Preliminary Report | Special Meeting of the Board 25 April 2003

Supplemented 26 April 2003

(Posted 25 April 2003)

ICANN's Transition Board of Directors held a meeting by teleconference on 25 April 2003. Directors Vint Cerf (chairman) (joined meeting while in progress), Karl Auerbach, Lyman Chapin, Jonathan Cohen, Mouhamet Diop, Masanobu Katoh, Hans Kraaijenbrink, Andy Mueller-Maguhn, Jun Murai, Alejandro Pisanty, Nii Quaynor, Francisco da Silva, Paul Twomey, and Linda S. Wilson participated. The Board adopted the following resolutions:

Approval of Minutes

Resolved [03.59] that the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 10 September 2001 are hereby approved and adopted by the Board as presented.

(The Board approved the above resolution by a 10-0-3 vote, with Mr. Auerbach, Mr. da Silva, and Dr. Twomey abstaining.)

Resolved [03.60] that the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 28 June 2002 are hereby approved and adopted by the Board as presented.

(The Board approved the above resolution by a 10-0-3 vote, with Mr. Auerbach, Mr. da Silva, and Dr. Twomey abstaining.)

Resolved [03.61] that the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 15 December 2002 are hereby approved and adopted by the Board as presented.

(The Board approved the above resolution by a 10-0-4 vote, with Mr. Auerbach, Dr. Murai, Mr. da Silva, and Dr. Twomey abstaining.)

Resolved [03.62] that the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 29 January 2003 are hereby approved and adopted by the Board as presented.

(The Board approved the above resolution by a 13-0-1 vote, with Dr. Twomey abstaining.)

Resolved [03.63] that the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 25 February 2003 are hereby approved and adopted by the Board as presented.

(The Board approved the above resolution by a 13-0-1 vote, with Dr. Twomey abstaining.)

Resolved [03.64] that the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 12 March 2003 are hereby approved and adopted by the Board as presented.

(The Board approved the above resolution by a 12-0-2 vote, with Mr. Auerbach and Dr. Twomey abstaining.)

Resolved [03.65] that the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 18 March 2003 are hereby approved and adopted by the Board as presented.

(The Board approved the above resolution by a 13-0-1 vote, with Dr. Twomey abstaining.)

Inter-Registrar Transfers

Whereas, at its meeting on 20 February 2003, the GNSO Council voted unanimously to accept the Final Report and Recommendations of the GNSO Council's Transfers Task Force and to forward it to the ICANN Board as a consensus-policy recommendation;

Whereas, the report was posted on the ICANN web site on 4 March 2003, with a call for public comment;

Whereas, various public comments were received and considered by the Board;

Whereas, the report was discussed at the ICANN Public Forum session held on Wednesday, 26 March 2003, with public comment received;

Whereas, the Governmental Advisory Committee was notified of the Board's consideration of the GNSO Council's recommendations;

Whereas, the Governmental Advisory has stated that its "Advice to the ICANN Board is to support and implement the GNSO Task Force's recommendations, without amendment";

Resolved [03.66] that the Board adopts the recommendations set forth in the 29 numbered paragraphs within the Final Report and Recommendations of the GNSO Council's Transfers Task Force the under the heading "Consensus Policy Recommendations"; and

Further resolved [03.67] that the President and General Counsel are authorized to take steps to implement those policy recommendations by consulting as appropriate with registry operators, registrars, and other knowledgeable parties and through amendments and notices, as appropriate, pursuant to ICANN’s agreements with gTLD registry operators and registrars.

(The Board approved the above resolutions by a 14-0-0 vote.)

Nominating Committee Funding

Whereas, Article VII of the New Bylaws that came into effect on 15 December 2002 establishes a Nominating Committee to fill positions on ICANN's Board, GNSO Council, and At-Large Advisory Committee;

Whereas, on 20 January 2003 the Board appointed Linda Wilson to be Chair of the Nominating Committee, and since then nearly all delegates and non-voting liaisons have been appointed to the Nominating Committee and the Nominating Committee has begun its work for 2003;

Whereas, the Nominating Committee is striving to make appointments of individuals to the ICANN Board so that the New Board can be seated at the Montreal meeting in June 2003;

Whereas, the Chair of the Nominating Committee has submitted to the President a request for funding to support the 2003 and 2004 Nominating Committee's work;

Whereas, the request for the 2003 Nominating Committee is for funding in a total amount of up to US$147,525, consisting of $93,125 for expenses associated with a face-to-face meeting of the Nominating Committee, US$4,400 for courier service and long-distance telephone (other than teleconference calls, which are already funded by ICANN), and up to US$50,000 for assistance of a search consultant;

Whereas, although it is uncertain whether the above expenses will be incurred in 2002-2003 fiscal year (ending 30 June 2003) or in the 2003-2004 fiscal year, if the Nominating Committee is able to follow its current schedule most of the expenses will be incurred in the 2002-2003 fiscal year;

Whereas, the President has recommended that the Board increase the spending authorized from the 2002-2003 budget for implementation of reform by the amount US$147,525, for the purpose of funding operations of the 2003 Nominating Committee during the 2002-2003 fiscal year;

Whereas, the Finance Committee has reviewed the request and supports the expenditure of funds up to the requested amount for support of the Nominating Committee;

Whereas, the Board is of the view that authorizing the requested funding is important to the successful achievement by the initial Nominating Committee of its important mission;

Resolved [03.68] that the Board increases the level of authorized spending for implementation of reform in the 2002-2003 ICANN budget by US$147,525 to cover funding of the 2003 Nominating Committee;

Further resolved [03.69] that the Nominating Committee Chair's request for funding from future budgets will be considered in the framework of the development of those budgets.

(The Board approved the above resolution by a 12-0-2 vote, with Mr. Auerbach and Mr. Mueller-Maguhn abstaining.)

Other Matters

ICANN's President gave a status report on ICANN activities and the General Counsel gave a report on his work on a proposed round of corrective amendments to the bylaws, to be posted in early May for consideration by the Board at its May meeting.