Dear SCI members,

As agreed at the SCI meeting last week the deadline on this consensus call is extended through TODAY Monday, 25 April.

As agreed on the SCI call on 07 April, the attached document, CONSENSUS CALL-GNSO Operating Procedures Proposed Revision Relating to Motions & Amendments 07 April 2016, is being circulated for a formal Consensus Call.  The document is the proposed revision to the GNSO Operating Procedures to include the new text on submitting, seconding, and amending motions.

Background:
  • On 05 March 2015 the SCI submitted to the GNSO Council a Review Request (see attached) concerning the fact that there are currently no formal procedures on (i) whether, how and by whom a properly submitted motion is to be seconded, and (ii) treatment of proposed amendments to such motions as either “friendly” or “unfriendly”.    The Review Request was one of two that the Council approved at its meeting on 16 April 2015. In the attached Review Request the GNSO Council asked that the SCI codify the existing customary practices of the GNSO Council and consider new processes to govern the seconding of motions and amendments to motions.  
  • On 09 October 2015 the SCI agreed on a documentation of the Current Practice Relating to Motions and sent a letter (attached) along with the original Review Request and the documentation to Jonathan Robinson, GNSO Council Chair.  
  • In December 2015 the SCI established a Sub Team A — Sara Bockey, Angie Graves, Wolf-Ulrich Knoben, and Lawrence Olawale-Roberts, and Rudi Vansnick — to review the current practice and the Sub Team submitted its recommendations to the SCI on 02 March 2016.  The SCI discussed the recommendations in Marrakech on 05 March and asked staff to draft revisions to the GNSO Operating Procedures per the recommendations.  
  • On 07 April the SCI discussed the draft revisions and asked staff to submit them to the SCI for a Consensus Call.
If there are no objections by Monday, 25 April (deadline extended from 21 April), the language will be presumed to be accepted by Full Consensus.

Best regards,

Julie 
Julie Hedlund, Policy Director