GNSO Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) review of the Working Group Self-Assessment requirements (WGSA)

The Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the proposed updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures.  The RySG is supportive of the GNSO Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) review of the Working Group Self-Assessment requirements (WGSA).  The RySG believes that the proposed amendments to the WGSA will contribute to the continued improvement of GNSO Working Group efficiency and ensure continued improvement of the Working Group process. 

Changes to the GNSO Operating Procedures

The RySG is supportive of the proposed changes to the GNSO Operating Procedures and appreciates the diligent and deliberate approach to amending this important document; in particular support for the updates to both the:

“General Statement of Interest (SOI): A written statement made by a Relevant Party that provides general information about a participant to understand their background and motivation for participating in GNSO activities.”, and

“Activity Specific SOI: A written statement made by a Relevant Party that provides a declaration of interests that may affect the Relevant Party's judgement, on matters to be considered by a specific GNSO Group.”

The RySG believes the addition of the Activity Specific SOI is an important step towards increasing transparency in the ICANN policymaking process. 

GNSO Statement of Interest (SOI)

The RySG appreciates the work of the GNSO SOI Task Force and largely supports its recommendations.  While the RySG believes the addition of the Activity Specific SOI definition to the GNSO Operating procedures is an important move towards increasing transparency in the ICANN policymaking process, we note that the proposed Sample Statement of Interest form still incorporates language from the SOI Task Force’s recommendation that could render this positive addition moot. 

By including the below language from the SOI Task Force’s recommendation in the SOI form it essentially neutralizes the requirements of the new, well-crafted Activity Specific SOI:  

“If professional ethical obligations prevent you from disclosing this information, please provide details on which ethical obligations prevent you from disclosing and provide a high-level description of the entity that you are representing without disclosing its name, for example ‘I represent a Registry client’ or ‘I am representing a non-GNSO related entity’”.

The RySG is supportive of increased transparency in the ICANN policymaking process as we believe that only serves to strengthen community outputs, and therefore trust, in the multistakeholder model. To that end we encourage the GNSO to strongly enforce the Activity Specific SOI. 

The Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the proposed updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures.  The RySG supports the GNSO CCOICI review of the WGSA and the amendments to the GNSO Operating Procedures.  The RySG is also supportive of increased transparency in the ICANN policymaking process represented by the addition of the Activity Specific SOI to the GNSO Operating Procedures, as we believe increased transparency only serves to strengthen community outputs, and therefore trust, in the multistakeholder model.