Dear WG members,

This is to follow up on the “action items” stemming from and certain WG questions raised on the WG call earlier today relating to IGO and INGO statistics.

I. Action Items:

The following WG members have signed up for the three sub-groups identified in the Work Plan:

A - Petter Rindforth. Kristine Dorrain. Jim Bikoff

B - Phil Corwin, Paul Keating, George Kirikos, Imran Ahmed Shah
C- None so far

Please sign up for one of the three Sub-Groups by emailing me by Friday 19 September if at all possible (refer to the Summary Extract of the Work Plan for a description of each Sub-Group: https://community.icann.org/x/9brhAg). Staff will compile the list before our next meeting for review by the WG Co-Chairs. As noted on the call, Sub-Groups are expected to discuss how they wish to achieve the aims set out in the Work Plan, and formal meetings and recordings are generally not arranged. Of course, Sub-Groups may request ICANN staff assistance with setting up calls, as well as facilitating their research and information gathering, such as liaising with ICANN General Counsel and providing information as to whether there are resources available to support a particular form of research for which a fee is charged by the third party from whom information is being sought. We can also set up wiki pages for each Sub-Group to record and edit its work, if desired.

II. Follow Up Questions

(1) On what is an “international organization”, or more specifically, an “international governmental organization” or IGO:

The GAC’s approved list of IGOs that was sent to the Board in March 2013, and which was the list upon which our predecessor WG based its recommendations, defines these as: “(a) an international organization established by a treaty and which possesses international legal personality; or (b) an “Intergovernmental organization” having received a standing invitation to participate as observer in the sessions and the work of the United Nations General Assembly; or (c) a distinct entity, organ or program of the United Nations.”
Note that although the term is not defined in the Paris Convention, Article 6ter refers to an international intergovernmental organization of which at least one WIPO Member State is a member – and the adoption of the Paris Convention by the World Trade Organization (WTO) via the 1994 Trade-Related Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) means that this now extends to all WTO member countries regardless of whether they also joined the Paris Convention.

(2) On how many IGOs are on the GAC list of March 2013:

The GAC list contains 192 organizations (see list attached.)
Although the updated number of IGOs who have submitted notifications for protection under Article 6ter is not known to ICANN staff at the moment, a 2005 paper prepared by the WIPO Secretariat noted that by 31 August 2005, 118 IGOs had submitted notifications under Article 6ter. This was updated to 138 in 2007, divided as follows:

24 flags
290 emblems
288 abbreviations
578 names

As noted on the WG call, the scope of our WG is limited to the GAC list, as that was the scope of the recommendations ultimately adopted by our predecessor PDP WG.

(3) On how many NGOs are on the ECOSOC list:

As of September 2013, 3900 NGOs have Consultative Status with ECOSOC, of which only 144 have attained General Consultative Status, with the others mostly given Special Consultative Status or Roster status (see attached list). Those organizations with General Consultative Status are considered to be those with the closest and most substantive contributions to and connections with the economic and social objectives of the UN and ECOSOC.
Our predecessor WG distinguished between the INGOs with General Consultative Status and those with Special Consultative Status, with differing protections recommended for each. They did not, however, include any direction to either the GNSO Council or our present WG as to whether the distinction should be maintained for curative rights protection.

We hope the above is helpful. We have added the attached documents to the WG’s wiki space under Background Documents as well.

Thanks and cheers

Mary

Mary Wong

Senior Policy Director

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN)

Telephone: +1 603 574 4892

Email: mary.wong@icann.org