Committee, which was one topic of the ALAC Assistance Group's 19 August 2002 Report to the ERC. In its Second Interim Implementation Report, the ERC commented extensively on the principles reflected in the Assistance Group's report. The ERC is persuaded that the recommended bylaws would benefit from a more specific description of the steady-state future characteristics of the At-Large Advisory Committee and intends to propose a revised, more elaborate version of Article XI, Section 2.5 in a future supplemental report.

II. Core Value 11

Article I, Section 2 of the proposed bylaws sets forth eleven core values that should guide ICANN decisions. The secretariat of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has pointed out to the ERC that core value 11, which concerns the goal of taking due account of governmental recommendations on public policy issues that arise in carrying out ICANN's mission, differs from the language recommended in the GAC's 26 June 2002 Statement on ICANN Reform. In reviewing the GAC-recommended language, the ERC sees merit in the GAC's wording of core value 11, as a better way of reflecting consideration of governmental public-policy concerns within the private-sector framework of ICANN. The ERC therefore recommends that Article I, Section 2(11) be revised to read as follows:

Section 2. CORE VALUES

In performing its mission, the following core values should guide the decisions of the ICANN Board of Directors (the "Board") and the recommendations of the ICANN Supporting Organizations (the "Supporting Organizations") and ICANN Advisory Committees (the "Advisory Committees"):

* * *

11. While remaining rooted in the private sector, recognizing that governments and public authorities are responsible for public policy and duly taking into account governments' or public authorities' recommendations.

[Replaces: Taking into account the views of governments and public authorities responsible for public policy, so that the need for direct governmental action is minimized.]

III. Directors' Terms

Some of the commentary on the recommended bylaws reflects confusion regarding Article VI, Section 8's definition of the regular terms of the various seats on the ICANN Board of Directors. Section 8.1 provides that the fourteen Directors other than the President will serve three-year terms, which will be staggered. The Directors selected by the Nominating Committee will begin and end their terms at the conclusion of ICANN's annual meetings, while the Directors selected by the Supporting Organizations will begin and end their terms six months after the conclusion of ICANN's annual meetings. This staggering is intended to allow each Supporting Organization to make its selections of the two Directors allocated to it with reference to the geographic diversity requirement that applies to its selections (each Supporting Organization's two selected Directors must come from different ICANN regions), while allowing the Nominating Committee's selections to achieve the overall geographic diversity requirements of Article VI, Section 2.2 (all five ICANN regions must be represented and no more than five of the fourteen Directors may come from any one region).

It is important to note that the terms listed in Article VI, Section 8 represent the steady-state future, not the transition to that future. Thus, Section 8 specifies the dates on which the first full three-year terms for each of the fourteen seats will begin. These dates are in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Before these full three-year terms begin, these seats will have partial terms. Filling these partial terms, as well as starting up the new Supporting Organizations and other new entities, will be covered in a proposed plan for the transition that will be posted in early November and considered at the annual meeting in early December 2002.

Committee on ICANN Evolution and Reform
11 October 2002

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