ICANN have just released a statement regarding their Accountability review. They have created a panel of experts to analyse the Accountability Structure of ICANN. Their job is to enhance ICANN’s accountability and transparency. ICANN’s decisions can affect you as a domain reseller. The review of December 2010 contained 27 recommendations. There are four main areas of focus for these recommendations:
- Board Governance, performance, and composition, including the Nominating Committee (NomCom) processes for filling Board positions;
- Governmental Advisory Committee’s (GAC’s) role, effectiveness and Interaction with the Board;
- Public input and policy development processes; and
- Review mechanisms for Board decisions.
Being an independent body who has an immense amount of control over Internet governance, ICANN are seeking to improve their Accountability to the public for any decisions they make or processes they put into place. In addition, ICANN are hoping to improve transparency, mainly through the thorough communication of Board meeting information, translation of approved resolutions into six UN Languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish. Plus complete rationales behind any decisions reached regarding Internet governance. Domain Name Resellers all over the world will be able to review this information and may wish to contribute using ICANN’s public comment system.
There will also be a revamp of ICANN’s Public Comment site to “make it easier to find and understand opportunities for public comment”, which is a great step towards becoming more publically accountable.
The 3 members of the Accountability Structures Expert Panel (ASEP) are industry experts with a wealth of experience suited to giving advice and authoritative opinions on the subjects in question.
Mervyn King is a former South African Supreme Court Judge, Chairman of the King Committee on Corporate Governance in South Africa and a Chairman, Director and Chief Executive of “several companies listed on the London, Luxembourg and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges.”
Graham McDonald, who has 40 years of legal experience including providing legal assistance to the Australian Banking Ombudsman and for over 20 years as a Presidential Member of Australia’s Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which “hears and determines appeals from Federal Government departments, agencies and Ministers”. In addition, Graham is currently serving on the board of Australia’s domain name regulator, Auda.
Richard Moran is the CEO and Vice Chair at Accretive Solutions. A former Accenture partner he has also served on several boards. His clients have included many business giants including “News Corporation, AT&T, Apple, Hewlett Packard, American Airlines and Oracle”.
The ASEP will post a ‘detailed project plan’ in mid to late September on the ASEP page on ICANN’s site. As always Domainbox.com will keep you up to date with all the latest ICANN news.