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Chairs' Statement from the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability Meeting in Los Angeles

28 September 2015

Members and participants of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) met in Los Angeles, California, from 25-26 September 2015. The gathering served as an opportunity to begin analysis of the feedback received in the group’s recent public comment, advance discussions on key outstanding issues and reach agreement on next steps towards finalizing its Work Stream 1 recommendations.

The meeting was attended in-person by over 80 people, 40 of which were CCWG-Accountability members and participants, and an additional 35 joined remotely. Numerous ICANN Board Directors, Advisors, external legal counsel and representatives from NTIA also actively participated in the discussions (Full list of in-person attendees).

Over the two-day meeting, progress was made in the following areas:

  • Further agreement on the community powers, specifically the power to reconsider/reject ICANN Budget and power to remove individual Board Directors
  • Details of the Community Forum
  • Commitment to enhance SO/AC Accountability as a part of Work Stream 1
  • Incorporation of Human Rights language into the ICANN Bylaws as a part of Work Stream 1

The community is invited to follow the activities of the CCWG-Accountability online by way of the group’s public wiki and meetings. As the group works to refine its recommendations for approval by its Chartering Organizations, it will hold a face-to-face meeting in Dublin on 16 October, followed by a working session at ICANN54 on 22 October. Remote participation will be available for both meetings.

CCWG-Accountability co-Chairs
Thomas Rickert
Leon Sanchez
Mathieu Weill