Dear SCI members, Marie-Laure Lemineur has agreed to work on the issue of waivers/exceptions to GNSO Council Operating Procedures, which the SCI is addressing at the request of the GNSO Council. Mikey O'Conner had volunteered to work with Marie-Laure, but he has now left the SCI. We are seeking volunteers to join Marie-Laure to work on this issue. Please respond to this message and to the list if you would like to volunteer by 08 January 2014. Please see the background information below in the format required in the SCI Charter. Please let us know if you need more information. If other SCI members have context to add to this issue that would be much appreciated. Best regards, Julie Julie Hedlund, Policy Director Waivers and/or Exceptions to the GNSO Council Operating Procedures 1. Which group do you represent? GNSO Council 2. To which rules or processes do you refer? Submitting a motion 3. 4. Please outline the problems: The Council does not have a mechanism to waive or invoke an exception to its operating procedures. The example raised by the GNSO Council is whether the deadline for submitting motions could be waived in certain circumstances. Quote from Jonathan Robinson in the transcript at the Wrap Up Meeting in Durban on 18 July 2013: "And essentially I wasn¹t empowered as chair by our rulebook to allow that motion to be put on the table even if technically although we have done it by precedent and prior practice, even if no one objected from the council I didn¹t really - there isn¹t really device in the rulebook to allow that to take place. So I personally I think that¹s an area we should look at is the - when and under what circumstances - formal council procedure can be bypassed in the event that there is no objection from the council?" 5. What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems? The SCI should consider whether language should be included in the GNSO Council Operating Procedures that provides a procedure for waiving the deadline for submitting a motion. 6. 7. Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes easier to administer? A waiver mechanism could allow the Council to consider a motion or document after the deadline of notice/submission to the Council has passed.