Minutes | Board Organizational Effectiveness Committee (OEC) Meeting 5 February 2020

OEC Attendees: Avri Doria – Chair, Becky Burr, Danko Jevtovic, Lito Ibarra and Ihab Osman

OEC Apologies: Mandla Msimang and Matthew Shears

Executive and Staff Attendees: Susanna Bennett, Franco Carrasco, Steve Conte, Amy Creamer, Samantha Eisner, Negar Farzinnia, Larisa Gurnick, Lars Hoffmann, Wendy Profit, Laena Rahim and Theresa Swinehart


The following is a summary of discussions, decisions, and actions identified:

The Meeting was called to order at 16:00 UTC.

  1. Agenda – The Chair established the agenda for the meeting and gave an overview of items to be discussed.

  2. Update on the At-Large Review Implementation Status – The OEC Chair, on behalf of the OEC, provided a response to the At-Large Review Implementation Working Group (ARIWG) on 4 February 2020, confirming the OEC's review and acceptance of the second At-Large Review Implementation Status Report and providing some suggestions to the ARIWG for improvement to the next progress report due in June 2020.

    No further action is required by the OEC at this juncture. The ARIWG will submit its next report to the OEC by 30 June 2020.

  3. Update on the Operating Standards - ICANN organization provided a brief update on the status of amending the Operating Standards. After consultation with the community, the Board adopted the Operating Standards in June 2019, which was developed to provide guidance to the review teams, ICANN organization and the community on how specific reviews should be conducted. Given that the Operating Standards is a "living document" which evolves with time, modifications and improvements would be made to the document, as and when necessary. The OEC discussed initiating the process to amend the Operating Standards, based on the improvements proposed in the Draft Proposal "Resourcing, and Prioritizing of Recommendations", as well as the feedback provided by the Board to the ATRT3 on its draft report in connection with the prioritization of recommendations and streamlining of reviews.

    The ATRT3 published its draft report for public comment to seek input from the community on the proposals included in the draft report. The public comment proceeding closed on 31 January 2020. ICANN organization provided a brief summary of the of the community feedback received (relating to the streamlining reviews and thus connected to the Operating Standards). Overall, the ATRT3 received 13 comments, and a preliminary assessment of the public comments demonstrate that there is no clear trend emerging as to the community's preferred option for streamlining of reviews. The ATRT3 will have a face-to-face meeting in Brussels later in the week during which they will analyze the feedback received via the public comment proceeding and discuss the way forward.

    The OEC commented that the ongoing work of the Board Caucus on Budgeting and Prioritization of Community Recommendations on the "Draft Proposal on the Resourcing and Prioritization of Community Recommendations" have minimal intersection with the work of the ATRT3.

    Going forward, the OEC is in agreement for ICANN organization to start working towards updating the Operating Standards to include the underlying principles to guide the work of review teams; and to make modifications to the Operating Standards, or the Bylaws, in relation to the issues of streamlining of reviews more broadly at a later date.

    • Action Items:
    • ICANN organization to start modifying the Operating Standards in line with principles for effective recommendations. The proposed amendments to the Operating Standards will be posted for public comment after the publication of the final ATRT3 report.
    • ICANN organization to propose to the ATRT3 to have an informal engagement among the ATRT3, the OEC and the ATRT3 Board Caucus Group and the Board Caucus Group on Budgeting and Prioritization of Community Recommendations, to discuss the streamlining and prioritization work tracks prior to finalizing their report.
  4. Update on the IANA Naming Function Review (IFR) – ICANN organization provided a brief update on the status of the IFR. The IFR Team will finalize its initial scoping documents by 18 February 2020. Although Board approval is not required for the IFR's scoping document, the OEC agreed that it is the appropriate board committee to liaise and communicate with the IFR. Therefore, the OEC agreed that it will review the IFR scoping documents before forwarding to the Board.

    • Action Item:

      • ICANN organization will assist the OEC to prepare a note to the Board acknowledging the IFR scoping documents.
  5. OEC Charter Review – The OEC is responsible for performing a review of its charter on an annual basis. Given that the OEC Charter was recently revised in March 2019, ICANN organization is not proposing any revisions to the OEC Charter.

    The OEC discussed the possibility of amending the OEC Charter, to take into account that the OEC has taken on the coordination role between the relevant Board Caucus Groups for reviews. ICANN organization briefed the OEC that the Board Governance Committee (BGC) is currently working towards obtaining better clarity on the roles of the Board, Board Caucus Groups, Board Liaisons and the community, as well as assessing how the roles/work of each committee fit into the strategic plan. The OEC agreed to hold off on any amendments to the OEC Charter until the work of the BGC is completed. Additionally, ICANN organization reiterated that the procedural document on the "Roles & Responsibilities for Specific Reviews" provides sufficient guidance on the different roles and responsibilities of the OEC, Board Caucus Group, Board Liaisons, etc.

    • Action Items:

      • ICANN organization to assist the OEC to prepare a note to the BGC to inform the BGC that it had a discussion on this topic, and it will re-evaluate this issue at a later date.
      • ICANN organization to recirculate the "Roles & Responsibilities for Specific Reviews" document to the OEC members, for their ease of reference.
  6. Confirmation of Actions Taken via E-mail:

    • Approval of 4 December 2019 Preliminary Report;
    • RSSAC2 Review: Request to ICANN organization to prepare Board Paper, recommending to the Board to accept the Detailed Implementation Plan; and
    • SSAC2 Review: Request to ICANN organization to prepare Board Paper, recommending to the Board to accept the Detailed Implementation Plan.
  7. Any Other Business

    • The OEC noted that a time-slot has been reserved on 19 February 2020, for the next OEC meeting. The OEC will assess and determine whether this reserved time-slot is needed.

The Chair called the meeting to a close.

Published on 24 March 2020