Non-Commercial Domain
Name Holders Constituency Second Charter Revision
Revision 28 August 2000
Revision 10 September 2000
Posting 21 September 2000
Non-Commercial
Domain Name Holders Constituency
Second Charter Revision
Revision 28 August 2000
Revision 10 September 2000
Posting 21 September 2000
I. Goals of the Non-Commercial Constituency
The Non-Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency has a special place in the DNSO. The NCDNHC is intended to be independent of commercial interests. Its members are organizations whose uses and applications of the Internet are primarily non-commercial, including organizations which represent individual domain name holders whose interests must be primarily non-commercial.
Its purpose is to support non-commercial speech and activity on the Internet, to protect the rights of non-commercial domain name holders, and to forge together the interests of non-commercial domain name holders.
NCDNHC must provide the voice and representation for organizations that serve non-commercial interests and provide services such as community organizing, promotion of the arts, children's welfare, religion, education, scientific research, human rights and the advancement of the Internet as a global communications system available to all segments of society. The interests of such organizations are not necessarily represented by the other constituencies of the DNSO and deserve to be represented in the NCDNHC.
The NCDNHC proposes that the following organizations shall be eligible for membership in the NCDNHC:
a) organizations holding at least one domain name,
b) and which are incorporated as a non-commercial entity (in countries that have such a provision in their commercial code), or if unincorporated or operating in a country without provisions for non-commercial incorporation, operate on a not-for-profit basis primarily for non-commercial purposes, and
c) which are engaged in activities that are primarily non-commercial, including, e.g. political, educational, religious, charitable, scientific and artistic.
The membership of the NCDNHC specifically excludes commercial entities and associations of or for the benefit of commercial entities (even if they are non-commercial in form), and also excludes organizations which use the Internet primarily forcommercial activity, even if their other activities are non-commercial.
The NCDNHC will have two types of membership, voting members and non-voting members.
Nonvoting members. Associations or organizations whose specific goals are to represent the interests of registries, registrars or ISPs or those whose specific interests are to defend the Intellectual Property rights of their associates cannot have full member status but may participate as non-voting members. Non-voting members can participate in Constituency discussion lists, propose and discuss resolutions and participate in all physical meetings. Non-voting members have no voting rights in the constituency and its processes and cannot participate in constituency Adcom teleconference calls except by consent of the Adcom. We understand that many subgroups have separate interests and a separate voice from their parent organizations. Those subgroups are welcome to participate fully and actively in the Constituency as non-voting members.
Political organizations that are non-governmental are eligible for voting status. A political organization shall be considered "non-governmental" if its primary purpose is to influence governmental or public policy, but not to hold governmental offices or to elect government officials. Ineligible political organizations are those whose primary purpose is to hold government offices and/or elect government officials. In unclear or borderline cases, the voting status of a political organization will be decided by the constituency membership after review of the application on its merits.
III. Organizational Principles
In order to foster full and fair representation of both large and small organizations, the NCDNHC proposes to divide the membership of the Non-Commercial Constituency into two subgroups:
Large Organizations: Organizations meeting the membership criteria and goals for promoting non-commercial activity on the Internet as set out in Section I above, incorporated as a not-for-profit entity, and, for membership organizations, having a current membership over 1000 or more people or, for non-membership organizations, having 200 or more employees (such as a not-for-profit university). Large organizations pay a higher membership fee as noted in the amendment on membership.
Small Organizations: Organizations meeting the membership criteria and goals for promoting non-commercial activity on the Internet as set out in Section I above, operating on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of more than one individual or family, and whose membership is under 1000 or, for non-membership organizations, having less than 200 employees. Large organizations who wish to pay the lower fees may pay membership fee for small organizations and get the same voting rights as a small organization as per IV(C) below.
IV. Voting Principles, Proposals and Overall Organization
A. DNSO Names Council and NCDNHC Administrative Committee
Per ICANN Bylaws, members of the NCDNHC are entitled to elect three members to the DNSO Names Council.
NCDNHC will also elect two other persons who, together with the Names Council members, shall form an Administrative Committee (AdCom). The Administrative Committee is intended to represent all five ICANN geographic regions. It will advise members of the NCDNHC of the Names Council proposals and will assist Names Council representatives by providing input and information from NCDNHC members. Further, the Administrative Committee will be responsible for handling the administrative issues of the Constituency, including the management of fees.
In order to assure geographic distribution, (i) no two AdCom members shall be citizens of the same geographic area, as defined in the ICANN bylaws, (ii) no two AdCom members shall represent the same organization, and (iii) no single AdCom member shall represent more than one organizational member of the NCC.
In order to balance the size of the large organizations with the potential of the small organizations to join in much greater numbers, voting will be weighted by giving two votes to each large organization and one vote to each small organization.
In order to assure diversity, Names Council Representatives and Administrative Committee members will be elected by the following process:
- the person with the most votes is the First AdCom member, and a Names Council Representative.
- the person with the second highest number of votes -- from a different geographic region than the first AdCom member -- is elected as the Second AdCom member, and a Names Council Representative.
- the person with the third highest number of votes -- from a different geographic region than the first and second AdCom members -- is elected as the Third AdCom member, and a Names Council Representative.
- the person with the fourth highest number of votes -- from a different geographic region than the first three AdCom members -- is elected to the AdCom
- the person with the fifth highest number of votes -- from a different geographic region than the first four AdCom members is also elected to the AdCom.
D. Membership Required To Run; Nominations Require a Second
To run for the AdCom, a candidate must be affiliated with an organization that is a member of the NCDNHC, and have the approval of that organization to run. Any organization may nominate a candidate, and every nomination must be seconded by another organization.
E. Voting Results Shall Be Publicly Announced
In the interest of openness, results of voting for Names Council representatives shall be public. After the period allowed for voting closes, the votes shall be listed by organization on the NCDNHC website so that they can be inspected and counted by members and the public.
F. Term of Names Council and Administrative Council
The term of the Names Council and Administrative Council representatives shall be one year.
If an Administrative Committee member or Names Council member resigns the Administrative Committee member from a different region who ranked fourth in votes in the original election replaces him/her temporarily, until a new election is held. Such a new election should be completed within two months of the resignation/impeachment.
In case of election for a Names Council position, the Administrative Committee members who represent the two regions that were not represented on the Names Council must run as candidates from that region. Other members from regions already represented on the Administrative Committee cannot run in this election.
Any number of candidates from the region not represented in the Administrative Committee can run.In case of election for a Names Council position, the candidate from one of the three regions not already represented on the Names Council who gets the largest vote total is the new Names Council representative.
The two candidates from the three regions not already included in the Names Council with the 2nd and 3rd highest vote totals are Administrative Committee members for those regions.
V. Sign up for Membership and Communication via Website and List
The NCDNHC represents a large and heterogeneous group of organizations, many of whom are not yet aware of the ICANN, its processes, and their impact. It is crucial to the success of the constituency that it be operated in an open manner which will encourage new organizations meeting the membership criteria to join and participate.
It is also important that those within the constituency have the opportunity to learn about a member, any possible conflicts the member might have, and the position and title of the person designated to represent the member.
Membership will be by self-nomination based on disclosure. The NCDNHC website will have a form which all prospective members will fill out, to include: the individual seeking to work with the NCDNHC on behalf of the organization, her/his title and position with the organization, full contact information, whether he/she is formally authorized to represent the organization, whether the organization is non-commercial and how the organization engages in non-commercial speech and activity on the Internet, whether the organization or the individual have any conflicts that the groups should be aware of, the domain name of the organization and any website URL it may have.
All organizations must fill out this form, and circulate it to the others seeking to form the NCDNHC. As new organizations seek to enter the Constituency, they too will circulate the form to the other members via the NCDNHC list. Other members may challenge the application for failure to meet the stated membership criteria of the constituency.
Copies of the forms for all organizations will also be kept on the NCDNHC website, with a facility to search the forms by organization's name and representative's name.
The NCDNHC shall have a listserv for members to introduce themselves and discuss constituency matters.
The Internet Society (ISOC) shall be the initial host of NCDNHC website and list. Both shall be organized per the requirements of this Charter, and per the specifications that may arise from consensus of the NCDNHC. The Administrative Committee shall have the authority to change the website and listserv host.
This Charter may be amended from time to time as the needs of the Constituency change or as needed to incorporate changes to the ICANN Bylaws.. Amendment shall be through the formation of a Charter Revision Committee, to include the Administrative Committee and other members of the Constituency who shall volunteer, which shall recommend and discuss changes. Recommended changes shall then be presented to the Constituency for review and adoption.
Comments concerning the layout, construction and functionality of this site
should be sent to webmaster@icann.org.
Page Updated
08-Apr-2003
©2003 The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers. All rights reserved.