Please note that Philip Sheppard, OSC Chair, will not be able to participate in our Council meeting today as previously plan. In lieu of his attendance, he asked me to forward the following message. It was anticipated that Philip would participate in two agenda items: "Item 5: Voting Procedures when Councilors are absent &/or must abstain" and "Item 6: Disclosure of Interest Procedures". Chuck -----Original Message----- From: philip.sheppard@aim.be [mailto:philip.sheppard@aim.be] Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 1:09 PM To: Gomes, Chuck Cc: Glen de Saint Géry; Ray Fassett Subject: RE: Council meeting Chuck, Please forward this to Council. Chances are I will not join the call tonight for various reasons. Ray will anyway be in a better position to explain how his group reached the rules they did and what eventualities they tried to foresee. Let me share some more high level thoughts. 1. OSC role I regard the OSC as a check on the work of the sub groups more about process than content. It is also a chance to have a second set of eyes review a proposal. But there is nothing like actually using a set of rules to expose their strengths and weaknesses. 2. Objective of the GNSO rules of procedure The rules meet essentially one of two requirements. a) Improve the efficiency of Council. b) Improve the integrity of Council. 3. Good rule or bad rule? The rule must be proportionate to its objective. If to apply it is disproportionately onerous it should be changed. ------------------------------- Conclusions 1. Having re read the rule on proxies and abstentions and read the Council list they look to me to be disproportionate. The graphic heroically produced by staff underlines their complexity. The current rules may not be adding to the efficiency of Council. If true change them. 2. The rules on declarations of interest need special consideration. These rules are there for the second integrity objective. Council is by its nature a nest of vested interests. Transparency via declarations of interest is the solution. Here I would apply a harder test of proportionately. Council should be expected to make extra efforts in pursuit of being a body with integrity. On re reading the amended rules, I believe they are simpler and my instinct would be to try them out for a few months before seeking any change. (By way of record keeping there should be one web page logging current SOIs and specific DOIs per Council member). Hope this helps. Philip OSC Chair