World Wide Alliance of Top Level Domain-names

Draft ccSO Application

Version June 2002, ccTLD Bucharest meeting

The former and first draft application has been presented in November 2001 at Marina del Rey meeting
ccSO-2001mdr.html

DRAFT 2.1

THIS APPLICATION TO The Board of ICANN TO BECOME THE COUNTRY CODE TOP LEVEL DOMAIN NAMES SUPPORT ORGANIZATION ("ccSO") of ICANN

1. IS MADE pursuant to Art. VI, Section 3(b) of the Bylaws of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("Corporation") http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm

2. BY the undersigned managers of country code domain name registries, who hereby commit to fulfil the undertakings and policies set forth in this application, if the application is granted.

   (1. Because members agreed that there should not be an outside organisation that applies to become the ccSO, the logical applicants are the individual ccTLD managers.

   2. Note that this application also refers to separate MoUs with the ccTLD regional organisations, under which they commit to acting as the regional organising entities of the SO.)

1. INTRODUCTION

3. This application is made by the undersigned to become the Country Code Top Level Domain Names Support Organisation ("ccSO"), pursuant to Article VI, Section 3 (b) of the Bylaws of the Corporation. The undersigned hereby commit to fulfil the undertakings and policies set forth in this application.

4. The purpose of the ccSO is to protect and promote the common interests of ccTLD managers and their Local Internet Communities; and to give advice to the Corporation on identified global policy issues, within the context of maintaining Global Internet stability and interoperability.

5. The goal of the ccSO is to assist in that transition from US Government administration of the root, to an industry-led, self-regulating, bottom-up geodiverse corporation, which is suggested in the White Paper, and in which the importance of the role of the ccTLDs and their communities is provided for.

6. This application is based on the following consensus documents made in the last four ccTLD meetings:

   1. Communique of the ccTLD Constituency Meeting in Stockholm, 2001
      20010601.ccTLDstockholm-communique.html

   2. Communique of the ccTLD Constituency Meeting in Montevideo, 2001.
      20010909.ccTLDmontevideo-communique.html

   3. Communique of the ccTLD Constituency Meeting in Accra, 2002.
      20020313.ccTLDaccra-communique.html

   4. Communique of the ccTLD Constituency Meeting in Bucharest, 2002.
      20020626.ccTLDbucharest-communique.html

7. (See: www.wwtld.org for the full text of each communique)

8. A rationale for the differences between ccTLD registries and gTLD registries may be found as Appendix Four, below.
   ccSO-answers-to-gTLD-2001mdr.html

9. This application is organized as follows:

   1. Composition of the SO: Members, the Role of the Regional Associations, and International Council.

   2. Methods for developing substantive Internet policies and selecting Board Nominees.

   3. Open and transparent non-discriminatory processes.

   4. Policies to ensure international and diverse participation.

   5. Policies for disclosure to the ccSO by members of or participants in the Council of conflicts of interest or other financial interests in matters within the scope of the ccSO.

   6. Methods for funding the ccSO and providing funding for the Corporation.

   7. Support by Constituencies of DNSO, ASO, and PSO

   8. Mechanisms for consultation with other Support Organisations and Components of the Corporation

   9. A plan to transition from the ccTLD constituency of the DNSO to the ccSO.

I . COMPOSITION OF THE ccSO

A. MEMBERSHIP

Definitions

10. "ccTLD registry" means a registry of domain names ending in one of the 2-letter country codes specified from time to time in ISO 3166-1.

11. "Functional" means with full connectivity and interoperability with the DNS.

12. "ccTLD registry manager" or "Manager" means the person (which word throughout this document includes any legal entity having legal status, including capacity to enter contracts) responsible for managing the ccTLD registry, as evidenced by their entry in the IANA database as the manager, or who has satisfied the Council of the ccSO that they should be so entered.

    (3. This is a topic of some debate. It has been argued that definition by reference to the IANA database which is both out of ccTLD control, and out of date is factually inaccurate and politically unsuitable. Discussion is required on the suitable proof of status of management for entry to the SO. An answer for this purpose will also be useful in determining membership in the regional associations, and the international association.)

13. (Note: the definition, roles, and responsibilities of ccTLD manager are referred in RFC1591 http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc1591.txt, and in the ccTLD Best Practices 20010601.BestPractice.html; see www.wwtld.org)

14. "ccTLD Representative" means the person appointed in writing by the ccTLD Registry Manager to represent the registry in the ccSO, including but not limited to exercising voting rights.

Membership Rules

15. The qualifying condition for membership is the operation of a ccTLD registry, provided that such registry is functional at the date of application for membership.

16. All ccTLD managers are eligible to be members of the ccSO.

17. Managers wishing to join shall make application for membership and shall select the appropriate fee from the range of fees listed in Appendix 1.

B. The Role of Regional Associations

Definitions

18. "Regional ccTLD Association" or "RCA" herein means CENTR, APTLD, LACTLD, AFTLD and any other regional association, whether incorporated or not, which is formed of ccTLD managers, and which is approved by the ccSO Council as representing the interests of those managers and their local Internet community within the geographic regions defined in the ICANN bylaws (see. bylaw refs. to follow). http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm

    (4. There is currently no requirement that members of the ccSO are required to be members of an RCA. Should there be? In practice, many will be, but there may be others who prefer to develop a grouping around another interest -language, culture or business practices, for example. In MdR 2001, it was agreed that no additional category should be created, but flexibility left to create one when or if it emerged.)

Rules Relating to Regional ccTLD Associations

19. CENTR, APTLD, LACTLD and AFTLD are recognised as responsible for members within the corporation's European, AsiaPacific, Latin AmericaCaribbean and African geographic regions, respectively.

    (4.1 It is expected that the NATLD will be added to this list, representing the North American geographic region.)

20. The International Council may receive application from a majority of eligible members from any geographic region to be recognised as the RCA responsible for that region.

    (5. This provides an application process for new geographic regions, and a "challenge " in the event any region's members believes an existing recognised RCA is no longer representative of the region's members.

21. The International Council may receive application by any association (whether incorporated or not) composed of ten or more Managers, to be recognised as a non-Regional Association (NRA).

22. If recognised as such, an NRA shall not have a vote on the International Council.

    (6. Whatever the special interest issues that groups focus around should be dealt with by way of working group or standing committee. )

23. RCAs shall act as the regional co-ordinating body in relation to ccSO activities for members in their geographic region. In particular, the RCAs will co-ordinate policy development by the ccSO within the regions.

24. RCAs shall be responsible for informing their members and other managers in their regions of matters of mutual interest, determining the views of their members by conducting polls and votes, and conducting elections to the International Council, and the ICANN Board .

25. NRAs shall perform a similar role and function in relation to their members.

26. The RCAs shall indicate their willingness to provide these functions to the ccSO, and others as may from time to time be developed by agreement, by executing a Memorandum of Understanding between themselves, the SO, and the President of ICANN after establishment of the SO, of the general form contained in Appendix II.

    (6.1 This MOU has not yet been drafted, pending approval of the role proposed for RCAs.)

27. The RCAs indicate their present willingness to enter those Memorandum of Understanding by endorsing this application at the foot hereof.

    (7. These two requirements tie the regional associations to a formal role in the process, and should assist in meeting ICANN staff comment that an SO with more than one class of membership entity will be more likely to gain acceptance. It formally links those activities which the regional associations perform on behalf of the members and which relate to SO business. It is designed to have no effect on the balance of the activities an RCA performs outside of this role)

Rights to Vote, and Methods of Voting

28. Unless otherwise agreed, voting on issues within the ccSO will be conducted on a regional basis, by the respective RCA.

29. In any voting conducted by the RCA, members shall be able to give their proxies to other members of their RCA.

30. A member may be a voting member for ccSO purposes of only the RCA recognised by the International Council as responsible for the geographic region in which the territory corresponding to the member's ISO 3166-1 country code is located.

31. "Border" ccTLDs may choose on joining the ccSO which Corporation Geographic Region they wish to be considered within for the purposes of the above rule, and any other rule which requires reference to a member's region. Any such selection may be revisited by the member at not less than five- yearly intervals.

32. A member cannot be a voting member of more than one RCA or NRA for ccSO purposes.

C. THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL

33. There shall be a Council of the ccSO, to be known as the International Council, composed of 15 members: three members elected by each region.

34. The Council is delegated the task of managing the development of consensus-based policy recommendations regarding ccTLDs, including the operation, assignment and management of the domain name system and other related subjects, and the Council shall make recommendations on such subjects to the Corporation's Board.

35. The Council is intended to act primarily as an administrative and management body. It will only undertake greater authority or issue final policy recommendations when needed due to urgent questions of Internet stability, or time deadlines for recommendations established by the Corporation.

36. The International Council shall be responsible for co-ordinating the affairs of the ccSO.

37. There shall be the following officers of Council:

    1. A President, elected by the council for a three year term, who shall be Chair of the International Council

    2. A Vice President for the Work Programme

    3. A Vice President for Legal & Regulatory Affairs

    4. A Vice President for Membership & Outreach

    5. A Vice President for Finance & Administration.

    (8. These are a distillation of various officers that have worked. It will cause the creation of an "Executive Committee". I believe it's important that there be specific roles for councillors to fill – otherwise 15 councillors becomes unwieldy.

    The VP responsible for the Work Programme is to supervise the ToR’s and output from the working groups, and committees. Otherwise, these can languish. They should also supervise and chair the "International Assembly" list.

    The VP responsible for F&A is directly responsible for the running of the Secretariat.)

38. Vice Presidents shall be appointed by the International Council, on the recommendation of the President.

    (The alternative is they should stand and be elected to those positions by the members. But, this will be difficult given the regional nature of representation. Chileans, for example cannot vote for a good French VP…In my experience, once councillors have served for some time, the council is able to make reasonable use of people’s skills.)

39. No more than two officers of Council may be from the same geographic region.

40. Officers need not be managers or a ccTLD representative at the time of their election.

41. Councillors shall be elected for a three year term.

    (The alternative of 2 years seems reasonable, but complicates the maths of elections, with three delegates per region. Worse, it tuns over half the council every year, which is too rapid)

42. Councillors shall hold office unless removed for not attending three consecutive meetings, or becoming convicted of a criminal offence, or becoming insane or bankrupt.

43. Casual vacancies shall at any time be filled by an election in the region from whence the Councillor vacating came. Candidates elected by this process shall serve only the remaining term of the vacating councillor.

44. Where any councillor vacates their seat with less than 6 months of their term remaining, the respective regional members may agree to forgo an election, leaving the seat vacant until the regularly scheduled annual election, when that seat, together with any other regularly occurring vacancy shall be filled.

45. Elections for Council members shall be held once each year for vacant seats. The term of office for each member of the International Council is three years, staggered so that each year one third of the Council members shall be elected

46. If at some later date other geographical regions are added and a corresponding RCA is recognised, the number of members of the Council shall be adjusted so that each regional association shall continue to have the right to elect an equal number of Councillors.

47. The International Council shall meet regularly on a schedule determined by its members, but not less than four times per year. Meetings may be held in person, or via appropriate technology, at the discretion of the Council.

48. To the extent practicable, International Council meetings should coincide with meetings of the Board of ICANN, and of the other Support Organisations.

49. The International Council shall post minutes of its meeting to the ccSO web site as soon as practicable, after the meeting has concluded

50. The International Council shall be responsible for conducting the election of that number of Corporation Board members provided in the Bylaws.

    (The number of which remains an issue for negotiation...)

51. The International Council may from time to time appoint research or drafting committees or Working Groups to review matters, draft proposals and provide expert recommendations to the Council. Such entities shall be composed of at least one representative from each regional association, and may include such other persons (including non-members of the ccSO) as the Council believes appropriate for the relevant task.

II. METHODS FOR DEVELOPING SUBSTANTIVE INTERNET POLICIES AND SELECTING BOARD MEMBERS

52. There are two principal types of policies that the ccSO will discuss.

A. ccSO Global Policies

53. There is a carefully definable set of global issues which can be put through the ccSO consensus policy development process to the policy making process of the Corporation. These are referred to herein as "global" policies.

54. Each ccTLD is solely responsible for its decision making except for that carefully defined list of global issues mentioned above, when ccTLDs agree to be bound by policies formed through the ccSO-Corporation process.

55. The ccSO Articles, Bylaws and MoU with the Corporation, and any contracts signed between individual ccTLDs and the Corporation, must ensure the integrity of the consensus decision making process including limiting that process to the set of defined global issues, and to those issues within the Corporation mandate of technical co-ordination of Internet names and numbers.

56. Global policies require a consensus-based recommendation by the International Council to the Board

57. A consensus recommendation is one that is supported by the affirmative vote of two thirds of members voting in each geographic region. If any region votes against a proposed policy, or it achieves less than a two thirds majority vote in any region it will be deemed to have failed.

58. Voting will be conducted under the condition of reasonable term for review, with credible, informative and timely announcements to all eligible members.

59. If a recommendation is supported by an affirmative vote of more than one half but less than two-thirds of the members in at least four of the five geographic regions and further provided that no region has voted against the recommendation by simple majority, the International Council shall submit the recommendation to the Board of the Corporation with statements of majority and minority views.

60. If a recommendation is supported by affirmative vote of at least one half of the members voting, the Council will submit the proposed recommendation back to the drafting committee for re-drafting.

61. If a recommendation is supported by affirmative vote of less than half of the members voting it shall be withdrawn from consideration by the International Council's working process, and shall not be presented again for consideration until at least 18 months have elapsed from the vote in question

62. All recommendations must go through an open process which allows all members to participate.

    (The nature of these this will depend on the different policies adopted in each region)

B. Operational Practices of the ccSO

63. The second type of policies which the ccSO will consider are those that relate to the procedures and practices of the ccSO itself, including the conduct of meetings, setting of annual fees, and other matters normally not "entrenched " in the constitution, but included in the Bylaws.

64. It is expected that a set of Bylaws to cover operational matters will evolve, and that these will be subject to a simple majority vote in each region, each region requiring to pass the vote.

65. If there is an issue over whether a matter is a bylaw question, or should be subject to the more rigorous test of a global policy, that question itself shall be decided according to the test for global policies

C. Selecting Nominees to the Board of the Corporation

66. Council shall elect nominees to fill the number of Board positions reserved by the Bylaws for the ccSO, from candidates proposed and seconded by members. The terms of the first set of nominees shall be one, two and three years, with the term being 3 years for subsequent nominees. In order for a candidate to be elected, the candidate must receive the affirmative vote of at least one-half of all the members of the Council. No two Board positions may at any time be held by nominees from the same geographic region.

67. Councillors may stand for election, but on announcing their candidacy, must resign from Council, causing a casual vacancy.

68. The Council shall establish procedures for run off voting, if necessary, to ensure that the selected candidates each have the support of the affirmative votes of at least one-half the members of the Council.

D. General

69. The ccSO and the Council will establish on-line methods of meeting, conducting ballots, and developing consensus.

III. OPEN AND TRANSPARENT NON-DISCRIMINATORY PROCESSES

70. The processes of the Council shall be governed by the same provisions for open and transparent non-discriminatory processes as those of the Board of the Corporation.

IV. POLICIES TO ENSURE INTERNATIONAL AND DIVERSE PARTICIPATION

71. Because of the composition of the membership and the International Council, there will automatically be international and diverse participation.

V. POLICIES FOR DISCLOSURE TO THE ccSO BY MEMBERS OF OR PARTICIPANTS IN THE COUNCIL OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST OR OTHER FINANCIAL INTERESTS IN MATTERS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE ccSO.

72. These policies shall be the same as those for the Board of the Corporation.

VI. METHODS FOR FUNDING THE ccSO AND PROVIDING FUNDING FOR THE CORPORATION

The ccSO

73. The ccSO shall fund its own expenses, including the costs of ccSO, the Council and the Secretariat unless Board policy provides that SO shall be funded from Corporation revenue.

74. Members fund the ccSO by self-selecting their membership subscription from the rates listed in Appendix 1.

75. Payment of fees is to be made within three months of selecting the fee band on application for membership. Failure to pay after that date will result in loss of membership rights.

76. Failure to pay within 6 months will result in ejection from the SO.

The Corporation

77. Funding the corporation according to policy developed through consensus-based policies on funding is a contractual term of the two contracts members have signed with ICANN. It may be a term of further contracts individual members have with ICANN. If so, the ccSO is where the policies on funding will be developed.

78. The method of developing consensus-based policies on funding will be that described above for "global " policies.

VII. SUPPORT BY CONSTITUENCIES OF DNSO, THE ASO, AND PSO

79. The ccSO has received public expression of support from the following constituencies of the DNSO:
    • Business See : www.wwtld.org/ccSO/liaison/BC.htm (suggestions only)
    • Intellectual Property See: www.wwtld.org/ccSO/liaison/IPC.htm
    • ISPC See: www.wwtld.org/ccSO/liaison/ISPC.htm
    • Non-Commercial See: www.wwtld.org/ccSO/liaison/NC.htm
    • Registrars See: www.wwtld.org/ccSO/liaison/RAR.htm

80. Support from the g-Registry constituency is qualified, and can be seen at (to follow)

81. Support from the ASO can be seen at www.wwtld.org/ccSO/liaison/ASO from the PSO at www.wwtld.org/ccSO/liaison/PSO.

    (There have been formal expressions of support from the DNSO constituencies. Each of these references needs to be formally obtained, and posted to these – or more appropriate web pages)

VIII. MECHANISMS FOR CONSULTATION WITH OTHER SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS AND COMPONENTS OF THE CORPORATION

82. Annexed as Appendix Three is the current draft report of the ccSO/DNSO Liaison Working group, which has developed a mechanism for ensuring consultation and co-operation between the two SOs. Work is proceeding on refining the agreed principles.

83. It is expected that consultation along similar lines with the other SOs will result in adoption of similar processes.

IX. TRANSITION PLAN

84. The creation of an SO can be seen as requiring, at least in part, a transition of the ccTLD Constituency of the DNSO into the ccSO.

85. The Adcom of the ccTLD Constituency will act as agent for the ccTLD managers in negotiations with the Board over the application and the formation of the SO, and in all other matters necessary to set up the SO, until the first elected Council can assume that responsibility.

86. During that period, the Adcom will make the services of the Secretariat available to support the transition until a formal agreement can be reached.

87. It is expected that much of the present leadership of the ccTLD constituency, and its Secretariat, will continue to function in those roles within the new SO.

88. A two stage Acceptance Plan by the Board is proposed.

89. An Interim Acceptance can be made as soon as it is plain to the Board that it agrees in principle with the formation of a ccSO, and that it should take roughly the form as outlined in this application. It will be apparent however, that Final Acceptance may require some attention to considerable matters of detail, including amendment to the Corporation Bylaws. While those may take some time, that need not delay such steps as signing up members to the new SO, electing its first Council, and preparing for elections of Board members.

Interim Acceptance

90. Immediately upon Interim Acceptance being given, the ccTLD Adcom will call upon all ccTLD managers undersigned to complete their membership applications. In addition, all other ccTLD managers will be encouraged to join up.

91. Four weeks after the Interim Acceptance by the Board of this application, the ccTLD Constituency Adcom shall call upon the RCAs to conduct an on-line election among the members in their respective regions for their three representatives to the International Council, according to democratic and tested principles. Each RCA shall submit its proposed election procedure to the Adcom for approval, and once approved, conduct its election according to that procedure. The Adcom will provide advice and assistance to any RCA that requires it.

92. A period of four weeks for campaigning shall be allowed, the election to be completed eight weeks from Interim Acceptance.

93. Each region shall rank its three candidates according to votes received, with the candidate receiving the most votes to be elected for a three year term, the next for two years, and the third for one year.

94. The method of conducting the election and the results obtained shall be reviewed by Adcom as to process only. Adcom shall, unless it has cause to the contrary, announce the results and confirm those elected in their positions and for their respective terms.

95. Within four weeks of being seated, the Council shall conduct an election among their number of a President and other officers.

96. Within two weeks of the election of officers, the Vice President, Finance and Administration shall cause a formal agreement to be reached with the secretariat over the provision of at least interim secretariat services until Final Acceptance.

97. The International Council shall thereafter assume the role of the Adcom in negotiating Final Acceptance, and arranging its implementations.

98. In a time frame to enable them to be seated at or by the November meeting of the Board, the International Council will conduct an election of members to allow for the nomination of Board members.

ccTLD Managers Applying for Membership

(SAMPLE ONLY)

Signed on the date shown by the following Country Code Domain Name Managers:

ccTLD Manager's Name Signature Date (dd/mm/yyyy)

1. .nz Sue Leader 28/03/2002

Regional ccTLD Associations Endorsement

SAMPLE ONLY

1. APTLD Peter Dengate Thrush 28/03/2002
2. CENTR
3. LACTLD

APPENDIX ONE

FEE BANDS FOR ANNUAL ccSO MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION (IN $ US)

1. 0
2. 250
3. 500
4. 750
5. 1000
6. 2500
7. 5000
8. 7500
9. 10,000
10. 15,000
11. 17,500
12. 20,000

APPENDIX TWO

This sets out the draft Memorandum of Understanding to be executed by The Regional ccTLD associations, the President of the International Council and the President of ICANN, confirming the role that the RCAs will play in the ccSO.

(to follow)

APPENDIX THREE

Working with the ccSO ccSO-working-with-DNSO-2002accra.html

APPENDIX FOUR

On the formation of the ccSO, ccTLD response to gTLD questions ccSO-answers-to-gTLD-2001mdr.html