Meeting of the ICANN Board in Cairo Preliminary Report 10 March 2000

At its meeting on March 10, in Cairo, the ICANN Board of Directors approved the following resolutions on At Large Membership and elections, ccTLD policies, new top-level domains, and other matters. For the multimedia archive of the Cairo meetings (RealVideo, informal scribe's notes, remote comments, etc.), click here.

ccTLD Administration and Delegation Policies

Whereas, the Board directed the President and staff to prepare "appropriate contractual relationships" with ccTLD registries in connection with the funding arrangements presented in the final report of the Task Force on Funding, in resolution 99.136;

Whereas, the Board has received a number of serious and carefully crafted recommendations relating to ccTLD administration and delegation policies, best practices, and contractual elements, including recommendations from the Governmental Advisory Committee, ccTLD managers, and others;

Whereas, the elements of these recommendations provide a sound basis for constructive dialogue and the finalization of stable and appropriate relationships;

Resolved that the President and staff are authorized to work with the ccTLD managers, Governmental Advisory Committee, and other interested parties to prepare draft language for contracts, policy statements, and/or communications, including appropriate funding arrangements, to be presented to the Board and posted for public comment as soon as practicable.

New Top-Level Domains

Whereas, on April 30, 1999, the World Intellectual Property Organization submitted a report to the ICANN Board containing recommendations regarding the protection of globally famous trademarks and the introduction of new generic top-level domains;

Whereas, in resolution 99.48, the Board referred those recommendations to the Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO) for its recommendations on these topics, to be submitted to the ICANN Board at the earliest practicable time after the Board's August 1999 meeting in Santiago, Chile;

Whereas, the Names Council of the DNSO created working groups B and C to study and report on these topics in July 1999;

Whereas, those working groups have discussed these topics for over eight months;

Whereas, on March 8, 2000, the Names Council requested that reports from these working groups be submitted to it for comment within ten days and declared its intention to submit the reports for public comment for a period of four weeks, after which the Names Council will promptly review and make recommendations on the reports;

Resolved that the Names Council is requested to submit recommendations on the topic of the introduction of new generic top-level domains, taking into account protection of globally famous trademarks, no later than April 20, 2000;

Resolved that the staff is authorized and instructed to prepare, taking into account any working group reports and Names Council recommendations received and based on consultation with the Names Council, draft policies, draft implementation documents, commentary, and statements of issues on these topics, to be posted for public comment on the ICANN web site in advance of the Board's meeting in Yokohama on July 15-16, 2000; and

Resolved that the Board notes its intention to act on these topics at the Yokohama meeting.

Request to WIPO for Information

Whereas, the World Intellectual Property Organization in its April 30, 1999 report to ICANN has offered to prepare a list of globally famous trademarks;

Resolved that the Board notes such a list would be helpful to its assessment of proper action on expansion of the TLD space.

At Large Membership

Whereas:

1. The Board adopted resolutions 99.87, 88, 89, 90, and 91 on August 26,1999 directing the staff to prepare amended Bylaws, and resolution 99.116 on October 29,1999, adopting amended Bylaws, that established, in Article II, an At Large membership and procedures for the selection of At Large Directors; and

2. The Board has received a significant amount of input from the Internet community relating to both the practical and conceptual bases underlying new Article II as adopted; and

3. The Board has observed that there remains, despite considerable efforts by the Board, ICANN staff, and other entities and individuals, and the limited technical mission of ICANN, a considerable diversity of views concerning the purpose of and rationale for the At Large membership and Council, and the advisability of the various electoral structures and procedures now set forth in Article II; and

4. The Board has observed that these widely divergent views have the effect of creating fundamentally different perspectives about the expected or desired results of the continuation of the At Large processes now underway; and

5. As a result, the Board has concluded that the concept and execution of the At Large membership requires careful and thorough reconsideration.

Whereas:

1. The Board believes that, notwithstanding this conclusion, it is important that the various stakeholders that do not or cannot easily participate in the ICANN process through the Supporting Organizations have a voice in the development of ICANN policy; and

2. The Board believes that such opportunity should not await the results of that reconsideration;

3. The Board believes that any solution to this problem pending the outcome of that reconsideration should ensure that, as is the case with the Directors selected by any single Supporting Organization, the At Large Directors should not be able to by themselves acting in the aggregate control the actions of the Board; and

4. The Board believes that it can accomplish all these objectives with the following set of actions.

Therefore it is resolved that the staff is directed to draft and present to the Board for its review and subsequent posting for public comment prior to adoption proposed amendments to Article II of the Bylaws and other resolutions that accomplish the following objectives:

1. Establish a deadline for the initial selection of five (5) At Large Directors (one each representing each ICANN region) by a direct ballot of qualified ICANN members in each region by no later than November 1, 2000 to serve a term to expire at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation in 2002;

2. Extend the terms of four (4) of the Initial At Large Directors, identities to be determined on the basis of willingness, geographic, and other factors, to expire at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting of the Corporation in 2001, and extend the terms of the other five (5) Initial At Large Directors to expire at the conclusion of the annual meeting in 2000;

3. Establish a Nominating Committee consisting of members appointed by the Board to accept recommendations and nominations from the Internet community as a whole, and to nominate five or more candidates for consideration by the At Large membership for selection to the ICANN Board;

4. Establish a petition process for additional nominations from the At Large membership that meet certain minimum qualifying criteria; and

5. Initiate a comprehensive study of the concept, structure, and processes relating to the At Large membership, on the following schedule:

a. The study to begin promptly following the selection of the five At Large Directors (to take place no later than 11/1/00), with such initial design as is feasible to be done prior to that time;

b. Results of the study to be presented to the Board no later than the second ICANN quarterly meeting in 2001;

c. The ICANN Board to consider the results of the study, and propose for public comment whatever actions it deems appropriate as a result on a schedule that would permit taking final actions no later than the Annual Meeting of the Corporation in 2001; and

d. Implementation of any actions taken so that any subsequent At Large selections can take place on a schedule that would allow any new At Large Directors to be seated by the conclusion of the ICANN Annual Meeting in 2002;

6. Extend an open invitation to organizations worldwide to assist in the comprehensive study; and

7. Suspend those provisions of Article II of the Bylaws that deal with the structure and process of the selection of At Large Directors pending the completion of the study referenced above and any subsequent actions by the Board.

Bylaw Amendment: Terms of Original Supporting Organization Directors

Whereas, on February 16, 2000, proposed amendments to Article V, Section 2, to allow redesignation of the terms of Original Directors selected by Supporting Organizations were posted on the Corporation's web site;

Whereas, public comments were solicited on the proposed amendment;

Whereas, no comments were received; it is

Resolved that the following sentence is added to the end of Article V, Section 2, of the Corporation's bylaws:

The Supporting Organization Council may by a two-thirds vote revise its designation of which of the selected persons shall serve which of the staggered terms; such revision shall become effective upon the Secretary's receipt, within 180 days of the original notification, of the written consents of each Original Director whose term is affected by the revision.

Independent Review Policy

Whereas, after extensive public review and comment, the Board adopted in Santiago the Proposals for Independent Review submitted by the Advisory Committee on Independent Review;

Whereas, the NSI registry and registrar agreements adopted in Los Angeles introduced additional responsibilities for the proposed Independent Review Panel;

Whereas, the staff has proposed an Independent Review policy, which was posted to public review and comment;

Resolved that the Board adopts the proposed Independent Review Policy as amended, and directs that it be attached to these minutes as Attachment A.

Resolved that the President and staff are directed to implement the Independent Review Policy and to initiate the formation of the Nominating Committee.

CEO Search

Whereas, the ICANN Board wishes to identify and recruit a permanent CEO;

Whereas, the ICANN Board intends to conduct a worldwide search for a permanent CEO;

Whereas, the Executive Search Committee has presented a report to the Board recommending the retention of a search firm; it is

Resolved that the ICANN Board authorizes the ICANN CEO to negotiate a contract with a search firm not to exceed $125K plus expenses on an appropriate payment schedule.

Audit Committee Charter

Whereas, the Audit Committee has presented to the Board a proposed charter for its activities;

Whereas, the Board views the proposed charter as a sound basis for the Audit Committee in performing its functions;

Resolved that the Board adopts the proposed Audit Committee Charter, and directs that it be attached to these minutes as Attachment B.

Memorandum of Understanding with IETF

Whereas, after many months of discussions with the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Internet Architecture Board, the Corporation's President reached agreement with those organizations on a Memorandum of Understanding effective March 1, 2000, concerning the technical functions of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority;

Whereas, the President has signed the Memorandum of Understanding as set forth in Attachment C, subject to ratification of the Board;

Resolved that the Memorandum of Understanding attached as Attachment C is hereby ratified.

Ratification of Miscellaneous Payments

Whereas, on December 13, 1999, the President has signed on behalf of the Corporation check nos. 1312 and 1313, in the amounts of $97,860.44 and $455,674.69 to Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in connection with legal services provided to the Corporation;

Resolved, that the President's actions in making those payments are ratified and approved.

Thanks to Local Host and Sponsors

Whereas, the local hosts of ICANN's Cairo meetings have organized an outstanding set of meetings (and gala dinner), under the leadership of Dr. Tarek Kamel;

Whereas, the Board and staff have been pleased to take the advice of His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology to drink the waters of the Nile, and accordingly look forward to our inevitable return to Cairo; and

Whereas, the Board is concerned that the local host committee may have set an impossibly high standard for future meetings, it is:

Resolved that the Board and staff express their sincere thanks to Dr. Tarek Kamel, his staff, the Egyptian Ministry of Communication, the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), the Internet Society of Egypt, and the ten sponsors (MobiNil, Alcatel, MIST, Telecom Egypt, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, Raya Holding, Microsoft, MCI WorldCom, BulkRegister) and two co-sponsors (Network Solutions, and Geganet) of these meetings.