ICANN|ARCHIVES

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Under Article III, Section (2) of the Bylaws, the ICANN Board is required to post minutes of its meetings within 21 days of a given meeting. With a 19-member Board, it has proven difficult to complete the process of drafting, reviewing, and circulating detailed minutes within the allotted period of time.

In order to assure more immediate public access to the results of ICANN meetings while preserving the ability of each Director to review and edit draft minutes, the Board has acted to post for public review and comment a proposed amendment to the ICANN Bylaws which would require rapid publication of any actions taken by the Board at its meetings and subsequent publication of the detailed minutes upon their approval by the full Board.

Article III, Section 2 of the ICANN Bylaws currently states:

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

All minutes of meetings of the Board, the At Large Council, Supporting Organizations (and any councils thereof) and Committees shall be approved promptly by the originating body. No later than twenty-one (21) days after each meeting, draft minutes shall be made publicly available on a publicly-accessible Internet World Wide Web site maintained by the Corporation (the "Web Site"); provided, however, that any minutes relating to personnel or employment matters, legal matters (to the extent the Board determines is necessary or appropriate to protect the interests of the Corporation), matters that the Corporation is prohibited by law or contract from disclosing publicly and other matters that the Board determines, by a three-quarters (3/4) vote of Directors voting, are not appropriate for public distribution shall not be included in the minutes made publicly available. For any matters that the Board determines not to disclose, the Board shall describe in generic terms in the relevant minutes the reason for such nondisclosure.

The Board proposes that Article III, Section 2 be amended to read as follows:

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

(A) All minutes of meetings of the Board, Supporting Organizations (and any councils thereof) and Committees shall be approved promptly by the originating body.

(B) No later than five (5) days after each meeting, any actions taken by the Board shall be made publicly available in a preliminary report on a publicly-accessible Internet World Wide Web site maintained by the Corporation (the "Web Site"); provided, however, that any actions relating to personnel or employment matters, legal matters (to the extent the Board determines is necessary or appropriate to protect the interests of the Corporation), matters that the Corporation is prohibited by law or contract from disclosing publicly and other matters that the Board determines, by a three-quarters (3/4) vote of Directors voting, are not appropriate for public distribution shall not be included in the preliminary report made publicly available. For any matters that the Board determines not to disclose, the Board shall describe in generic terms in the relevant preliminary report the reason for such nondisclosure.

(C) No later than the day after the date on which they are formally approved by the Board, the minutes shall be made publicly available on the Web Site; provided, however, that any minutes relating to personnel or employment matters, legal matters (to the extent the Board determines is necessary or appropriate to protect the interests of the Corporation), matters that the Corporation is prohibited by law or contract from disclosing publicly and other matters that the Board determines, by a three-quarters (3/4) vote of Directors voting, are not appropriate for public distribution shall not be included in the minutes made publicly available. For any matters that the Board determines not to disclose, the Board shall describe in generic terms in the relevant minutes the reason for such nondisclosure.

The Board actively seeks public comments on this proposed amendment.

Click here to enter the Public Comment Forum on these proposed revisions to the ICANN Bylaws.