Table
of Contents i
[C] Sponsoring Organization's
Proposal 1
[C] I. SPONSORING ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE 1
C1. Description 1
C2. Organization Information. 2
C3. Organization Structure. 2
Membership 2
CORE 2
CORE-II 2
Bodies of the association 3
Plenary Meeting 3
Executive Committee and Chair 4
Working Groups 4
Permanent Secretariat 4
Planned structures for the new
Sponsoring Organisation function 5
Advisory Council 5
Resources devoted to Advisory
Council 6
C4. Organization Purpose. 6
C5. Appropriateness of
Community. 7
C6. Representation. 7
C7. Openness and Transparency. 7
C8. Initial Directors and
Staff. 8
Current CORE 8
CORE-II 8
C9. Selection of Directors,
Officers, Members, Staff, etc. 9
Current CORE 9
Members of the Executive
Committee and Chair 9
Head of Permanent Secretariat 10
Senior executives 10
CORE-II 10
C10. Policy-Making Procedure. 10
C11. Meetings and
Communication. 11
Current CORE 12
Membership 12
Executive Committee 12
CORE-II 12
C12. Fiscal Information. 12
Current CORE 12
Auditor 12
Annual report and annual
statement 12
Financial Matters 13
CORE-II 14
C13. Liability. 14
C14. Amendment of Articles of
Incorporation or Bylaws. 14
C15. Reconsideration and
Review. 15
Current CORE 15
CORE-II 15
[C] II. PROPOSED EXTENT OF
POLICY-FORMULATION AUTHORITY 15
C16. Areas for which Policy
Formulation Authority is Sought 15
[C] III. CONTRACT TERMS WITH
REGISTRY OPERATOR 16
C17. Identification of
Registry Operator. 16
C18. Contract with Registry
Operator. 17
[C] (Signature) 18
[INSTRUCTION: A Sponsoring Organization's Proposal is to be submitted only as part of applications for sponsored TLDs. It should not be included with applications for unsponsored TLDs. It should be prepared and submitted by either the sponsoring organization or, where the sponsoring organization has not yet been formed, by organization(s) or person(s) proposing to form the sponsoring organization.
Sponsored TLDs will involve a more complex contractual structure. Applicants are urged to evaluate carefully whether to seek a sponsored or unsponsored TLD.
Please place the legend "CONFIDENTIAL" on any part of the Sponsoring Organization's Proposal that you have listed in item F3.1 of your Statement of Requested Confidential Treatment of Materials Submitted.
The Sponsoring Organization's Proposal should be separately bound and labeled: "Sponsoring Organization's Proposal" and should cover Sections I, II, and III below. This page, signed on behalf of the applicant(s), should be included in the Sponsoring Organization's Proposal.]
Please submit a comprehensive description of the structure and nature of the sponsoring organization and the manner in which that organization will conduct its operations, including policy-formulation activities. We strongly recommend retaining professional legal assistance to aid in the formulation of your Sponsoring Organization's Proposal and accompanying documents.
The following documents should be attached to the description:
l articles of incorporation, association, etc.;
l bylaws or any similar organizational document;
l list of persons presently on the supervising Board of the organization (or to be initially on the Board); and
l their resumes.
To the extent applicable and not clear from the attached documents, the description should address the following topics in detail.
CORE is a non-profit association established under Swiss law. The association was originally established in 1997 to create and administer seven new gTLDs (under the IAHC plan known as gTLD-MoU). As the US government Green Paper and White Paper processes delayed launch of new gTLDs, CORE has not operated as a registry yet. However, CORE has been a key player in the effort to introduce competition in the existing gTLD registration business. For that purpose, among other things, CORE became an ICANN-accredited registrar and was selected in 1999 as a Testbed registrar for the newly shared .com/.net/.org registry, enabling its members to perform registrations under .com, .net and .org. Many CORE members are themselves ICANN-accredited registrars.
Should CORE’s proposal be selected by ICANN, CORE’s understanding is that a mechanism shall be implemented to isolate the registrar function from the registry function. This is required in CORE’s view to ensure a fair and robust competition model, the registry being a natural monopoly and having sensible information about its customers (i.e.the registrars) should not be in itself a registrar competing with registrars/customers.
For this purpose, CORE's intention is to split the current association into two separate associations (with different executive committees, secretariats, technical teams, etc.), each in charge of one of the two functions. The implementation of the split will be based on ICANN's criteria and require ratification by CORE's Plenary Meeting. This document is based on the hypothesis that the CORE Registrar function would remain under the existing contractual relationships between CORE and other parties (in particular domain name holders), whereas current members would create a new association to which registry-related assets and liabilities would be transferred. Nevertheless, it could be the other way round, or even CORE could abandon the registrar function altogether. For the purposes of this document, the new association is referred to as CORE-II. Depending on technical, legal or other considerations it may be necessary to use a different mechanism with the same objectives.
Principal location, legal status of the organization, laws under which it is organized, type of organization (for profit, non-profit, corporation, association, etc.).
CORE is an open non-profit association established under Swiss law, and has its seat in Geneva (Switzerland).
It is expected that the new association (CORE-II) will also be an open non-profit association established under Swiss law, and have its seat in Geneva (Switzerland)
Size of organization, number of officers, directors and advisors, roles/duties of directors and officers and other staff, supporting and/or contributing organizations, affiliates, membership
CORE is an association of registrars that currently has 72 members. Membership is open subject to objective, non-discriminatory criteria comparable to those currently used for ICANN registrar accreditation.
We believe that ICANN should established a gTLDs´ wide registrar accreditation program. In this case, these gTLDs accredited registrars would be the possible members of CORE-II.
Should ICANN not adopt such gTLDs wide registrar accreditation program, CORE-II initial members will be the current members of CORE wishing to join the new association. Immediately after, membership will be open to all those current .com/.org/.net ICANN accredited registrars wishing to join the new association. (The current registrar accreditation program is in many respects dependant on the so-called "NSI agreements", and contains terms, conditions and liabilities that have convinced many CORE members not to undertake the accreditation process. This is why in a situation where there is no gTLDs wide registrar accreditation process, CORE current members, even if not .com/.net/.org accredited, should be accepted as CORE-II members and registrars)
Also, in the assumption of a lack of a gTLDs wide registrar accreditation program, CORE will accept in the future those third parties that meet objective, non-discriminatory criteria comparable to those currently used by CORE and by ICANN in their accreditation programs.
CORE's ultimate decision-making body is the Plenary Meeting whose formal decision-making process is based on physical meetings, telephone conferences and electronic voting.
The Articles of Association specify, among other things, that at least once a year, within six months after the beginning of each calendar year, the Plenary Meeting shall be held as its Annual Meeting. The Executive Committee convenes plenary Meetings or at the request of not less than one-tenth of the members entitled to attend and vote at the Plenary Meetings. Every member is entitled to one vote at Plenary Meetings. In order for the Plenary Meeting to be able to adopt any decision, a minimum of one third of the number of members must be present or represented by proxy (save as otherwise provided). All resolutions are adopted by a simple majority of the votes actually cast, unless otherwise provided (for instance, resolutions on the matters specified below, can only be taken with a majority of no less than 67% of the total votes). The Plenary Meeting retains the powers that have not been entrusted to the Executive Committee or any other body of CORE.
The Articles of Association further provide that in particular, the powers and functions of the Plenary Meeting are the following:
"a. the appointment, suspension and dismissal of members of the Executive Committee; and b. the establishment or abolition of Working Groups, the election of the chairs of Working Groups and the approval of their terms of reference and rules of procedure; and c. the establishment or abolition of Regional and Interest Groups, the ratification of the election of the chairs of Regional and Interest Groups, and the approval of their terms of reference and rules of procedure; and d. the approval of the budget, including the amount of budgeted Compulsory and Voluntary Contributions, of the accounts and the Executive Committee's annual report; and e. the appointment of an auditor; and f. the amendment of the Articles of Association and the dissolution of the Association; and g. the approval of the work programme of the Association and any necessary modifications to or amendments of the budget; and h. the definition of the general policy of the Association; and i. the approval of common positions which are to be issued by the Association; and j. the adoption of financial procedures; and k. the decision on an appeal of a Member as referred to in Article 6 paragraphs 6 and 8; and l. the expulsion of Members; and m. the establishment of the Permanent Secretariat and the appointment of senior executives of the Association, including the Coordinator as head of the Permanent Secretariat; and n. the notation of Permanent Reference Documents, of Restricted Document Procedures and Restricted Special Document Procedures; and o. the categorization or recategorization of documents pursuant to the Articles of Association; and p. the determination of the need for co-operation agreements with third parties, if necessary the establishment of a Working Group for the negotiation of such agreements, the entry into such agreements and the designation of reporters; and q. the approval of common software standards for the purpose of all communications and the processing and storage of all documents relating to the Association; and r. the resolution of disputes within and between Working Groups; and s. the adoption and amendment of regulations, which shall not be contrary to the Articles of Association."
The body in charge of overseeing management is the Executive Committee. The Articles of Association specify that the Plenary Meeting appoints the members of the Executive Committee and decides the number of Executive Committee members. There must be between a minimum of two and a maximum of seven; currently, there are seven. Only an officer, director or employee of a member can be appointed as a member of the Executive Committee. Executive Committee in corpore, can represent the association by the chair, by two members of the Executive Committee, acting jointly, or by such authorized signatories as appointed by the Executive Committee.
Working groups are created as and when the need arises to elaborate proposals for technical specifications.
A Coordinator heads the Permanent Secretariat. It is in charge of the co-ordination functions such as the management of the association, relationships to members, the day-to-day supervision of registration operations, support to members where it has not been delegated to the technical Shared Registry System support team. It also operates a framework of contact of last resort to help end-users in urgent cases or when the maintaining member alone is unable to settle a given issue.
It is expected the structure of CORE II will be based on the model of CORE. For the purpose of its function of Sponsoring Organisation, CORE-II will have an Advisory Council as a central part of its policy-making process.
Based on past experiences, CORE-II will have, together with volunteer contributions from its members, a more professional structure. For this purpose, CORE-II will hire a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who will be a full time employee of CORE-II. The CEO will be in charge of the administrative functions (in fact, the CEO will assume the functions of the current Head of the Secretariat) and will also have the executive functions under the supervision of the Board of Directors (instead of Executive Committee).
On top of the SRS and other technical working groups (formed by members), CORE-II will have a Chief Technical Officer (CTO).
As well, CORE-II will hire a Chief Policy Advisor (CPA), initially on a part-time basis.
In CORE's tradition, many activities (hosting, whois maintenance, name service maintenance, certain secretariat functions, accounting, etc.) have been outsourced to the members. CORE-II will outsource some of these activities under the control of the CEO mainly to CORE-II members.
An Advisory Council will be established to advise CORE on policy making issues for the ".nom" TLD. (Note: The Advisory Council would not necessarily overseepolicy for other TLDs that may be entrusted to CORE II as Registry Operator).
This Advisory Council will be an independent committee and will not be controlled by CORE-II or its membership.
No ideal composition for the Advisory Council can be foreseen. Taking into account that this is a policy committee for personal domains but will possibly have implications for all users of domain names, we would like to ask the main constituencies within DNSO to each appoint two members. To date, there is not any organization of users of Internet that can claim, as a main purpose, to represent the interests of the individuals in Internet. In absence of such organization, we understand that ISOC is the closest organization to a user-based one. As any policy decision also has operational implications, we would like to seek expert advice in these areas (on the one hand the ISPC, and on the other hand the IAB). Finally, CORE and its registrars need to have a non-preponderant voice. The dispute resolution service providers, affected by the policies concerning ".nom" should also have a voice within the Advisory Council.
Therefore, the following organisations will be asked to appoint members to the Advisory Council:
a) the following DNSO constituencies:
NCDNHC: two members
BCC: two members
IPC: two members
ISPC: two members
b) Others:
Accredited dispute resolution service providers (as a group): one member
IAB: two members
ISOC: two members
CORE-II: two members
This is only the initial composition that CORE-II proposes. The Advisory Council itself will likely propose variations to it.
The members appointed by the above organisations do not need to be members of the appointing organisations. The members of the Advisory Council are expected to act on the basis on their own personal opinion.
CORE-II provides the resources needed for the functioning of the Advisory Council. These resources include:
- Budget necessary to operate of the Advisory Council. This budget is devised and mutually agreed to by CORE-II and Advisory Council (including possible per diem or remuneration to be studied with the Advisory Council)
- The equivalent of one full time staff position of CORE-II secretariat.
- A remunerated CPA on a part-time basis. The CPA must have a good knowledge of the regulatory and technical framework.
The CPA, the secretariat staff members concerned with supporting the Advisory Council, the CORE-II delegates to the Advisory Council and delegates from member wishing to participate in a Working Group charged with the development of proposals submitted to the Advisory Council.
Functions and mission of the organization, definition of community to be served (if any), method of ensuring operation in the interest of the stakeholders of the community to be served and the Internet at large.
CORE purpose is set forth by its Articles of Association, the CORE-MoU and the gTLD-MoU. Its main objective is to establish a structure in which the registrars can operate in accordance with the best interests of the users of the Internet in general, and in particular the DNS as a public resource. Said objective was to be achieved by means of the development of standards, specifications and agreements relating to the assignment of domain names.
CORE-II's purpose will be to run, operate and manage the ".nom" TLD and any other TLD whose management and/or operation is entrusted to CORE-II, as either the Sponsoring Organization or the Registry Operator or just as one of them, as well as the development and management of registry-related services.
If the organization is intended to serve or represent a particular community, define the community and explain why that definition fits the TLD proposal.
The ".nom" TLD is intended for personal use by individuals. There is no existing organization that can claim, as a main purpose, to represent the interests of the individuals on the Internet. As the ".nom" TLD is in the public trust, CORE-II does not claim any preferential right over it, but offers its experience and know-how to manage the delegation of the TLD under the auspices of ICANN and in the best interest of the users of the Internet in general and in particular the DNS as a public resource.
Manner in which the organization will represent and take input from community to be served, the categories of stakeholder to be included in the organization.
In terms of policy-making, the Advisory Council will advise CORE-II. The Advisory Council is formed by external individuals who are appointed by recognized bodies who represent legitimate interests, in the manner described in C3 above.
The purpose of establishing the Advisory Council is that the interests at stage are represented in the policy-making procedure for ".nom"
The policy-making procedure for ".nom" also encourages the fact that the whole Internet community can be represented in the procedure of modifying or elaborating policies for ".nom" by means of "request for public comments" regarding the policy proposals (see C10 below).
Furthermore, CORE-II will operate and manage the ".nom" in accordance with the policy and guidelines established by ICANN.
Measures taken to promote openness and transparency, access to information, web site use, public posting of information, meeting minutes, notice and comment provisions.
The policy making procedure for ".nom" allows public participation, as those policies being considered for adoption that substantially affect the operation of the ".nom", will be posted for public comment on the CORE-II´s web site. Furthermore, the procedure encourages the participation of the Internet community, given that any policy regarding the ".nom" will be adopted by CORE-II after the recommendations of the Advisory Council, which is itself formed by members of the Internet community appointed by reputable organisations.
As well, CORE-II website will provide an e-mail address for policy suggestions from the public, which will be analyzed by CORE-II and the Advisory Council.
The policy-making procedure for ".nom" will be overseen by the DNSO and the ICANN board, and CORE-II will follow those policies as directed by them.
The identity and qualifications of the initial directors and staff.
CORE’s current Executive Committee members are:
Mr. Ken Stubbs
Dr. Jonathan Robinson
Mr. François
Luc Collignon
Mr. Hal Lubsen
Ms. Rosa Delgado
Mr. Robert F. Connell
Mr. Werner Staub
CORE’s staff is formed by the Permanent Secretariat operating under an outsourcing agreement with CORE member 79 Axone in Geneva. The head of the secretariat is Mr. Werner Staub. Other staff in the Permanent Secretariat are:
Mr. Mark Baradez
Mr. Juan Sanchez
Mr. Radek Maturana
CORE-II will hire a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who will be a full-time employee of CORE-II. The CEO will be in charge of the administrative functions (in fact, the CEO will assume the functions of the current Head of the Secretariat of CORE) and will have also the executive functions under the supervision of the Board of Directors.
In addition to the SRS and other technical working groups (formed by members), CORE-II will have a Chief Technical Officer (CTO).
As well, CORE-II will also hire a Chief Policy Advisor (CPA), initially on a part-time basis.
These posts will be offered in the first place to officers, directors and employees of the members, who will need a leave of absence from their companies to work for CORE-II. If necessary, CORE-II will contact people from outside the members to cover some of these positions. At the time of submission of the application, CORE has already initiated contacts with different possible candidates, however, as this issue has not been decided yet, CORE cannot facilitate the name of the candidates for confidentiality reasons.
In total, CORE-II is planning to hire ten full-time employees plus one part-time person.
Eligibility, method of selection, term of service, compensation, liability, conflicts of interest, resignation, removal, vacancies.
Members of the Executive Committee are appointed by the Plenary Meeting, among officers, directors or employees of CORE´s Members. Besides, each member of the Executive Committee needs to be an officer, director or employee of a different Member. The Plenary Meeting has the faculty to suspend for a maximum of three months and dismiss members of the Executive Committee. Appointments have duration of three years maximum, and the retiring members are eligible for reappointment.
Other circumstances that lead to an Executive Committee member´s end are: a) termination of membership of the Member of CORE; b) Resignation; c) Termination of the employment contract between the member of the Executive Committee and the Member of CORE, unless that member of the Executive Committee has signed a contract with another Member of CORE and the Plenary Meeting allows him/her to stay.
The Chair of CORE is appointed for one year by the Plenary Meeting and is eligible for reappointment for another one-year period.
All travel, hotel and other expenses incurred by a member of the Executive Committee (including the Chair, as long as the Chair is a member of the Executive Committee) in connection with attendance at meetings in person of the Executive Committee shall be paid by the Member, unless otherwise decided by the Plenary Meeting. Due to the fact that CORE is a non-profit association under Swiss law, the members of the Executive Committee or the Chair cannot be remunerated for their services.
The Plenary Meeting appoints a Coordinator as Head of the Permanent Secretariat. The Plenary Meeting shall decide on the appointment (including term of office) of the Coordinator from a list of candidates presented by the Executive Committee. If vacant, this post shall be advertised within the membership.
The Plenary Meeting shall decide on the appointment (including term of office) of senior executives from a list of candidates presented by the Executive Committee.
The selection of the Board of Directors and Chair of CORE-II will be based on the current model of CORE.
The Board of Directors will hire the CEO who, in turn, will be in charge of recruiting the other members of the staff including the CTO and CPA. Prior to entering into an employment or similar relationship with CORE, the CEO will present the candidates to the Board of Directors for their approval.
Provide a detailed description of the process for formulating policies for the TLD, including a detailed description of the requirements for adoption of different types of policy.
Experience shows that while ICANN sets general policies and principles, many details necessary for a domain like ".nom" will need further elaboration. In this regard, the policy-making procedure described below only refers to these developments, adjustments and gap filling for the ".nom" policy, but with express submission to ICANN policy decisions in this respect.
CORE-II will establish a Working Group for policy formulation. This Working Group will have full time staff (one or two employees to start with) appointed by CORE-II. Said staff will be coordinated by the Chief Policy Advisor (CPA)t as chair of the Working Group. CORE has initiated contacts in order to retain the CPA on initially on a part-time basis. The Working Group will be open to the participation of those members willing to collaborate.
The Working Group will be in charge of collecting the suggestions for policy changes and will, at the request of CORE-II, the Advisory Council or at its own initiative, elaborate a proposal to be submitted to the Advisory Council for its study and discussion.
In addition to the proposals, the CPA will present to the Advisory Council a monthly report summarizing the comments, suggestions and complaints received from the registrars, the users and any other third party concerning the “.nom” policy.
The Working Group will immediately post a request on the web site for public comments regarding any proposal that the Advisory Council receives that substantially affects the operation of the ".nom". TLD. Explanation of the content of the policies being considered, the reason why they are considered and any other relevant aspect regarding those proposals will also be posted on the web site.
The comments obtained during the period of request for comments will also be submitted to the Advisory Council which will issue a report with its opinion in favor or against the proposal, and if convenient, recommendations regarding the proposal . This Chair of the Working Group will submit this report to CORE-II. CORE-II will approve the policies on the basis of this report (which is not binding upon CORE-II).
In order to pass a policy that substantially affects the operation of .nom, the quorum necessary would be at least one third of the total number of Members that are present or represented by proxy in the Plenary Meeting. Said policy can only be passed with a majority of no less than 67% of the total votes. Policies adopted by CORE-II concerning the operation of the TLD ".nom" will be published on the web site.
It is understood that CORE will not adopt policies that interfere or overlap with the policy-making competencies of ICANN. Furthermore, CORE will not adopt policies that conflict with policies already adopted by ICANN. (The reason for the Advisory Council having an advisory nature is that CORE does not want to establish a parallel policy-making procedure that bypasses or duplicates the current ICANN structure.)
In case of any conflict between the report issued by the Advisory Council and the decision adopted by CORE-II, the issue can be submitted by either of the parties to the DNSO or the ICANN board for settlement.
Taking into account the composition of the Advisory Council CORE relies on its members to alert the DNSO and other relevant ICANN instances in case they foresee conflicts or unsound deviations in any proposed policy.
The Advisory Council will therefore play a double role. On the one hand, it will advise CORE-II on policy issues and on the other hand, it will be able to provide structured, accurate and reliable information to the DNSO and ICANN staff on the policy of ".nom".
4 3 2 5
Frequency of meetings, location of meetings, provisions for telephone meetings, other methods of communication, generation of minutes for meetings.
The Plenary Meeting is held at least once a year, within six months after the beginning of each calendar year (the Annual Meeting). Other Plenary Meetings (Extraordinary Plenary Meetings) can be convened by the Executive Committee or at the request of not less that one-tenth of members entitled to attend and vote at the Plenary Meetings. The decision-making process is based on physical meetings, telephone conferences and electronic voting.
The members of the Executive Committee may meet for the dispatch of business, adjourn and otherwise regulate, as they think fit.
Members of the Executive Committee may participate in the meetings by means of telephone, videoconference or other similar means of communication whereby all persons participating may hear each other speak.
It is expected that CORE-II will be based on the model of CORE for these purposes.
Initial budget, expenses, existing capital, sources of revenue, accounting, audit, annual report and annual statement.
The Plenary Meeting appoints an auditor to audit the balance sheet and the statement of income and expenditure. The Executive Committee can also appoint the auditor. The auditor produces a report on the audit examination to the Executive Committee who submits it to the Annual Plenary Meeting.
The Executive Committee keeps a record in respect of the financial position and of all activities - in accordance with the requirements arising from these activities - of CORE and stores the related documents hereto in such manner that the rights and obligations of CORE can be known out of it at all times.
At the Annual Meeting, the Executive Committee submits an annual report on the course of business of CORE and on the policy conducted. It also submits the balance sheet and the statement of income and expenditure with notes for the approval of the Plenary Meeting.
The Executive Committee is obliged to keep the above-mentioned records above mentioned for a period of ten years.
The Annual Budget is approved annually by the Plenary Meeting and comprises:
"a. any shortfall in respect of previous years; and b. all anticipated expenditure by CORE; and c. all anticipated expenditures to meet the obligation to provide funds for the Policy Oversight Committee; and d. all anticipated income, including contributions from Members; and e. any surplus in respect of previous years. "
The Annual Budget provides separately for anticipated expenditure to be funded by expected registration fees and Compulsory Contributions and for expenditure to be funded by Voluntary Contributions. The amount of the Compulsory Contributions, which will in any event not exceed US$50.000 is determined by the Plenary Meeting. Compulsory Contributions are divided among the Members equally. Voluntary Contributions are divided among the Members who have chosen to contribute to Voluntary Expenditure in accordance with their undertaking to contribute.
Any shortfall in respect of Compulsory Expenditure that arises during a financial year because of additional expenditure previously approved by the Plenary Meeting or because of the failure of one or more Members to pay its or their annual Compulsory Contributions is, at the discretion of the Plenary Meeting, levied by the Permanent Secretariat on the Members during the financial year in which it occurs or be financed out of the capital (if any) of CORE. In the event that at the year-end a credit balance remains in the accounts it may be credited against Members contributions for the following year in such manner as may be determined by the Plenary Meeting.
All financial transactions (except in the case of existing agreements) are transacted in such currency as the Executive Committee may from time to time determine. Furthermore, all financial matters are carried out in accordance with financial procedures adopted by the Plenary Meeting.
The liabilities and obligations of CORE may be enforced against its assets only, and no Member has any individual liability for any liabilities or obligations of CORE. A Member's liability vis-a-vis CORE is limited to the payment of its Compulsory and/or Voluntary Contributions.
A Member who fails to pay its contribution within 90 days of the due date, after he has been duly reminded to do so, may be suspended by the Executive Committee. However, the Executive Committee may decide to invite the suspended Member to attend a Plenary Meeting as a listener only.
The above scheme is applicable to CORE-II.
Furthermore, the following consideration should be taken into account in connection with CORE-II.
CORE is an open membership association that in practice works as a co-operative. CORE´s funds are obtained only from its members. It is important to bear in mind that the users of CORE services are its members, they need CORE to operate properly in order to do their business. For that reason, it is in the members' interest that CORE is not undercapitalized. Experience shows that when needed, CORE's members have contributed funds. In this respect, reserves for lawsuits do not need to be large, as large pockets attract large lawsuits. If needed the members will provide funds to cover those lawsuits.
Similar models such as non-for profit corporations, which are in fact open membership organizations where the members are users, do not have problems in rising funds, e.g. RIPE NCC, Nominet, DeNIC.
Liability of the organization, directors, officers, and staff.
Pursuant to the Swiss Civil Code, liability of Directors, officers and staff is limited to fraud or malevolent breach of fiduciary duty.
According to the Regulations of CORE, CORE, its staff, the members, the members of the Executive Committee and the members of the Working Group are immune from all liabilities in respect of any loss or damages suffered by a member who has relied on advice or information furnished by CORE and its staff, directors and bodies in the performance of their duties.
CORE-II will follow these principles.
Procedures for making amendments to the articles of incorporation, bylaws, and other organizational documents.
The Articles of Association and the Regulations of CORE can be amended only by a resolution of the Plenary Meeting, which has been convened with the statement that an amendment of the Articles or the Regulations will be proposed in that Meeting.
Those Members who have convened the Plenary Meeting to discuss a motion to amend the Articles or the Regulations will ensure that, at least 10 days before the meeting, a copy of such motion containing the verbatim text of the proposed alteration has been received by all Members and the office of the Permanent Secretariat for inspection by the Members until the end of the day on which the meeting is held.
A resolution to amend the Articles of Association or the Regulations will require the affirmative vote of a majority of not less than 67% of the total votes actually cast in a meeting in which at least two-thirds of the Members are present or represented. Should two-thirds of the Members not be present or represented, then a second meeting shall be convened after that meeting, to be held at least 24 hours later and within four weeks after the first one, in which the quorum requirement will be reduced to one-half of the members being present or represented. No vote should be carried through the written procedure before holding a Plenary Meeting where at least half the Members are present or represented.
An amendment of the Articles or the Regulations will become effective upon a resolution adopted in accordance with the previous paragraphs.
CORE-II will have a very similar process to amend the Articles of Association and Regulations.
Any policy for allowing reconsideration and review of organization policy or implementation decisions
Any Member of CORE desiring to contest any involuntary termination or suspension of its membership hereunder may proceed according to the arbitration provision of article 23 of the Articles of Incorporation. All disputes arising in connection with the Articles of Association or regulations based on the Articles of CORE will be settled by arbitration in accordance with the UNCITRAL Arbitration rules.
The above will be valid for CORE-II. Furthermore, in terms of policy-formulation, should a discrepancy arise between CORE-II and the Advisory Council, there is the possibility to request the intervention of ICANN (the DNSO) to settle the discrepancy, as described in C10 above. In any case, formal review of policies adopted by CORE-II is within ICANN as CORE-II is subject to the policies adopted by ICANN.
[INSTRUCTION: This section is intended to address the extent of the policy authority to be delegated, NOT the specific policies proposed. Specific policies should be described in the Description of Proposed TLD Policies part of the application.]
List and describe in detail the areas over which a delegation of policy-formulation authority is sought. For each area in which policy authority is sought, please address:
C16.1. Scope of authority sought;
C16.2. Reasons/justifications for seeking authority;
C16.3. Method of guaranteeing that your organization will administer the policy in the interest of the Internet at large; and
C16.4. Whether variation from existing ICANN policies is intended at the opening of the new TLD.
CORE-II does not seek any exclusive policy authority in any area concerning the ".nom". TLD. CORE-II will only complete and develop ICANN' s policies if needed, to the extent that there is no interference with the fields of competence of ICANN or with the policies or principles set by ICANN.
Some examples in which further development may be needed are:
-Transfer rules for ".nom"
-Two-dot policy
- Exclusion request mechanism
In the above-mentioned areas, should CORE-II observes a need or a special interest shown by third parties to have some policies developed or modified, CORE-II will make those changes by means of the policy-making procedure explained in C-10, as long as there is no action from ICANN.
[INSTRUCTION: Sponsoring organizations are responsible for securing an initial registry operator for the proposed TLD and ensuring that the registry operator completes the Registry Operator's Proposal. Sponsoring organizations should also enter detailed contracts for the provision of registry operation services. These contracts should address all of the required functions as outlined in the Registry Operator's Proposal.]
Please list the full legal name, principal address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the registry operator:
CORE Internet Council of Registrars
World Trade Center II
29 route de Pre-Bois
CH-1215 Geneva
Switzerland
Telephone +41 22 929 5744
Fax +41 22 929 5745
E-mail address: tldapp@corenic.org
Please bear in mind CORE's intention to establish a separate legal strict in order to isolate the registrar function from the registry function, as described in C1 above.
Please attach one of the following:
C18.1. a copy of your contract with the selected registry operator for provision of registry services;
C18.2. proposed terms for a contract (i.e. at least a detailed term sheet) with a registry operator for provision of registry services, proof of commitment from the registry operator for provision of services under those proposed terms, and a notation of the estimated date of entry into the contract; or
C18.3. a statement that the sponsoring organization will also serve as the registry operator for the proposed TLD. (In this case, the sponsoring organization must prepare and submit the Registry Operator's Proposal in addition to the Sponsoring Organization's Proposal.)
CORE is submitting the application for the .nom TLD as both the Sponsoring Organization and the Registry Operator. In this respect, please take into account the intention to create a separate legal structure from current CORE in order to isolate the registrar functions to the registry functions, as described in response to question C1 above.
By signing this proposal, the undersigned attests, on behalf of the applicant(s), that the information contained in this application, and all supporting documents included with this application, are true and accurate to the best of applicant's knowledge.
_______________________________
Signature
Werner
Staub _____________________
Name (please print)
Head of
CORE Secretariat___________
Title
CORE
Internet Council of Registrars __
Name of Applicant Entity
September
30, 2000_________________
Date