IMPORTANT NOTICE - The statement below is provided by individuals and organizations working to self-organize a DNSO Constituency Group. It is posted here to assist the self-organization process. It has not been approved by ICANN and its posting here does not indicate that the group under formation will necessarily be officially recognized by the ICANN Board of Directors. See http://www.icann.org/dnso/constituency_groups.html for information about the constituency formation process and instructions for submitting comments regarding this statement.

Submittted to ICANN by Manuel Hurtado (mhurtado@offcampus.es), May 24, 1999
Posted May 24, 1999

ICANN DNSO ISP and Connectivity Provider Constituency Charter

0. Background

This document is intended to set out a framework for the structure and procedural rules of the Internet Service Provider and Connectivity Provider Constituency (ISP Constituency) of the Domain Name Supporting Organization and is proposed to serve as the foundation for discussion among interested ISPs and ISP organisations. The drafters of this document recognize the need to reach out to other such entities and persons who share these interests to participate in the further refinement of this document.

This document is being made publicly available for comments by ISPs and ISP organisations.

Comments on this draft should be sent to:

Manuel Hurtado - mhurtado@offcampus.es

It is our intention:

1) to reach out to any other interested individual ISPs and ISP organizations around the world and encourage them to participate in the process of ISP Constituency formation.

2) to initiate the consultative process itself for the inclusive, international discussion required to formulate the ISP Constituency proposal to be submitted to the ICANN Board for approval at its next meeting in Santiago on August 25th, 1999.

The time schedule to be followed for the formation of the ISP constituency is:
24 May: release of draft for general comment by June 7th through all possible channels, including posting on ICANN and DNSO site.
7 June: release of the Charter for final approval by 9 June with (1) sign-up form for founding members, (2) volunteer possibility for interim secretariat and (3) opportunity for nomination of interim council members, to be completed by 13 June.
14 June: founding member list available, to be circulated together with a reply form listing organizations that have indicated they are willing to serve as interim secretariat. Each founding member can express one choice for the interim secretariat by 17 June.
18 June: interim secretariat named and (1) opens election of nominated candidate interim names council members, to be closed 20 June; (2) calls for nominations by 7 July for permanent secretariat among founding organizations.
21 June: publication of names for interim names council members
23 August: Santiago ISP Constituency meeting.
25 August: Accreditation of ISP Constituency by ICANN board.

I. Mission Statement and Purpose

1. The ISP Constituency will form an integral part of the Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO) according to Article VI-b, Section 3 of the ICANN Bylaws.

2. The purpose of the ISP Constituency is to represent the views and interests of those stakeholders who provide connectivity services to either other ISPs or final users.

3. The specific goal of the IPS Constituency is to ensure that DNSO decisions are at a minimum consistent with the imperatives of the development of business in the ISP community. This includes in particular business's need for continued or enhanced stability and security of the Internet insofar as this relates to those aspects of Internet governance that fall within ICANN's mandate.

II. Organizational Structure and Elections

A. MEMBERS

1. The following may become members of the ISP Constituency:

a. Any association representing or organization comprised of Internet Service Providers or connnectivity providers.

b. Any Internet service provider or connectivity provider who provides Internet connectivity to other ISPs or to final users.

2. In case of doubt about a prospective member complying with the requirements to be a member, the application will be reviewed by a Credentials Committee organized according to clause III of this Charter.

3. An individual (representative of a member) may not represent more than one member of the IPS Constituency, nor represent the same company/organisation in another constituency.

B. OFFICERS

1. The ISP Constituency shall have:

a. a secretariat that will be elected by and among its members for a period of two years at a time. The secretariat will assure that all procedures are followed, that all necessary means to conduct the business of the constituency are available and that independent elections take place in due time for the secretariat as well as for other officers.

Its functions will include:

(i) Reviewing applications for membership in the ISP Constituency and, where appropriate, referring these to the Credentials Committee.

(ii) Carrying out the administrative functions associated with the operations of the ISP Constituency, including the arrangement of meetings, preparation and publication of minutes, maintenance of an appropriate mechanism suitable for facilitating contact and dissemination of information among all members of the ISP Constituency and other secretariat functions required for the adequate functioning of the ISP Constituency.

(iii) Facilitating and, where appropriate, formulating membership consensus on policy issues for the purpose of advising the ISP Constituency representatives on the Names Council.

(iv) Assessing and collecting membership fees (see IV).

b. Three Names Council representatives who will be elected for a period of two years by the ISP Constituency in accordance with sub (C) of this article. Once elected, they will act in the Names Council solely as representatives of the ISP Constituency. They will use their best efforts to represent the interests of the constituency, and will collaborate with the other members of the Names Council to produce the best possible DNSO proposals for ICANN.

(i) In order to assure geographical diversity, not two Names Council representatives may belong to organizations whose major place of business is in the same region. Organizations or associations with less than 50% of their business in, or members from, one given region (no region has more than 50% of its members) will not be considered as part of a given region, but as members of a separate group also considered. In the case of multinational companies, the corporate international headquarters will be considered as the major place of business. Considered as regions are: 1) North America 2) Latin America, including Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and south America 3) Europe 4) Africa 5) Asia 6) Pacific 7) International Organizations.

(ii) No person may serve as a ISP Constituency representative to the Names Council for more than two successive terms. A term of service as an Interim representative of the ISP Constituency to the Names Council shall not be considered a successive term for the purposes of this section.

C. ELECTIONS OF NAMES COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES

1. The election process will be initiated by a nomination period of one week. All members of the ISP Constituency may nominate one person for the Names Council. This process (including receiving nominations and communicating the names of the nominees to all members of the constituency at the end of the nomination period) will be initiated and managed by the secretariat.

2. Immediately following the nomination period, the secretariat will open an election period of one full week, during which it will receive votes from members of the constituency through e-mail and acknowledge receipt. Immediately following the election period, the secretariat will publish a full overview of votes naming voters as well as the candidates of their choice. No delegation of vote will be permitted in the election of either Names Council representatives or ICANN directors.

3. Names Council representatives will be elected by the largest number of votes processed as follows:

a. All nominees from the same region as the person with the largest number of votes will be eliminated. From the resulting list, all nominees from the same region as the person with the second number of votes will be eliminated. The three people at the top of the remaining list will be elected as representatives of the ISP Constituency to the Names Council.

b. If the list of nominees contains only members from two regions, the two nominees with the largest number of votes will be considered. If they are from the same region, the third person elected will be the one with the largest number of votes from the other region present, otherwise the third person elected will be the one with the third highest number of votes.

c. If the list of nominees contains only persons from one region, the three nominees with the largest number of votes will be elected.

d. In case of a tie that affects the results of the election, a new election will be held among the two nominees in the tie.

D. ELECTIONS FOR THE SECRETARIAT

1. With the exception of the election of the first secretariat, which will be elected by the end of July 1999, Candidates for election as secretariat will be nominated at the same time as the candidates for the Names Council, and also voted at the same time and according to the same procedure where relevant. The largest number of votes will elect the secretariat.

2. The secretariat will be a member of the Constituency, and not a person.

3. ISP Constituency members may put themselves forward as candidates to assume secretariat functions either as individual entities to assume all secretariat functions as set out hereinafter, or jointly with other members with a view to allocating such functions among them.

E. ELECTION OF INTERIM NAMES COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES AND INTERIM SECRETARIAT

1. Three Interim representatives from the founding organizations of the ISP Constituency shall be elected to the Names Council and will serve until such time as a more formal nomination and voting structure is established by the elected ISP Constituency; the Interim representatives of the ISP Constituency shall be replaced in that manner on or before 31 December 1999 at the discretion of the ISP Constituency.

2. The Founding members of the ISP Constituency will agree on an interim secretariat, which may be a cooperative effort of volunteer founding members, that will receive nominations and the votes for the interim Names Council election. A permanent secretariat must be duly elected no later than the end of July, 1999.

3. Each founding organization may nominate one person as an Interim Names Council representative. Candidates must be nominated before June, 13th, 1999. The names of the candidates will be published and the election will take place between the 18th and the 20th of June, 1999.

4. Each founding organization will have three votes (which must be cast for different candidates). The same regional regulation that applies to permanent Names Council members will be applied. Votes will have to be received by the interim secretary before 24:00 Central European Time June 20th. In case the secretariat received votes from all founding members before that time, he may end the election period and disclose the vote and the names of the elected nominees.

5. Any organization or association meeting the criteria of membership in the ISP Constituency that applies for membership in the ISP Constituency on or before June 13th, 1999, shall be considered a founding organization.

III. Procedure for substantive decision-making. Subsidiary and support bodies

1. For each policy work item arising from the need to provide support to the ISP Constituency representatives on the Names Council, the secretariat shall call for volunteers to sit on a research committee whose mandate shall be tied to the work item in question. This invitation for volunteers shall be accompanied by a set of specific criteria to ensure that members of research committees have a knowledge of, and experience with, issues relevant to the work of the DNSO that is appropriate for the purpose for which the research committee is created. The secretariat shall publish the names of volunteers who are finally appointed, together with their credentials. The secretariat shall circulate any recommendations produced by such research committees among the members of the ISP Constituency for consultation. This process shall be repeated until consensus has been achieved, always within the time frame of DNSO decisions, which may require a quick decision..

2. The secretariat shall use their best efforts to give small and medium-sized enterprises an adequate voice in all ISP Constituency work processes. These efforts may include, but not be limited to, the organization of democratic elections for representatives of organizations of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) to sit on an SME Consultative Committee whose advice shall be solicited on substantive policy work items.

3. Within two weeks from the election of a secretariat, it shall appoint for a period of two years a Credentials Committee, consisting of three members from three different regions of the world.

4. Delegation of vote will be permitted in any teleconference organized by the ISP Constituency to discuss or decide on any issue. Nevertheless, if 10% of the members consider that an issue should be voted by e-mail, then the e-mail vote will invalidate any decission taken in a teleconferences. No vote delegation will be permitted in e-mail votes.

IV. Membership Fees and Funding

1. ISP Constituency funding requirements shall be fulfilled through membership fees that are raised in such a way as to ensure that no unreasonable barriers are created for membership in the ISP Constituency for commercial/business entities or business organizations or any kind or size.

2. In the initial launch of the DNSO, in order to establish an operating budget, it shall be possible to accept one-time only contributions from business/commercial entities and business organizations, in lieu of membership fees, and credited toward such fees.