Principles for GNSO reform - important

[Milton L Mueller]

So as we move into drafting a new charter for the NCSG, these are the
principles that the Board has developed to guide us. 

Good news is that the reform is moving fast and will be largely in our
hands, not staff's or the full Council's. 

Another piece of good news is that our efforts to start admitting
individuals and to start preparing for the transition we are way ahead
of the other constituencies. 

 

 

Critical Stakeholder Group Principles

In authorizing a bicameral voting structure for the restructured GNSO
Council, the ICANN Board has created a significant role for four
stakeholder groups (commercial, non-commercial, registry and registrar)
in the management and operations of the Council. Implementation of the
new Council structure by January 2009, as directed by the Board, will
require significant coordination within individual stakeholder groups,
including future members of those groups as possible, to work to adapt
their operations and nomination and election processes to the
composition of the voting house structures authorized by the Board.

 

To assist the stakeholder groups in coordinating their efforts to
effectuate a successful transition to the new GNSO Council structure,
set forth below are a number of principles that should be taken into
account in developing proposals for seating Stakeholder Group
representatives on the Council. The principles come directly from
various sections of the February 2008 Board Governance Committee GNSO
Improvements Report that was adopted by the ICANN Board on 25 June 2008
in Paris, France. 

 

The principles included were selected because it is critical that they
be applied in the development of implementation steps to seat the new
GNSO Council and are not meant to widely include passages referencing
new constituency principals and processes.  

 

Principles

 

1.	Our goal is to make the way in which stakeholders interact in
the GNSO, whether organized as constituencies, interest groups or
another vehicle, as inclusive and representative as possible, without
sacrificing effectiveness or efficiency. (BGC WG GNSO Improvements
Report at p. 39)

2.      The stakeholder groups may function only as a "caucus," bringing
together like-minded stakeholders to elect representatives to the
Council who can represent them. (Report at p. 33)

 

3.      This structure would be fluid enough to accommodate new
constituencies or the formation of new interest groups. (Report at p.
33)

 

4.	All stakeholder groups and the constituencies that form them
will be expected to conduct greater outreach and seek to recruit a
broader, more diverse membership.  (Report at page 32)

 

5.	In evaluating partners in the commercial registrants group "it
makes sense to consider small and medium enterprises, large businesses,
intellectual property interests, internet service providers, financial,
e-commerce and other economic interests." (Report at page 31)

 

6.	We want to emphasize that a new non-commercial Stakeholders
Group must go far beyond the membership of the current Non-Commercial
Users Constituency (NCUC).  We must consider educational, research, and
philanthropic organizations, foundations, think tanks, members of
academia, individual registrant groups and other non-commercial
organizations, as well as individual registrants, as part of a
non-commercial registrants Stakeholders Group.  (Report at page 32) 

 

7.	Making it easier to form a new constituency can also address any
obstacles people perceive in joining existing constituencies.  Overall,
this approach can encourage the participation of more people in the
GNSO.  (Report at p. 33)

 

8.      The six constituencies that are currently recognized as
representative of a group of GNSO stakeholders in the ICANN Bylaws thus
need not be the same constituencies that will be recognized in the
future.  Indeed, there is no set number of constituencies that should be
represented in the GNSO, and the constituencies created in the late
1990's do not need to remain static. (Report at p. 40)

 

9.      The effective functioning of the GNSO Council relies
significantly on the existence of vibrant and active stakeholders.  To
maintain a healthy policy development process that is respected by all
stakeholders, it is critical that ICANN work to increase participation
in constituencies and any other entities that want to be part of a
stakeholder group, so that policy discussions can take place with all
relevant views contributing to the debate.  (Report at p. 42)

 

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