Dear All,

Please find below the notes and action items from today’s meeting.

Best regards,

Marika

Notes – new gTLD Auction Proceeds CCWG Meeting – 15 June 2017

These high-level notes are designed to help the CCWG navigate through the content of the call and are not meant as a substitute for the transcript and/or recording. The MP3, transcript, and chat are provided separately and are posted on the wiki at: https://community.icann.org/x/DLHDAw[community.icann.org].

Agenda:

1) Roll Call

• Roll call will be taken from Adobe Connect
• Please state name for transcription purposes and mute your microphones when not speaking

2) Welcome / DOI

3) Briefing on Audit Requirements by Xavier Calvez including Q & A

• See slides circulated by email and presentation provided by Xavier

Q&A:

• Is the audit conducted on the account for the auction proceed alone or for ICANN as a whole? The audit is conducted on the financial statements of ICANN which includes the auction proceeds. ICANN now also performs an audit of PTI as it has its separate financial statements as a separate legal entity.
• Is there a special account for the revenue from auction? Yes, auction proceeds are segregated and separated in separate accounts. Conservative approach with regards to investing - approved by the Board and even more conservative than for what is used for the reserve fund as well as short term. Investments are made in USD as well as a number of international bonds but to a relatively limited extend.
• Regarding the fiduciaryrequirements that disbursements be made in accordance with ICANN’s mission, are the same auditors in charge of judging the level of accordance? Auditors are not judging currently the framing of the mission. They have the obligation to ensure that the activities of the organisation are consistent with their mission.
• Because the auction proceed account is expected to be handled on its own… This implies and expenses of managing it has to be kept separately.  And not covered by ICANN? Any audit fees cover the whole audit of financial statements of ICANN - costs are not called out with regards to which parts are covered. There may be a need to separate out general costs in relation to auction proceeds, but this has not been determined yet.
• How are investment choices made and what happens with the returns, are those tracked in ICANN's financial statements? Conservative choices made based on information avaialble, interests are put back into the accounts.
• Are any costs currently covered from the auction proceeds? Currently 233 million on the account - no costs paid for by auction proceeds, even those certain costs have been incurred in relation to the auction proceeds. Will ICANN absorb those costs or will these be taken from auction proceeds? For community to provide input on. Question is: to the extent that ICANN has incurred costs to date (in supporting the CWG DT, this CWG and any other costs), should they be (a) absorbed by ICANN as part of general operation or (b) booked against the capital proceeds from the ICANN auctions?
• If a separate organization is in charge of disbursing the funds, is it possible to "transfer" the legal requirements onto this separate agency? ICANN ultimately has the same obligation, whether it is ICANN or another entitiy does the job of evaluation and disbursement. If it is another entity, additional mechanisms would need to be put in place to ensure that those obligations are met. For example, auditing procedures before it starts, recurring checks, insight into evaluation process, controls after funds are disbursed etc. ICANN would need to carry out its own audit of this other entity - form would need to be decided.  ICANN's obligation does not stop at the time of disbursement - a whole set of obligations that start at that point.

CCWG to continue discussion in Johannesburg.

Action item #1: Staff to share questions and responses noted with Xavier for review following which these will be incorporated in an FAQ and posted on the CCWG wiki.

Action item #2: CCWG members and participants to circulate any additional questions to the mailing list so a complete overview can be developed.

4) Reminder to participate in charter question #2 poll (see https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CCWGAPQuestion2)

Action item #3: CCWG members and participants to respond to survey by 21 June at the latest.

5) Confirmation of next meeting at ICANN59 - Tuesday, June 27 • 13:30 - 15:00 local time (11.30 - 13.00 UTC). See http://sched.co/B3pK for further details.

Marika Konings

Vice President, Policy Development Support – GNSO, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 

Email: marika.konings@icann.org

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