Review Procedure to Handle Policy Proposals Submitted by the ASO Address Council in Line with the ASO MoU
31 May 2005
Deadline for comments extended to 27 June
Background
According to the ASO MoU, in Section 5 Global Policy Development Process, ICANN agreed to the following:
Under this agreement the ICANN Board will ratify proposed global policies in accordance with the Global Policy Development Process, using review procedures as determined by ICANN. ICANN will publish these procedures no later than ninety (90) days from the date of the signature of this agreement by all parties.
The MoU, available on: http://aso.icann.org/docs/aso-mou2004.html was signed on 21 October 2004, meaning that the agreed publishing was late, taking place on 6 April 2005.
The public comment period ended 9 May 2005. By then, comments from four parties had been submitted. These comments have been analyzed and considered in the following updated version of the procedure, which is posted for a second round of public comments.
Proposed review procedure steps
- The ASO Address Council sends the proposed policy to the ICANN Board Secretary who formally shall acknowledge receipt of the proposal within one business day. In case the proposal is formally incomplete, the Board Secretary may refer it back to the ASO Address Council for completion, otherwise the 60-day window for Board response to the ASO Address Council starts and the review procedure outlined hereafter commences.
- The Board, acting through the President, assigns the activities foreseen in the MoU, Attachment A, article 8, (stating that "The ICANN Board may review the policy proposal and may ask questions and otherwise consult with the ASO Address Council and/or the RIRs acting collectively through the NRO. The ICANN Board may also consult with other parties as the Board considers appropriate.") to ICANN staff.
- If deemed appropriate by ICANN staff so assigned in line with 2 above, external consultancy assistance may be called upon to assist in the review process.
- The proposal shall be posted for public comments within 5 business days, with comments due within 21 days from posting. All ICANN Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees shall be immediately notified of the posting and their comments invited as appropriate.
- During all the steps 1-4 above, ICANN staff so assigned, may ask the ASO Address Council for clarifications of the proposal, as appropriate. Such questions for clarifications shall be reasonable, concise and bundled. The ASO Address Council shall respond to such questions within 10 business days.
- ICANN staff analyzes comments received following step 2, as well as prior comments put forward during the ASO PDP, and compiles within 10 business days from the end of the comment period a Staff Recommendation which is forwarded to the Board for consideration. The Staff Recommendation shall contain reasoned opinions on all material issues and motivations for proposed decisions.
- The Board takes its decision on the proposal and informs the ASO Address Council thereof, in line with the MoU provisions in Attachment A, articles 9-11. Relevant MoU provisions in Attachment A, articles 10-15, apply, should the Board request changes to the proposal or reject it.
- As part of the decision of the Board, the Board shall, as appropriate, give authorization or direction to the ICANN staff to take all necessary steps to implement the policy. Should the Board fail to take action as defined by the MoU provisions in Attachment A, article 10, within the 60-day window, the policy is deemed to be accepted by the Board and it becomes global policy.
- Throughout the Review Procedure, from policy proposal to the outcome of the review, ICANN will maintain on the Website, a status web page detailing the progress. This web page shall describe the initial proposal for a policy, all discussions and comments submitted in the process, all reports and recommendations produced on the matter and the outcome of the review.
Please submit your comments by 27 June 2005.
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