Public Comment

Public Comment is a vital part of our multistakeholder model. It provides a mechanism for stakeholders to have their opinions and recommendations formally and publicly documented. It is an opportunity for the ICANN community to effect change and improve policies and operations.

closed Proposed Updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures

CategoryGovernance
RequestersGeneric Names Supporting Organization (GNSO)

Outcome

This Public Comment proceeding was initially scheduled to remain open from 9 September 2022 through 17 October 2022. The Public Comment proceeding was extended to 14 November in response to requests for additional time to submit input.

A total of 8 submissions were received. The GNSO Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) and the GNSO Statement of Interest (SOI) Task Force will review the input received and will consider whether any changes need to be made to its recommendations.

What We Received Input On

GNSO Working Group Self-Assessment

At the direction of the GNSO Council, the GNSO Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) reviewed the existing GNSO Working Group Self-Assessment (WGSA) survey as well as requirements outlined in the GNSO Operating Procedures. As a result of this review, the CCOICI has proposed several updates to the different documents that related to the WGSA that aim to reflect that:

  • Stating objective of WGSA: inform the Chartering Organization of potential issues that might need to be immediately addressed (periodic survey) or for future efforts (closure survey);
  • Policy Development Process (PDP) Team charter to state if and when a periodic survey and/or closure is expected to take place to allow the GNSO to customise the cadence of surveys for a project based on the length, structure, and milestones of that PDP;
  • Clarity around what will be publicly available and with whom information is shared;
  • New/updated questions focused on performance of Working Group (WG) leadership, Council liaison and staff support.

In addition, the CCOICI has recommended:

  • A new periodic survey template that would normally be conducted after the publication of the Initial Report (unless charter indicates differently, or Council decides differently), including PDP 3.0 proposed survey questions regarding leadership;
  • A set of technical requirements that the survey tool would ideally possess, including functionality that would send a unique link to each WG member, thereby permitting anonymous responses but ensuring that only WG members respond;
  • Council leadership, in consultation with liaison to the WG, may decide to modify the survey, if deemed necessary;

The updates proposed as well as new aspects can be reviewed in the CCOICI’s report to the GNSO Council.

GNSO Statement of Interest

The CCOICI tasked the GNSO SOI Task Force (TF) to review the current Statement of Interest (SOI) requirements and make recommendations accordingly. Based on its review and the outreach that the SOI conducted to the community, the TF is recommending that the current SOI is split into two distinct parts, namely a General Statement of Interest, which contains general information about a participant, and an Activity Specific Statement of Interest, which provides information specific to the activity that a participant has requested to participate in. Further details about the TF’s recommendations can be found here.

The TF has also made available a sample form that can be filled out that will allow the community to better appreciate the intent of these recommendations as well as the updated SOI questions. At the end of this form, you are also invited to share your feedback on the proposed updates to the SOI which will be reviewed by the SOI TF together with other input that may be provided through this Public Comment forum.

Miscellaneous Updates

The staff support team also identified a number of miscellaneous updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures such as updating links and references, and correcting minor typographical and grammatical errors. These have also been reflected in the redline version of the GNSO Operating Procedures. The changes have also been summarized in this document.

The CCOICI welcomes community input on any aspects of the recommendations in relation to the WGSA as well as the SOI, and specifically the proposed updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures.

Note that this Public Comment proceeding is opening prior to ICANN75 to allow those interested in learning more about these proposed updates to reach out to members of the GNSO Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) and Statement of Interest (SOI) Task Force.

Proposals For Your Input
CCOICI Review of Working Group Self-Assessment Requirements (pdf, 533.84 KB)
Overview of proposed changes to the GNSO Operating Procedures (pdf, 101.04 KB)
GNSO Statement of Interest Task Force Review of Statement of Interest (SOI) Requirements (pdf, 302.01 KB)
GNSO Operating Procedures Redline version (pdf, 1.7 MB)
Sample Statement of Interest Input Form

Background

The GNSO Framework for Continuous Improvement Pilot was initiated in June 2021 to determine whether the framework, as outlined here, could serve as an approach for dealing with the various projects that are focused on improvements to GNSO processes and procedures. The GNSO Council tasked the Council Committee for Overseeing and Implementing Continuous Improvement (CCOICI) with two assignments, namely:

  • Consider if/how WG Self-Assessment can be improved and possibly enhanced with a periodic assessment as well as exit interview with interested parties to help identify at an early stage potential issues as well as future improvements to be considered. This could potentially be combined with the WG Chair assessment as outlined in PDP 3.0 improvement #13. 
  • Review Statement of Interest (SOI) requirements and make recommendations accordingly. This should include soliciting input from the community on the current use and experience with SOIs as well as suggestions for possible improvements.

As both efforts have resulted in proposed updates to the GNSO Operating Procedures, and there is a requirement to publish proposed changes to the GNSO Operating Procedures for Public Comment before these can be implemented, it was decided to combine the Public Comment forum for these efforts for the sake of efficiency.

Supporting Information

Supporting Information
GNSO SOI TF Workspace
CCOICI Workspace