[AfriNIC-rpd] Policy Development Process in the AfriNIC service region (draft version 3)

[sm+afrinic at elandsys.com]

Hi Walu,
At 02:34 AM 6/1/2010, Walubengo J wrote:
>1. Under Conflict Resolution, Recall of the Chair:- what are the 
>typical circumstances under which the Chair of the Policy Dev. group 
>can be recalled?  Should this be predefined to avoid abuse of the 
>system? imagine endless recall processes arising from members on 
>"flimsy" reasons. Also assuming a succesfull recall happens, does 
>the remaining PD group members appoint the new chair or does the 
>community get a replacement?

A recall may be invoked upon written request with justification.  For 
example, would you consider it as a reason to invoke a recall is if 
the Chair took an action which is clearly contrary to the Policy 
Development Process?

The strength of such processes is that they have the support of the 
community.  If you are going to abuse the system by coming up with 
flimsy reasons, it is unlikely that the community would be happy 
about that.  By predefining abuse, you go down a path where you have 
to foresee every possible situation.  That is an impossible task.

There are two Chairs.  In the case of a successful recall, you still 
have one Chair.  The Working Group can select a replacement to serve 
the remainder of the term as mentioned in Section 4.

>2. Under ,Varying the Process:- You say the Policy Dev process could 
>be varied under an "emergency". Again what are these typical 
>emergencies? Should we define them to avoid abuse from the 
>Board/Working Groups? Also who and how will the request to vary the 
>process in an emergency situation be approved?

Under the existing policy, a proposal has to wait before the next 
Public Policy Meeting to be approved.  That can take up to six 
months.  I would say that an emergency is when you cannot wait up to 
six months to get a proposal through the process.  It should be noted 
that an explanation is required when you ask to vary the process.  If 
the Chair does it for flimsy reasons, he/she will probably have a hard time.

The request is done by posting a message to the Resource Policy 
Discussion mailing list by the Chair or the Board of 
Directors.  There is no formal approval as such.  I would say that 
the rule of the thumb is to see that there is "consensus" that this 
constitutes an emergency.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy