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<h2 style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Community
Comment Forum Period Extended for New GNSO Stakeholder Group Petitions and
Charters</span></h2>
<p style="margin: 11.25pt 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">19
March 2009</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Public Comment Forum
regarding new GNSO Stakeholder Groups and Charters ( <a href="http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200904.html#sg-petitions">http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200904.html#sg-petitions</a>
) has been extended from 5 April 2009 to 15 April 2009.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As part of the comprehensive
GNSO Improvements effort, the ICANN Board directed community members to submit
Petitions and Charters for four new GNSO Stakeholder Groups (SGs). Initially, a
total of five separate charter petitions from five different groups were
submitted immediately prior to and during the ICANN Mexico City meeting for the
Registry SG, the Registrar SG, the Commercial SG and the Non-Commercial SG
(NCSG) (two separate filings were made for the NCSG).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Because extensive community
discussions took place in Mexico City regarding the various SG charters
and because a number of SG proponents indicated that they would like to modify
or update their proposals, the ICANN Staff left open the possibility that the
original 30-day comment forum period would be extended by as many as 10 days if
any of the initial charter submissions were revised or modified. On 16 March
2009, the Non Commercial Users Constituency submitted a revised charter
document. See <a href="http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/ncsg-petition-charter.pdf">NCSG
Charter Proposal (version 6) submitted by the NCUC</a>. That submission has
triggered an extension of the original comment forum period by 10 days until 15
April 2009. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">During the remaining forum
period through,15 April 2009, all members of the ICANN community are now
invited to review the original and revised submissions and share comments and
observations with the Board and the wider community. </span></p>
<p><em><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Background and
Explanation: </span></b></em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As part of the comprehensive
GNSO Improvements effort, last August the ICANN Board approved the formation of
four new Stakeholder Groups. These SG structures represent a new concept for
the GNSO that was envisioned by the Board Governance Committee GNSO Review
Working Group On GNSO Improvements (BGC WG). In endorsing the recommendations
of <a href="http://www.icann.org/en/topics/gnso-improvements/">the BGC WG's
GNSO Improvements Report</a><em><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">,</span></b></em>
the Board approved the creation of SGs to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of GNSO Council operations. Specifically:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"To help the Council
reach its full potential, ICANN should ensure that this body is inclusive and
representative of the broad interests found among the GNSO constituencies and
other stakeholders, while limiting its size to enhance its effectiveness and
promote efficiency. Balancing all of these factors, and cognizant of the
limitations of the current structure pointed out by the [London School of
Economics] report, we recommend a reorganized Council that has the potential to
be more representative, agile and collegial. Our recommendation is to structure
the Council on the basis of four broad stakeholder groups to represent better
the wide variety of groups and individuals that compose the ICANN
community." GNSO Improvements Report at page 31.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Report continued, </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"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
noncommercial organizations, as well as individual registrants, as part of a
non-commercial registrants Stakeholders Group. We also want to point out that
the effort to have a balance within ICANN between commercial and non-commercial
registrants reflects only a sense of equity. We welcome ongoing efforts to
forge a stronger partnership between the international business community and
ICANN, and would be surprised if Council restructuring were to be viewed as an
impediment. On the contrary, we believe that an improved Council will yield
concrete benefits for business and other stakeholders. In addition, all
stakeholder groups and the constituencies that fo! rm them will be expected to
conduct greater outreach and seek to recruit a broader, more diverse membership."
GNSO Improvements Report at page 32.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The BGC WG did not specify a
particular formal structure or hierarchy, but it specifically noted that,</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"The stakeholder groups
may function only as a 'caucus,' bringing together like-minded stakeholders to
elect representatives to the Council who can represent them. This structure
would be fluid enough to accommodate new constituencies or the formation of new
interest groups. It will be important for the implementation team to consider
how to implement this flexibility within the overall stakeholder structure set
forth in these recommendations. Our goal is definitely not to create a new
layer of bureaucracy, as we heard concerns about at the San Juan Meeting.
Alternatively, if the GNSO believes it is desirable, the four stakeholder
groups could take on additional functions, such as trying to coordinate and
document positions on policy development questions." GNSO Improvements
Report at page 33.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The BGC envisioned that
Stakeholder Groups would facilitate the creation of new constituencies as well
as growth and expansion of GNSO participants. It noted that,</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"One advantage of this
new model for organizing stakeholder participation is to remove concern that
the addition of new constituencies or interest groups could create an internal
imbalance in the current composition of the Council. By creating four broad
stakeholder groups, the number of constituencies is less important and can
increase (or decrease) with time. Indeed, it would be inconsistent with ICANN's
processes to try to limit arbitrarily the number of constituencies that people
could self-form. 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. Many
details, of course, remain to be worked out concerning the new stakeholder
structure for the Council, including the role of constituencies and/or interest
groups within them. As noted earlier, we welcome the GNSO working with Staff to
develop the appropriate Implementation Plan." GNSO Improvements Report at
page 33.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A diagram of the restructured
GNSO Council structure, showing the context of the four (4) new Stakeholder
Groups, can be found at: <a href="http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/structure-en.htm">http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/structure-en.htm</a>.</span></p>
<p><em><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Relevant Board
Resolution, Bylaws and Constituency Submissions: </span></b></em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></p>
<ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">GNSO
Improvements Information Web Page: <a href="http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/">http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/</a></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">BGC WG
GNSO Improvements Report (3 February 2008): <a href="http://www.icann.org/en/topics/gnso-improvements/gnso-improvements-report-03feb08.pdf">http://www.icann.org/en/topics/gnso-improvements/gnso-improvements-report-03feb08.pdf</a></span></li>
</ul>
<ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Minutes of
28 August 2008 Board Meeting: <a href="http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-28aug08.htm">http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-28aug08.htm</a></span></li></ul>
<ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Minutes of
1 October 2008 ICANN Board Meeting: <a href="http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-01oct08.htm">http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-01oct08.htm</a></span></li></ul>
<ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Copies of
the Five New Stakeholder Group Submissions: <a href="http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/stakeholder-process-en.htm">http://gnso.icann.org/en/improvements/stakeholder-process-en.htm</a>
and/or in the Comment forum of this proceeding <a href="http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200904.html#sg-petitions">http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200904.html#sg-petitions</a></span></li>
</ul>
<p><em><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Process From Here</span></b></em><strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">: </span></strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At the end of this public
comment forum period (15 April), the ICANN Staff will provide a summary/analysis
of the comments submitted regarding each Stakeholder Group submission. That
summary/analysis will be shared with the community and the Board. The Board
will subsequently take action on each Stakeholder Group petition and charter as
it deems appropriate.</span></p>
<p><em><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Deadline and How to
Submit Comments: </span></b></em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Staff has now extended
the original 30-day public consultation forum, from 5 April 2009 to 15 April
2009, and invites additional community comments on this topic. The formal
Public Comment Forum Box is located here: <a href="http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200904.html#sg-petitions">http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-200904.html#sg-petitions</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To submit comments: <a href="mailto:sg-petitions-charters@icann.org">sg-petitions-charters@icann.org</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To view comments: <a href="http://forum.icann.org/lists/sg-petitions-charters/">http://forum.icann.org/lists/sg-petitions-charters/</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Staff Responsible</span></b></em><strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">:</span></strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
Robert Hoggarth </span></p>
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