Hello Ross,

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(1) Review the goals and expected outcomes of the GNSO review, at both the Council and constituency level

Whose goals and expectations will we be reviewing? I have mentioned to others that I have an expectation that this process will be a constructive, bi-directional communication that will hopefully provide the GNSO with feedback and direction regarding structural and procedural improvements that will help it serve and work within the ICANN community in a more effective manner. To that end, it would be helpful to understand and discuss not only what our goals and expectations are for this process, but more importantly, those of others (the other SOs, the staff and primarily, the Board having commissioned this review in the first place).

This is a good question. The ICANN bylaws set out the high level goals of review for all parts of the ICANN community. The goal of the review shall be to determine (i) whether that organization has a continuing purpose in the ICANN structure, (ii) and if so, whether any change in structure or operations is desirable to improve its effectiveness. The criteria and standards of the review are approved by the Board. The Board in turn has asked the GNSO Council to prepare with the ICANN staff and Board a "Terms of Reference" document to guide the independent entity an outside consultant in conducting a review of the GNSO, and present the terms of reference to the Board for adoption at the meeting in December 2005, in Vancouver, Canada. For this meeting we are getting input from within the GNSO Community. The output will be a draft terms of reference from the GNSO community. At the next meeting we will be getting input from the Board. The output will be a draft terms of reference with input from the Board and the GNSO community. The final draft terms of reference will then be submitted to the Board for approval before the review begins. The outcome of the GNSO Council review in 2004 was that the Council was found to have a continuing purpose in the ICANN structure. The 2004 review also made recommendations for how to improve the effectiveness of the GNSO Council. I expect the 2006 review will consider whether the Council has adopted these recommendations and if it is more effective than a year ago. I am working on the assumption that this review will also find that all the constituencies also have a continuing purpose. Thus I would like to focus the meeting on how best to arrive at a set of useful recommendations that improve the effectiveness of the constituencies. Ultimately the terms of reference should assist the external reviewer to develop a set of useful recommendations that improve the effectiveness of the GNSO. Regards, Bruce