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Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

In Cairo, the ICANN Board will be considering and adopting a final policy on independent review. Public comments on the staff's proposed Independent Review Policy are actively requested.

Background

The ICANN Bylaws call for the establishment of a procedure by which the actions of the ICANN Board can be subjected to independent third-party review:

(b) The Initial Board shall, following solicitation of input from the Advisory Committee on Independent Review and other interested parties and consideration of all such suggestions, adopt policies and procedures for independent third-party review of Board actions alleged by an affected party to have violated the Corporation's articles of incorporation or bylaws. [Bylaws, Article III, Sec. 4]

In March 1999, the ICANN Board appointed a 10-member Advisory Committee on Independent Review. The Committee posted for public review and comment an Interim Report with draft principles for independent review on 7 May 1999, along with an addendum on 26 May. Those documents were the subject of public discussion at the ICANN meetings in Berlin, 26-27 May 1999. The Board accepted the draft principles and directed the committee to complete its work in time for consideration at the next round of meetings in Santiago.

The Committee's Final Report: Principles for Independent Review was posted on 6 August 1999, and was the subject of public discussion at the ICANN meetings in Santiago, 25-26 August 1999. The Board accepted the principles and directed the ICANN staff to prepare a written policy implementing those principles for consideration at the Board's next round of meetings in Los Angeles.

Following the Board's Santiago meetings, ICANN concluded a set of tentative agreements with Network Solutions, Inc., and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Those agreements included provisions relating to ICANN's independent review structure. [See, for example, the ICANN-NSI Registry Agreement, Definition 1.] Accordingly, the posting of a final policy for independent review was delayed until the next round of ICANN meetings, after the Board had determined whether or not to approve the proposed ICANN-NSI-DoC agreements.

Proposed Independent Review Policy

The ICANN staff has drafted a proposed Independent Review Policy for the Board's consideration in its March 2000 Cairo meetings. Public comments should can be submitted and reviewed on the ICANN Public Comment Forum.

Public Comment Forum.

Public comments on the proposed Independent Review Policy should be submitted, and can be reviewed, by means of the ICANN Public Comment Forum.

Click here to review the proposed Independent Review Policy.

Click here to enter the public comment forum on the proposed Independent Review Policy.