Dear SSC members, Please see below notes and action items for the meeting today, 24 May 2017 at 14:00 UTC. These high-level notes are designed to help WG members navigate through the content of the call and are not meant to be a substitute for the recording or transcript. Recordings, call transcripts, full chat transcripts, slides and other relevant meeting materials are available here: https://community.icann.org/x/AyDwAw. Slides from the presentation today by Sam Eisner and Trang Nguyen are also attached for reference. Kind regards, Emily ================================================ GNSO Standing Selection Committee meeting on Wednesday 24 May at 14.00 UTC Notes: - No SOI updates 2. Welcome – confirmation of leadership roles 3. Presentation on the Empowered Community Administration (EC Admin) and the role of the Decisional Participant representative to the EC Admin by Trang Nguyen and Samantha Eisner, followed by Q & A - Five decisional participants in the Empowered Community: ALAC, ASO, ccNSO, GAC, GNSO - In the Bylaws process, you have a collection of five groups and need someone who can send and receive notices and be responsible for making sure this work is done. The Empowered Community Administration was created for this purpose. There is a representative for each group to protect against having a single point of failure, and to make sure there are lines of communication between the EC and each decisional participant. - EC Administration receives and sends notifications; moderates conference calls and community forums, receives notices of decisions from Decisional Participants & tallies and submits to ICANN, mediation. - No independent power to act in this mediation phase, the rep will have to go back to the GNSO for guidance/direction. - EC Administration is not responsible for monitoring activities; it acts only when notified by either ICANN org or a Decisional Participant. It is not a decision-making body. - Reps can only do what they are told to do by Decisional Participants. - See slides for examples. Chat excerpt: Maxim Alzoba: Question: does EC have secritariate? who was supposed to send all notifications? Mary Wong: @Maxim, to further clarify - the EC Adminisration receives and sends notices, and they will have staff support to help monitor the timings and publication of these notices. For the EC as a whole, each Decisional Participant (e.g the GNSO) will rely on its existing staff to exercise its powers as a Decisional Participant in the EC. - Question: What is the format of the community forum? - It can take multiple forms. For example, if the GNSO raises a petition to the budget, the Decisional Participant can determine the format and even the timing of the related community forum. The representative follows this guidance. Community forum format will depend on the timing (timeframes are provided in the Bylaws). Chat excerpt: Mary Wong: @Maxim, staff will be following up with the EC Admin on actual running of the Community Forum in Joburg, but as Samantha is saying, each Decisional Participant (in this case the GNSO via, presumably, the Council) can provide input and guidance to its respective EC Admin representative. (regarding mediation representative): Marika Konings: It is likely that the GNSO Council would ask the SSC for assistance on such types of appointments Marika Konings: following which the GNSO Council would consider those recommendations and direct the representative accordingly Maxim Alzoba: Question : are rules of Mediation fully formed? Samantha Eisner: @Maxim, see section 4.7 of the ICANN Bylaws: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/bylaws-en/#article4[icann.org] 4. Continue deliberations on questions identified, as well as identification of any other questions that may need to be addressed: a. GNSO Chair - The Bylaws provide that the GNSO Chair or another person may be designated. What criteria should be used to decide whether another person should be designated? Is the GNSO Chair the default designation or fallback choice if no other person can be designated? Chat excerpt: Julf Helsingius: Should we ask the bylaws drafting team what the intent is/was? Samantha Eisner: @Julf, as I mentioned during my remarks, the Chair was identified as a fallback so that there was sure to always be someone available from each of the Decisional Participants - The purpose of the EC Admin is to make sure that someone is responsible for sending and receiving notices. If the groups do not choose to appoint someone else, the Chair serves as a default for the role to ensure the role is filled. b. Qualifying Criteria - If another person should be designated, what are qualifying criteria? Process to review/evaluate qualified candidates? Who should be considered qualified? Should the call for volunteers be limited (for example to GNSO Councilors) or open call? Can a general process for appointments/nominations be followed? - Possible requirement for the representative - public speaking or moderation skills. - This position requires full knowledge of the Council and its work. There are different possible variations to fill the role and meet this criteria, for example, current leadership team, current Council member, former Council member, etc. -Suggestion - rep should have the support of Council members Chat excerpt: Osvaldo Novoa: We commented before that the representative should have experience in the GNSO Council, a former member, not an actual member. Osvaldo Novoa: I favor a former GNSO Council member Julf Helsingius: Former or current Marika Konings: obviously you would have a closer connection to the decisions and those that would need to be passed on with someone who is actually on the Council Maxim Alzoba: +1 Julf (Former of current) Osvaldo Novoa: I agree with Juff Frederic Guillemaut: former / current, yes Osvaldo Novoa: The representative has to be confirmed by the GNSO Council, so he or she needs the support of the Council. Marika Konings: what would qualify as former? How many years ago? Or if someone has been on the Council at any point of time? Poncelet Ileleji: @Marika I will say at least 2 years on Council Poncelet Ileleji: Prior must not neccesary be on Council now Maxim Alzoba: and third option - rep of GNSO bodies (with support of those bodies) and with ultimate support of the GNSO Council c. Alternate Rep - Is there a need to consider an alternate in case the representative is not available or make an interim appointment should the designated representative step down? Chat excerpt: Samantha Eisner: And in terms of alternates, it is really up to the Decisional Participant if they wish to have a process for that, but there would have to be a notice available to the community of the alternate stepping into the role - Nothing in the bylaws bars it, but it may not be recommended practice. We can work it out with the group if it is desired. d. Term and Renewal What should be the term for the representative? Annual certification is required by the Bylaws but that does not necessarily need to align with the term. Is there a term limit? What should be the renewal requirements? What is the timeline for the selection / approval process? Chat excerpt: Samantha Eisner: There is no indication of term limits, only a requirement for annual certification, so it's up to each Decisional Participant on how frequently they wish to assess who is serving as their representative -Question: How often can the GNSO replace rep? Is there a rule already in place? - In the bylaws, the only requirement is annual certification of the selection of the EC Admin rep. Certifications can happen more often, but they must happen at least annually. This does not mean they must appoint someone new each year. For example, the GNSO could choose to have a term of five years for the rep, therefore they would re-certify the same person each year for five years. - Format of the certification - a note that says the name of the representative. - Suggestion - Term of the representative is no longer than his/her term in GNSO Council. - Clarification - Does this mean the representative needs to be on the GNSO Council? - Only in the case that the rep needs to be on the Council does the above suggestion about term limits apply. Chat excerpt: Frederic Guillemaut: we need to have a choice, so 5 years might be better. Maxim Alzoba: I recommend no less than 1 year (6 months usually required to get grip) - Question - would travel support be provided for the rep to attend Council meetings? - It is currently not foreseen as role that will require travel support to attend meetings - rep can attend remotely if necessary. - Community forums may happen during ICANN meetings - but remote participation is possible. - No travel requirement or travel funding is anticipated for this role. Chat excerpt: Mary Wong: There is also no separate travel support or funding for the EC Administration. Osvaldo Novoa: I think that the Council has to be informed of everything that happens in the EC Administration, in order to instruct adecquately the GNSO representative, but there is no need for the representative to be up to date on what happens in the Council. The representative cannot take any decisions, just communicates the decisions of the Council. Mary Wong: Note also that just as the Council meets via teleconference, the EC Admin will probably do the same. It's not clear that the EC Admin will need to meet at every ICANN Public Meeting in any case. Marika Konings: travel support slots are allocated by SG/Cs so they would need to consider making one of their slots available - May be helpful to take a step back and look at requirements and criteria. 5. Confirm next steps & next meeting The GNSO Standing Selection Committee meeting will take place on Wednesday 31 May at 14.00 UTC