It has been a very busy week for many in the community, including the ICANN Board. Tuesday marked the conclusion of the ICG public comment period, which saw over 150 comments submitted. The ICANN Board submitted comments on the ICG Proposal, which can be found here [PDF, 133 KB].
Additionally, after weeks of extensive dialogue with the community, the ICANN Board has submitted its final input to the CCWG-Accountability 2nd Draft Proposal Public Comment forum. The Board is proceeding in accordance with the principles we outlined in our 2014 resolution addressing what the Board would do in the event it disagreed with a CCWG recommendation.
The elements of the Board submission are:
- A brief summary of its public comment input
- A comments matrix of forty-seven CCWG-Accountability proposal elements and their assessment by the ICANN Board
- A short memo describing a proposed approach for community enforceability for consideration
- A twenty-question FAQ of the proposed approach for community enforceability
As we have stated previously, the Board supports the improvements to ICANN's accountability contained in the CCWG-Accountability's 2nd Draft Proposal. We endorse the goal of enforceability of these accountability mechanisms, and we believe that it is possible to implement the key elements of the proposal. We want to work together to achieve the elements of the proposal within the community's timeline while meeting the NTIA requirements.
We have heard some concerns from the community regarding the Board's intent in presenting new ideas for the CCWG's consideration. The contributions by the Board are not meant to be a "counter proposal," but rather as suggestions for consideration to build upon the CCWG's impressive work. We encourage the community to read not only ours, but all comments submitted to the public comment forum. There are still 24 hours to submit comments on the proposal, and we encourage any interested stakeholder to do so.
Once again, on behalf of the Board, I want to thank the CCWG-Accountability for all of its work leading to the 2nd Draft Proposal and for its engagement throughout this significant process. This is an important discussion for the entire community as it reaches consensus, and we hope to continue this dialogue in Los Angeles later this month at the CCWG-Accountability face-to-face meeting.