The board chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN), Dr. Steve Crocker has written Mr. Thomas Schneider,
the chairman of ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) on Bylaws Issue
in London Communiqué, reports ITRealms.
The letter dated Monday, November 3, 2014 and was made
available to ITRealms, Dr. Crocker noted that ICANN’s Board New gTLD Programme
Committee (NGPC) has continued to make progress to consider and address the
remaining open items of advice from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)
related to the New gTLD Programme.
According to Crocker, his letter came as part of its recent
deliberations on the GAC’s advice, the NGPC identified a matter that concerns
the ICANN Bylaws, which will be considered by the full Board in due course.
“Specifically, in Section 6 of its London Communiqué (25 June
2014), the GAC advised the Board that the GAC believes some subjects are not
appropriate for a GNSO policy development process,” he said, stressing that the
advice from the GAC directly concerns the framework established in the Bylaws
defining the supporting organizations and advisory committees.
Additionally, he pointed out that “Article X, Section 1 of
the Bylaws provides that “[t]here shall be a policy- development body known as
the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), which shall be responsible
for developing and recommending to the ICANN Board substantive policies
relating to generic top -level domains.”
For Crocker, while the GAC may participate in the policy
development process, and has a role to “provide advice on the activities of
ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where
there may be an interaction between ICANN’s policies and various laws and
international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues,” the
GNSO has the authority to recommend substantive policies on topics that are within
the scope of ICANN’s mission statement, has potentially broad applicability to
multiple situations or organizations, is likely to have lasting value or
applicability, and will establish a guide or framework for future decision-making.
The Board has concerns about the advice in the London Communiqué
because it appears to be inconsistent with the framework established in the
Bylaws granting the GNSO authority to recommend consensus policies to the Board,
and the Board to appropriately act upon policies Developed through the bottom-up
consensus policy developed by the GNSO.
He further stated that as required by the Bylaws, in the
event that the ICANN Board determines to take an action that is not consistent
with the GAC advice, it must inform the GAC and state the reasons why it
decided not follow that advice.
Based on the foregoing, Crocker said, the GAC and the ICANN
Board will try, in good faith and in a timely and efficient manner, to find a
mutually acceptable solution, even as this letter serves as the first step of
the Consultation Procedure.
+Remmy Nweke +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +ICANNnews
ITREALMS ... delivering news for ICT4D
Pix: Steve Crocker
No comments:
Post a Comment