All, In Durban I promised to provide links to prior work on the review of the GNSO and GNSO Council. Earlier this year, Bruce Tonkin assisted me with this information and so I'd like to acknowledge his assistance. Jonathan ---- The bylaws actually envisage a review of each Supporting Organization each Supporting Organization Council. The bylaws state: "Section 4. PERIODIC REVIEW OF ICANN STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS 1. The Board shall cause a periodic review of the performance and operation of each Supporting Organization, each Supporting Organization Council, each Advisory Committee (other than the Governmental Advisory Committee), and the Nominating Committee by an entity or entities independent of the organization under review. The goal of the review, to be undertaken pursuant to such criteria and standards as the Board shall direct, shall be to determine (i) whether that organization has a continuing purpose in the ICANN structure, and (ii) if so, whether any change in structure or operations is desirable to improve its effectiveness. These periodic reviews shall be conducted no less frequently than every five years, based on feasibility as determined by the Board. Each five-year cycle will be computed from the moment of the reception by the Board of the final report of the relevant review Working Group. The results of such reviews shall be posted on the Website for public review and comment, and shall be considered by the Board no later than the second scheduled meeting of the Board after such results have been posted for 30 days. The consideration by the Board includes the ability to revise the structure or operation of the parts of ICANN being reviewed by a two-thirds vote of all members of the Board." ----- The Council was the first ICANN body to go through an independent review in 2004. A bit of the history is laid out at: http://gnso.icann.org/en/group-activities/inactive/2012/improvements/reviews -en.htm Patrick Sharry carried out the independent review: http://gnso.icann.org/reviews/gnso-review-sec1-22dec04.pdf Previously (during the time of Bruce Tonkin being chair) the Council undertook its own internal review against the same terms of reference. The outcomes of the self-review are available in Appendix 3 of Patrick Sharry's report: http://gnso.icann.org/reviews/gnso-review-sec2-22dec04.pdf Bruce argues (and I think I agree with him) that a body being reviewed will benefit from undertaking a self-review. That way the body to be reviewed will be prepared and in a good position to effectively engage with the independent reviewer.