Adopted Board Resolutions - San Juan, Puerto Rico 25 June 2007

Index

Approval of Minutes

Resolved (07.41), the minutes of the Board Meeting of 18 June 2007 are approved.

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Approval of 2007-2008 ICANN Budget

Whereas, ICANN posted a draft Operating Plan for public comment on 22 March 2007, including links to the strategic plan and details of costing of major projects <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-22mar07.htm>

Whereas, ICANN held community consultations on the draft Operating Plan at the Lisbon ICANN meeting, with sessions in English at the public forum (with the option of remote participation) and also in French, Spanish and Arabic.

Whereas, the proposed budget for FY 2008 was developed to implement the FY 08 Operating Plan, and was posted for public comment in accordance with the Bylaws on 17 May 2007 <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-17may07.htm>. A slightly revised version was posted on 23 May 2007.

Whereas, translations of the budget have been posted in Arabic, French, Russian, and Spanish (with a Chinese version in progress).

Whereas, ICANN has actively solicited feedback on the budget from numerous constituencies, including consultations with the ALAC, gTLD Registries and Registrars constituencies.

Whereas, continuing consultation on the budget has been conducted at ICANN's meeting in San Juan, with sessions at the public forum and also special sessions in French and Spanish.

Whereas, the ICANN Board Finance Committee met in San Juan on 24 June 2007, and recommended that the Board:

  • Accept staff recommendation that this budget represents the resources necessary to execute the posted operating plan;
  • Adopt the financial budget targets proposed in the FY08 budget, with management discretion to use contingency and execute the plans as needs/issues arise;
  • Approve the formal process used to solicit feedback, and appreciates that the feedback has been identified and accommodated through changes to the budget for further analysis for next year;
  • Approve the amended proposed budget as of 29 June 2007 to be adopted for Fiscal Year 2008, including increased support for translation, administrative support, revenue plans and fee structures;
  • Amend the planning calendar for FY 2008 to allow for the budget and operating plan to be introduced earlier, and at the same time; and
  • Direct staff to assess the reserve fund requirement (level and timing) and short and long term revenue models–and report back to Board in Los Angeles.

Resolved (07.42), the ICANN Board approves the recommendations of the Finance Committee and approves the 2007-08 operating plan and budget.

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Election of New Chief Financial Officer

Resolved (07.43), Kevin Wilson is elected as Chief Financial Officer, to serve at the pleasure of the Board and in accordance with the Bylaws of the Corporation, and shall hold his office until his resignation, removal, or other disqualification from service, or until his successor shall be elected and qualified.

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Consultation on Transparency and Accountability Operating Principles

Whereas, the transparency and accountability of ICANN and its processes are of crucial importance to the community.

Whereas, a draft set of Frameworks and Principles for accountability and transparency has been released for consultation and public comment. The principles document ICANN's approach to its work, including several new elements such as a documentary information disclosure policy, a translation policy, and a participation policy.

Whereas, a workshop discussing the draft principles was held during ICANN's meetings in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Whereas, the Board encourages discussion and community input to facilitate continued improvements and measures designed to increase and assist accountability and transparency. A further workshop concerning enhancements to ICANN's transparency and accountability is planned to be held during ICANN's meetings in Los Angeles in October 2007.

Resolved (07.44), the Board actively encourages debate and discussion with a view to considering further improvements to both transparency and accountability.

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.COOP Renewal Sponsor Agreement

Whereas, ICANN staff conducted good-faith negotiations with DotCooperation LLC, sponsor for the .COOP sponsored top-level domain, for the renewal of their sponsorship agreement.

Whereas, on 20 April 2007, ICANN announced that negotiations with DotCooperation LLC had been successfully completed, and posted the proposed .COOP renewal agreement for public comment <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-20apr07.htm>.

Whereas, ICANN extended the public comment period on 16 May 2007 in response to community feedback on the proposed renewal agreement <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-16may07.htm>.

Whereas, DotCooperation LLC wrote to ICANN on 15 June 2007 agreeing to delete a provision from the proposed agreement that would have permitted the sponsor to request exemptions from some consensus policies <http://www.icann.org/correspondence/palage-to-twomey-15jun07.pdf>.

Whereas, the Board carefully considered the proposed renewal agreement, public comments, and the sponsor's responses, and finds that approval of the proposed renewal agreement would be beneficial for ICANN and the Internet community.

It is hereby resolved (07.45), that the .COOP agreement is approved, and the President is authorized to take such actions as appropriate to implement the agreement.

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.TEL ICANN Fee Amendment

Whereas, Telnic has submitted an amendment to Article VII, Section 7.2(b) of the .TEL Registry Agreement to change the fees paid to ICANN.

Whereas, the language of the proposed agreement is similar to that approved in existing agreements, results in fees aligned more closely to other registries than fees in the existing agreement, and represents a fee reduction.

Whereas, ICANN conducted analysis and review of the requested amendment.

It is hereby resolved (07.46), that the President and General Counsel are authorized to enter into an amendment of the .TEL Registry Agreement to accept the proposed change in fee structure.

Report on Protections for gTLD Registrants: Registrar Data Escrow

(For discussion only.)

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Discussion of Global Policy Proposals on Remaining IPv4 Allocations; and AS Numbers

(For discussion only.)

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Adoption of IANA Root Zone Procedures for Evaluating IDN Deployment

Whereas, the introduction of Internationalised Top-Level Domain Names is considered a priority by ICANN;

Whereas, the IANA Root Zone Procedures for Test IDN Deployment paper is considered an important component of enabling evaluation and testing prior to deployment;

Whereas, significant consultation in the technical community and including a public posting with comment purpose has taken place with no significant recommendation for change received;

Whereas, the IDN TLD Root Server Performance/Tolerance paper has undergone the same review as the IANA procedure and its finalisation is anticipated in conjunction with the root server operators;

Resolved (07.47), the Board accepts the IANA Root Zone Procedures for Evaluating IDN Deployment, and directs staff to implement this in accordance with the contract for IANA performance and IANA's procedures.

Resolved (07.48), the Board considers the root-server operators' participation an important component of the further plans for IDN evaluations and directs staff to receive and implement recommendations received from the RSSAC at their 22 July 2007 meeting.

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Regional At-Large Organization for North America

Whereas, the ICANN Bylaws, Article XI, Section 2, Part 4, provide a process that allows individual Internet users to participate meaningfully in the work of ICANN, as the community known as 'At-Large', and;

Whereas, groups representing individual internet users throughout the North American (“NA”) Geographic Region have finalised work on organising themselves as a Regional At-Large Organisation (“RALO”) by creating a Memorandum of Understanding between themselves and ICANN, and;

Whereas, the Parties to the MoU signed it at a public ceremony at the San Juan ICANN meeting, the execution of the agreement on ICANN's part contingent upon final approval by the ICANN Board following completion of the public comment period, and;

Whereas, the ICANN Board wishes to recognise and applaud the North American At-Large community in question and the achievement of this milestone;

Whereas, the Board wishes to recognise with the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding and the election of two North American members of the At-Large Advisory Committee, the ALAC is no longer 'Interim', and the whole At-Large community is to be congratulated on an enormous amount of work;

Resolved (07.49), the Board ratifies the Memorandum of Understanding with the North American At-Large Structures, on the same basis under which it was signed.

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Consultation on Registrar Accreditation Agreement Amendments

Whereas, ICANN has received considerable comment and recommendations from registrants and others in the Internet community for improvements in ICANN contracts in order to protect the interests of registrants.

Whereas, ICANN posted several recommendations in a call for major review of ICANN's Registrar Accreditation Agreements (RAA) and the accreditation process.

Whereas, community comment received since the posting tends to affirm those same areas as important and ICANN has published specific areas for amendment.

Whereas, ICANN Board and staff have met with the Registrars Constituency to discuss specific recommended changes to the RAA and agreed to continue discussions to expedite the publication and consideration of proposed amendments.

Whereas, it is important to implement amendments in a timely manner to avoid future harm to registrants.

Resolved (07.50), the Board directs staff to solicit and consider the input of the Internet community, including the At-Large community and the GNSO constituencies, regarding proposed changes to the RAA, registrar accreditation process, and related policies.

Resolved (07.51), the Board requests that staff engage with the Registrars Constituency in order to arrive at, and post for public comment, a set of proposed amendments or alternative version to the RAA, that is intended to address to the extent feasible the concerns raised by the Internet community.

Resolved (07.52), that when the RAA is published for public comment, that notice be provided to allow the At-Large Advisory Committee, the GNSO, and other interested parties to review the proposed revised RAA and provide advice to the Board in its review.

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Acknowledgement of Technical Progress on IDNs

Whereas, the Board expresses its gratitude to the volunteers in the technical community, including the IETF, IAB, RSSAC, and SSAC for their work related to the deployment of IDNs.

Whereas, the Board recognizes the important work being done on the revision of the IDNA protocol that provides the framework for what characters can be used when registering domain names, as well as the successful results in the laboratory test conducted by Autonomica.

Whereas, ICANN is preparing the near-term release of a publicly accessible facility for the evaluation of at least eleven IDN TLDs that will be provisionally entered into the root zone of the DNS and that will include second-level domains in the same languages as the TLDs, all for evaluation purpose only.

Whereas, the Board recognizes that this is a significant step towards the stable deployment of IDNs.

Whereas, the SSAC has undertaken a technical study to analyze stability and security issues associated with the deployment of IDNs TLDs.

Whereas, the TLD registries working group has recently released IDN Guidelines revisions, and plans to continue this effort as further details of the IDNA protocol revision is being completed.

Whereas, the ICANN Board remains committed to the development and deployment of IDNs that enable people to use domain names with characters other than a through z and 0 through 9, and at the same time benefit from the promise of a single interoperable Internet.

Resolved (07.53), the ICANN Board acknowledges the work performed by the members of the community working on this important topic and urges this work to continue to move forward in a manner that emphasizes the security and stability of the Internet.

Resolved (07.54), the ICANN Board respectfully requests that technical volunteers continue to work closely together to complete their work revising the IDNA protocol and identifying technical requirements for IDN registrations to guide the policy making community.

Resolved (07.55), the ICANN Board requests staff to consider the resulting technical recommendations as essential for the introduction of IDN at the top-level in a manner that ensures the continued security and stability of the Internet.

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Acknowledgement of Policy Progress on IDNs

Whereas, the Board expresses its gratitude to the ICANN community, including the GNSO, ccNSO, GAC, and ALAC for their work related to the deployment of IDNs.

Whereas, the ccNSO, GNSO, GAC and ALAC are actively addressing policy aspects related to the introduction of internationalized top-level labels.

Whereas, a joint effort involving the ccNSO and GAC has made considerable progress, publishing a list of issues and questions that need to be addressed in order to move forward with IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes.

Whereas, the ICANN community is discussing the details involved in using an interim approach to IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes to meet near-term demands and to gain experience with mechanisms for selection and authorization of such TLDs that can inform a policy development process aimed at creating an overall policy.

Whereas, the ICANN Board remains committed to the development and deployment of IDNs that enable people to use domain names with characters other than a through z and 0 through 9, and at the same time benefit from the promise of a single interoperable Internet.

Resolved (07.56), the ICANN Board respectfully requests that that the ICANN community including the GNSO, ccNSO, GAC, and ALAC provide the Board with responses to the published list of issues and questions that need to be addressed in order to move forward with IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes in a manner that ensures the continued security and stability of the Internet. The Board requests status reports regarding progress by the conclusion of the ICANN meeting in Los Angeles in October 2007.

Resolved (07.57), the ICANN Board respectfully requests that the ICANN community including the GNSO, ccNSO, GAC, and ALAC continue to work collaboratively, taking the technical limitations and requirements into consideration, to explore both an interim and an overall approach to IDN ccTLDs associated with the ISO 3166-1 two-letter codes and recommend a course of action to the Board in a timely manner.

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On the Deployment of IPv6

Whereas, the unallocated pool of IPv4 address space held by IANA and the Regional Internet Registries is projected to be fully distributed within a few years;

Whereas, the future growth of the Internet therefore increasingly depends on the availability and timely deployment of IPv6;

Whereas, the ICANN Board and community agree with the call to action from the Address Supporting Organization and the Number Resource Organization, Regional Internet Registries, the Government Advisory Committee, and others, to participate in raising awareness of this situation and promoting solutions;

The Board expresses its confidence in the Internet community to meet this challenge to its future prospects, and expresses its confidence in the bottom-up, inclusive, stakeholder-driven processes in place to provide any needed policy changes, and;

The Board further resolves to work with the Regional Internet Registries and other stakeholders to promote education and outreach, with the goal of supporting the future growth of the Internet by encouraging the timely deployment of IPv6.

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GNSO Improvements

Whereas Article IV, Section 4 of ICANN's Bylaws calls for periodic reviews of the performance and operation of each Supporting Organization, each Supporting Organization Council, each Advisory Committee (other than the Governmental Advisory Committee), and the Nominating Committee by an entity or entities independent of the organization under review.

Whereas these reviews are part of ICANN's ongoing commitment to its evolution and improvement, and are intended to ensure an independent examination of the role and operation of key elements of ICANN.

Whereas independent reviews of the GNSO and the GNSO Council were completed and submitted to the Board.

Whereas the Board created the “Board Governance Committee GNSO Review Working Group” to consider the independent reviews and other relevant input, and recommend to the Committee a comprehensive proposal to improve the effectiveness of the GNSO, including its policy activities, structure, operations and communications.

Whereas the Working Group posted a working draft and supporting documents which present the group's initial ideas and pose key questions regarding GNSO improvements on which public comment has been and continues to be sought.

Whereas public forums were held in Lisbon and San Juan at which the community discussed the proposed draft and areas of emerging agreement, possible recommendations, and questions about how to improve the GNSO's inclusiveness and representativeness, while at the same time increasing its effectiveness and efficiency.

Whereas the public comment period comments on the working draft is continuing, and the Working Group encourages additional comments.

Whereas the Working Group will consider all input and develop a new draft of proposed recommendations for additional public comment and Board Governance Committee consideration, after which the Board will act on final proposed recommendations on GNSO improvements.

Resolved (07.58), the ICANN Board acknowledges with gratitude the work of the community and the Working Group and encourages additional public comment and stakeholder input on the draft and ideas for appropriate GNSO changes.

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Other Business

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Thanks to Alejandro Pisanty

Whereas Alejandro Pisanty:

  • Was elected by the DNSO to serve on the first elected ICANN Board starting at the Annual Meeting in 1999;
  • Was elected by the DNSO to a second term starting in mid-2003;
  • Was elected by the GNSO to a final term on the board that expired on June 8, 2007;
  • Was elected as Vice-Chair of the ICANN Board at the Annual Meeting in 2001 and served in this position through the Annual Meeting in 2006;
  • Served as Chair of the ICANN Committee on Evolution and Reform from its formation at the Annual Meeting in 2001 through implementation of its recommendations;
  • Served as Chair of the Board Governance Committee from 2004 through 2006;
  • Served as: a member of the Executive Committee from 2000 through 2006; a member of the Finance Committee in 2004 and 2006; a member of the Reconsideration Committee from 2001 through June 2003; and a Co-Chair of the ICANN Board & Governmental Advisory Committee Joint Working Group.

Whereas Alejandro Pisanty has tirelessly served the Board and virtually all aspects of the ICANN and Internet communities with brilliance, energy, distinction, panache and a devastatingly ironic wit;

Whereas he has contributed in countless ways to the successes of ICANN with his unique blend of technical, diplomatic and collaborative skills;

Now therefore it is resolved that the ICANN Board offers its sincere and heartfelt gratitude for his long and diligent service and conveys its best wishes for success in his university roles and expresses its great appreciation for his continued service to the Internet community in the Internet Governance Forum, as a leader in the Internet Society, and more generally as an unflagging advocate for the spread of the Internet to all who wish to use it.

(Motion adjourned until Los Angeles.)

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Thanks to Staff, Scribes, Event Teams, and Local Hosts

The Board wishes to extend its thanks to Gauss Research Laboratory and its Managing Director, Dr. Oscar Moreno for hosting the ICANN meeting. The Board would also like to thank Deputy Assistant Secretary Meredith Atwell Baker of the NTIA, U.S. Department of Commerce; Brad Weiner, Dean, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico; Boris Jaskille, Executive Director, Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company; and Bernadette Lewis, Secretary General, Secretariat of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union for participating in the Welcome Ceremony. The Board also thanks those who worked with the local hosts to make this a successful meeting.

The Board expresses its appreciation to the scribes Laura Brewer, Teri Darrenougue, Jennifer Schuck and Charles Motter, to ICANN staff present here in San Juan, and to the rest of the ICANN staff for their efforts in facilitating the smooth operation of the meeting.

The Board also wishes to express its appreciation to all the Gauss Research Laboratory staff and the students of the University of Puerto Rico for support of meeting arrangements, Centennial Communications and JW Technology Service for bandwidth and wireless support, Media Stage, Inc. for audio/visual support, Sizzling Ideas Event Designers and ICCS for staging and setups. Additional thanks are given to the Caribe Hilton for this fine facility and to their event facilities and support.

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