Dear Councillors, Please find below the resolutions the Council adopted at its meeting on Thursday 29 September 2016. 1 GNSO Validation of CCWG-Accountability Budget Request WHEREAS, 1. Per its Charter, the Project Cost Support Team (PCST) has supported the CCWG-Accountability in developing a draft budget and cost-control processes for the CCWG-Accountability activities for FY17, and has also developed a historical analysis of all the transition costs to date (see https://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/pdfpklU5q6Ojg.pdf). 2. The CCWG-Accountability FY17 budget was presented at its plenary meeting of June 21st and approved for transmission to the Chartering Organizations for validation as per the process agreed with the PCST. This request for validation was received on 23 June. 3. Following review and discussion during ICANN56, the GNSO Council requested a webinar on this topic which was held on 23 August (see transcript at https://gnso.icann.org/en/meetings/transcript-ccwg-accountability-webinar-23..., recording at http://audio.icann.org/gnso/gnso-ccwg-accountability-webinar-23aug16-en.mp3 and AC recording at https://icann.adobeconnect.com/p8fu99qpt7d/). 4. The GNSO Council notes that many members of the GNSO community have expressed the view that the projected budget does not likely support revisiting the topic of the jurisdiction of ICANN's organization in that such exploration would likely require substantial independent legal advice on alternative jurisdictions and their potential impact on the text and structure of ICANN's Bylaws. 5. The GNSO Council has discussed and reviewed all the relevant materials. RESOLVED, 1. The GNSO Council hereby accepts the proposed CCWG-Accountability FY17 budget, as well as the cost-control processes presented in conjunction with the CCWG budget, expects the working groups to be restrained and judicious in their use of outside legal assistance, and believes that the Legal Committee should exercise reasonable and effective controls in evaluating requests for outside legal assistance and should approve them only when deemed essential to assist a working group to fully and objectively understand and develop a particular course of action for which the group has reached a substantial degree of consensus and requires legal advice on its risks and feasibility. 2. The GNSO Council expects to receive regular updates on actual expenditures as tracked against this adopted budget, and reserves the right to provide further input on the budget allocation in relation to the CCWG-Accountability related activities. 3. The GNSO Council expects ICANN staff, including its office of General Counsel, to provide the assistance requested by the CCWG and its working groups in an expeditious, comprehensive, and unbiased manner. 4. The GNSO Council expects the CCWG-Accountability and staff to work within the constraints of this approved budget, and that excess costs or requests for additional funding beyond said budget should be recommended by the Legal Committee only when deemed essential to completion of the CCWG's work and objectives. . 5. It is the position of the GNSO Council that revisiting the jurisdiction or organization of the ICANN legal entity, as established by CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 1, would not likely be supported by this projected budget and, further, that such inquiry should not be undertaken at this time because the new accountability measures are all premised and dependent on California jurisdiction for their effective operation, and any near-term changes in organizational jurisdiction could be extremely destabilizing for ICANN and its community. 6. The GNSO Council requests the GNSO Secretariat to communicate this resolution to the CCWG-Accountability Chairs, and to the office of the ICANN CFO. Voting results<https://gnso.icann.org/en/meetings/gnso-council-motion-recorder-29sep16-en.p...> 2. Interim appointment of the GNSO Representative on the Empowered Community Administration WHEREAS 1. As stated in Section 1.1(a) of Article 6 of the new ICANN Bylaws, concerning the composition and organization of the Empowered Community (EC), "The Empowered Community ("EC") shall be a nonprofit association formed under the laws of the State of California consisting of the ASO, the ccNSO, the GNSO, the ALAC and the GAC (each a "Decisional Participant" or "associate," and collectively, the "Decisional Participants")." 2. The sole purpose of the EC is to exercise its rights and perform its obligations under ICANN's Articles of Incorporation and the ICANN Bylaws, and the EC shall have no other powers or rights except as expressly provided in the ICANN Bylaws. The EC may only act as provided in these Bylaws. Any act of the EC that is not in accordance with these Bylaws shall not be effective. 3. As outlined in section 6.3 of the new ICANN Bylaws, the GNSO, as a Decisional Participant, shall act through its respective chair or such other person as may be designated by the GNSO (collectively, such persons from all communities are the "EC Administration"). Each Decisional Participant shall deliver annually a written certification from its chair or co-chairs to the ICANN Secretary designating the individual who shall represent the Decisional Participant on the EC Administration. 4. The GNSO created a Drafting Team (DT) on 30 June 2016 to identify the GNSO's new rights and obligations, and work with ICANN staff to prepare an implementation plan to address any needed changes by 30 September (see http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions - 201606). RESOLVED 1. The GNSO Council hereby confirms that the GNSO Chair (currently James Bladel) will represent the GNSO as the Decisional Participant on the Empowered Community Administration on an interim basis. 2. The GNSO representative shall act solely as directed by the GNSO Council in accordance with the ICANN Bylaws and other related GNSO Operating Procedures. 3. Within three months after the completion of the work of the GNSO Rights & Obligations under Revised ICANN Bylaws Drafting Team and adoption of its recommendations by the GNSO Council, the GNSO is expected to finalize its decision on the appointment of the person designated to represent the GNSO as the Decisional Participant on the Empowered Community Administration and will communicate this accordingly to the ICANN Secretary. 4. The GNSO Council requests the GNSO Secretariat to communicate this decision to the ICANN Secretary which will serve as the required written certification from the GNSO Chair designating the individual who shall represent the Decisional Participant on the EC Administration. Voting Results<https://gnso.icann.org/en/meetings/gnso-council-motion-recorder-29sep16-en.p...> Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you very much. Kind regards, Glen Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org<mailto:gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> http://gnso.icann.org<http://gnso.icann.org/> Follow the GNSO via Twitter @ICANN_GNSO Find out more about the GNSO by taking our interactive courses<http://learn.icann.org/courses/gnso> and visiting the GNSO Newcomer pages<http://gnso.icann.org/sites/gnso.icann.org/files/gnso/presentations/policy-e...>.