LACRALO Operating Principles (EN) 2015-03-16

 

LACRALO Operating Principles

 

Introduction

 

The Latin America and the Caribbean Region (LACRALO) was established on December 4, 2006 during the 27th International ICANN Meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, through a Memorandum of Understanding between ICANN and in general the structures that were established in Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

LACRALO is guided by the bylaws, rules and policies of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

See ICANN constituent documents at http://www.icann.org/en/about/governance.

 

About the facts

In the monthly LACRALO teleconference dated February 18, 2010 (http://goo.gl/o0ByMX) , the Chair and Secretary decide to include the Proposal of Amendment to the LACRALO Operating Principles as Item 4 of the Agenda.

One of the main arguments discussed in this teleconference, to implement the amendment to the LACRALO Operating Principles, was that the Chair's and Secretary's mandate would come to an end in April 2010.

The Current Operating Principles (See Principle 4: http://goo.gl/YyUiT2) state that the Chair's mandate term length is of one (1) year, with an indefinite possibility of reelection. In regards to the Secretary's mandate, these Operating Principles do not state the length of the mandate (See Principle 6 and 7).

As it can be seen in the teleconference transcription from the meeting held on February 18, 2010, it is stated both in its English version (http://goo.gl/LNEKv2) and its Spanish version (http://goo.gl/9PX4fw), that it is necessary to modify the LACRALO Operating Principles in order to increase the length of the mandate term from one (1) year to two (2) years, restricting reelection to only one consecutive mandate period.

Further, the current Chair and Secretary have indicated their desire to be reelected, upon the approval of these amendments. Therefore, it is suggested that an amendment proposal be developed, which can be subjected to an online vote by all members of LACRALO for its approval.

The desire to make other amendment proposals was also expressed, but it was stated that these could be discussed in the ICANN Annual Public Meeting in December 2010, which would be held in Cartagena, Colombia, where a LACRALO General Assembly was expected to take place (but was not held).

The urgent request was to be able to modify the Operating Principles before the ICANN meeting in Nairobi and the call for candidates for the Chair and Secretary positions in LACRALO, which had to be opened by mid February, 2010, in order to carry out elections in March 2010, and for the elected Chair and Secretary to be able to take on their duties in April 2010.

During this teleconference it was said that 2/3 (66%) of the online voting members is required in order to adopt the amendments to the Operating Principles. In the teleconference carried out on February 25th, 2010, this was discussed and it was proved that this expression is incorrect, given that Rule 12.8 of the LACRALO Rules of Procedure states: “When a vote on a non-procedural question shall be required, the measure shall be carried if it receives a two-thirds vote of those ALSes present and voting.”  Therefore, the correct interpretation of this rule is that it is referring to in-person General Assemblies. This amendment could have only been voted and approved during an in-person General Assembly, not through an online voting system.

The possibility of including a Board of Directors in the LACRALO Operating Principles, who would work on urgent matters related to our region if needed, was also discussed during this teleconference. This item was then not included in the agenda to be discussed by the original Operating Principles amendments Working Group.

In this teleconference, dated February 18, 2010, delegates from seven (7) ALSes were present. Therefore, according to what was a usual custom at that moment (we are stating that this was a "custom" because no official LACRALO document was found where this was indicated), a quorum of eight (8) ALSes was required to be present in order for this meeting to be held. Which means that this meeting was not entitled to make any valid decision.

Thus, the LACRALO Operating Principles amendment Working Group created during the teleconference dated February 18th, 2010, is not a valid Working Group, since it was formed while violating the quorum "rules" required for virtual LACRALO meetings.

This Working Group (http://goo.gl/oJ6UT6 ) had a mandate to modify specific items where possible areas for modification are included:

1. The term of the LACRALO chair and secretariat should be increased from one year to two years.

2. Persons elected to the LACRALO chair and secretariat can only serve for two consecutive terms.

3.  There should be specific dates when the term of the chair and the term of the secretariat starts.

4. Should the terms of the chair and secretariat be staggered so that the election for both positions does not occur at the same time?

5. Persons serving as LACRALO chair and LACRALO secretariat should be from different countries and from different ALSes.

6. The election of the LACRALO chair and secretariat would be done by a LACRALO general assembly (virtual or face to face) convened for a set period (e.g 6 months) prior to the start of the terms of the Chair and the Secretariat.

7. Should there be a redefinition of what constitutes a quorum in LACRALO meetings?

This Working Group was created by different people, many of whom never participated, others stopped participating, and later, new people who were not originally part of the group began to participate.

Meetings between ALS members, both from the Caribbean and Latin America, were held periodically since the date of creation of this Working Group. Even during the ICANN Cartagena meeting (Colombia) in December 2010, and in the Singapore meeting in June 2011, several ALS delegates who were present in both held informal work meetings.

During all this time of work, agreements were reached regarding certain principles that should be included in the proposed amendments, broadening the Working Group's original mandate.

However, we also came to a point where it was difficult for us to move forward since some ALS delegates were requesting changes to the Operating Principles, which could not be agreed upon. Therefore, since the Singapore meeting, the LACRALO Operating Principles amendment Working Group ceased to continue its work.

Some months before LACRALO General Assembly in Costa Rica in March 2012, a group of delegates from LACRALO ALSes promotes an action to amend the Rules of Procedure to be discussed in the Assembly and to define whether they would be adopted or not. Since there is no agreement on the work presented, a new working group is created to deal with it.

At this stage, after a first frustrated attempt following the Costa Rica Meeting, a second governance working group is created as from the meeting on December 9th, 2013, led by Sergio Salina Porto and with the following members: Dev Anand Teelucksingh, Juan Manuel Rojas, Leon Felipe Sanchez, Wladimir Davalos, Oscar García, Vanda Scartezini, Fatima Cambronero, Aida Noblia, Sylvia Herlein, Yuyuqui Loqui, Raitme Cittero, Cristian Casas, Alyne Andrade, José Arce (resignation 15/04/14), Carlos Aguirre (rresignation 13/08/14) and as observers: Alberto Soto and Humberto Carrasco.

This working group sets its main objective which is to produce a document that includes the study and review of LACRALO Operating Principles and Rules of Procedure currently in force, developing a proposal for amendments of both regulatory entities under the framework of good Internet Governance Principles.

This Working Group will examine the possibility of incorporating metrics for LACRALO accredited ALS representatives covering particular circumstances for ALS participation in our region.

The work that precedes this introduction is the result of a lively debate among the various components of this working group and it was made available in the region for discussion and comments on May 23, 2014, all view points were studied and taken into account and many of them were added to this final document.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

 

ALAC – At-Large Advisory Committee

ICANN's At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) is responsible for considering and providing advice on the activities of ICANN, as they relate to the interests of individual Internet users (the "At-Large" community).  ICANN is a private and nonprofit corporation responsible for the technical management of Internet addresses and the domain name system. In this regard, ICANN relies on the ALAC and its supporting infrastructure for individual Internet users to be included and widely represented.

On 31 October 2002, the ICANN Board adopted New Bylaws that establish the ALAC and authorize its supporting At-Large organizations.  (Article XI, Section 2(4) of the New Bylaws.)  The New Bylaws, which are the result of ICANN's 2002 reform process, went into effect on 15 December 2002. ALAC is to eventually consist of ten members selected by Regional At-Large Organizations, supplemented by five members selected by ICANN's Nominating Committee. To allow the ALAC to begin functioning immediately, the Transition Article of the Interim Bylaws provides for the Board to appoint ten members (two from each of ICANN's five regions) to an Interim ALAC.

ALAC will be supported by a global network of At-Large Structures (ALS) to be organized independently and will have their own economic resources and will gather individual Internet users together at a local or issue level.

The At-Large Structures (either existing organizations or newly formed for this purpose) will self-organize into five Regional At-Large Organizations (one in each ICANN region, namely: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, and North America) The Regional At-Large Organizations will manage outreach and public involvement and will be the main forum and coordination point in each region for public input to ICANN.

 

ALS:

At Large Structure

 

Advisory Committee 

An Advisory Committee is a formal advisory body made up of representatives from the Internet community to advise ICANN on a particular issue or policy area.  Some are mandated by the ICANN Bylaws and others may be created as needed. Advisory committees have no legal authority to act for ICANN, but report their findings and make recommendations to the ICANN Board.

 

ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized, non-profit corporation that has responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions.  Originally, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and other entities performed these services under U.S. Government contract. ICANN now performs the IANA function. As a private-public partnership, ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and to developing policy appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes.  The DNS translates the domain name you type into the corresponding IP address, and connects you to your desired website. The DNS also enables email to function properly, so the email you send will reach the intended recipient.

ISP:

Internet Service Provider

 

LACRALO:

Regional Organization for Latin America and the Caribbean

 

MOU: Memorandum of Understanding

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) attempts to set and define the activities to be

performed by RALOs and supported by ICANN.

 

NomCom:

The Nominating Committee (NomCom) is an independent committee in charge of the selection of eight members of the Board of Directors and other key positions within ICANN as set forth in its Bylaws. (See Bylaws Article VII, Section 1).

 

Operating principles, rules of procedure, regional bylaws

RALO operations are based on a detailed set of principles and procedures in the operating principles, rules of procedure and / or regional bylaws.

 

RALO:

 At-Large Structures (either existing organizations or newly formed for this purpose) will self-organize into five Regional At-Large Organizations (one in each ICANN region, namely: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, and North America) The Regional At-Large Organizations will manage outreach and public involvement and will be the main forum and coordination point in each region for public input to ICANN.

 

REGISTRARS

Domain names ending with .aero, .biz, .com, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, .net, .org, and .pro can be registered through many different companies (known as "registrars") that compete with one another. A listing of these companies appears in the Accredited Registrar Directory.

 

REGISTRY

 

The "Registry" is the authoritative, master database of all domain names registered in each Top Level Domain. 

The registry operator keeps the master database and also generates the "zone file" which allows computers to route Internet traffic to and from top-level domains anywhere in the world. Internet users don't interact directly with the registry operator; users can register names in TLDs including .biz, .com, .info, .net, .name, .org by using an ICANN-Accredited Registrar.

 

 

Tittle 1 General Principles

 

1. LACRALO is formally constituted by the ALSes of Latin America and the Caribbean accredited by the ALAC as a mechanism to guarantee participation by regional users in the process of developing ICANN policies.

 

2. LACRALO will promote the formation of user groups and their accreditation by the ALAC.

Nevertheless, mechanisms will be maintained to ensure that the regional users not integrated into ALSes can express their opinion on the development of ICANN policies.

The approval procedure for an ALS is governed by the ALAC rules, however the LACRALO view will be expressed as per ANNEX 1 of the Rules of Procedure, under the name of ALAC PROCEDURE TO COMMENT ON ALS CERTIFICATION.

 

3. Two categories of membership in LACRALO are recognized:

a) Full Members, who are those user members of user groups accredited by the ALAC, and who have a voice and vote in the discussions and decisions of LACRALO; and

b) Non Plenary Members or Observers, who are those individual users not belonging to user groups accredited to the ALAC, who have voice but no vote in the discussions and decisions of LACRALO.

 

The right to vote on LACRALO matters granted to full members will be determined by a minimum participation level.

 

Full representatives shall also act as official contacts of the ALS vis-à-vis LACRALO for the duration of their appointment, and their responsibilities will be to keep their emails updated and to notify the At-Large Secretariat and Staff of any changes in these emails and in the names of these representatives.

Civil Servants from their respective countries that are public policy makers, members of companies in the ISP sector or registries or registrars shall not be ALS representatives.

 

4. LACRALO is multilingual from its inception. All documents will be written and all discussions will be held in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

Those languages that at the time of amendment of these Operating Principles were not included shall be gradually included according to the region's requirements.

The need to add other languages that were not considered at the time of the drafting of this document will be revised periodically.

 

5. LACRALO´s objective shall be to promote, encourage and maintain the participation of Internet users in Latin America and the Caribbean in the process of developing ICANN policies for the use and development of Internet in the region.

 

Title II of LACRALO General Assembly

 

6. The supreme and sovereign governing body of LACRALO will be a General Assembly composed of one (1) representative of each accredited ALS. Each ALS accredited in the General Assembly shall be entitled to one vote.

 

The General Assembly shall, to the extent possible, operate by consensus.

 

 

Title III of LACRALO Authorities

 

III. A. LACRALO Chair and Vice Chair

 

7. The General Assembly shall elect, from amongst its members, a person to act as the LACRALO Chair, and another person to act as Vice Chair, each with a two (2) year mandate term, with the possibility to be reelected only for one consecutive period.

 

8. The process of election of the LACRALO Chair and Vice Chair shall take into account equal geographic distribution, participation, leadership, commitment and personal competence of the candidates.

 

9. The Chair's duties will consist of, among other things:

a) To promote and lead the debate on ICANN policies in the region;

b) Be a link between the discussions in ALAC and the contributions made by LACRALO representatives before ALAC;

c) Represent LACRALO in ICANN meetings in any of its Advisory Committees and Supporting Organizations as well as in outreach activities;

d) Promote increase in ALS participation in the region carrying out activities aimed at incorporating new organizations periodically;

e) Lead LACRALO discussions in mailing lists, teleconferences, face to face meetings and elsewhere.

f) Exercise of Board Chair functions in accordance with Article 37.

 

10. The Function of the Vice President shall be:

a) Help the Chair to coordinate the activities of different LACRALO working groups

b) Be part of a working group within LACRALO.

 

11. Both the chair and the vice chair are required to submit a report of the management annual report within the framework of the General Assembly and to put it for the consideration of the Assembly.

 

12. They are also obliged to submit a report of their activities during their whole term.

The mechanism to carry out this shall be specified in the rules of procedure.

 

13. The Vice Chair shall take on the Chair's duties until the end of the Chair's mandate term only in case of the Chair's resignation, absence, incapability, decease or conflict of interests, which impede him/her of carrying out his/her duties. The Chair and Vice Chair shall be selected from the same call for elections and as a result of the preference obtained from this election's results.

 

For cases of conflict of interest the rules established by ICANN with additional procedural rules shall be used.

 

III. B of LACRALO Secretariat

 

14.  LACRALO shall be assisted by a Secretariat. The duties of the Secretariat shall be performed by an ALS delegate appointed by the General Assembly.

 

15. Only in case of resignation, absence, incapability, decease or conflict of interests, which impede the Secretary from carrying out his/her duties, the Vice Secretary shall take on the Secretary's duties until the end of the Secretary's mandate term. The Secretary and Vice Secretary shall be elected during the same call for elections and as a result of the preference obtained from this election's results.

 

16. The Function of the Vice Secretary shall be:

a) To assist the secretariat to facilitate the necessary tools for working groups fully operational within LACRALO.

b) Be part of a working group within LACRALO.

 

17. The term to perform their duties will be of two (2) years, with the possibility to be reelected only for one consecutive period.

 

18. The Secretariat shall have administrative and informative functions. The Secretariat will be responsible for maintaining the communication systems, ensuring the proper exchange of information on matters that are being discussed among all the ALSes belonging to LACRALO, and any other tasks assigned to it by the LACRALO Board of Directors.

 

19.  The elected Chair and Secretary must be members of different ALSes, their main place of residence must be in different countries of the region and such place of residence must coincide with the ALS country they represent.

 

20. The following evidence shall be useful as elements to determine the main residence of a person:

a) The place where he/she pays taxes

b) The type of visa with which a person resides in a country.

c) Any other element allowing to distinguish a main residence from other type of residence.

 

21. This determination shall be made by the LACRALO board in a duly founded decision that may be claimed before the LACRALO General Assembly which will decide acting by a majority of ALSes by voting in person or online.

 

22. Upon failure to determine the main residence of a person or in case there would be more than one, residence shall be determined according to a choice made by that person by any means.

 

23. The diversity requirements will not be applied between full members and substitutes.

 

24. For a better continuity of policy discussions, the Chair, Secretary and their corresponding substitutes, shall be renewed in alternate periods, and a representative will be elected every year.

 

III. C. of LACRALO Representatives to the ALAC

 

25. LACRALO shall elect two (2) individuals to serve as representatives before the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and another two individuals to serve as their respective substitutes, on the terms specified in the ICANN Bylaws.

 

26. Only those ALSes that have been accredited prior to the election and are currently active shall be entitled to vote in the election.

 

27. Each accredited ALS shall be entitled to one vote. The selected representatives must be members of different ALSes, their main place of residence must be in different countries of the region and their place of residence must coincide with the ALS country they represent.

 

28. The representatives shall be responsible for the duties stipulated in the ICANN Bylaws.

 

29. The diversity requirements will not be applied between full members and substitutes.

 

30. Among the functions and duties of representatives before ALAC, the most important ones are:

 

a) To promote and lead the debate on ICANN policies in the region;

b) Be a link between the discussions in ALAC carrying the voice of the region together with LACRALO Chair and Secretary;

c) Debate whenever possible with the ALSes in the region what is being discussed within ALAC and express a regional review.

d) To vote according to the opinion of the majority in the region, when the region has expressed its opinion about some topic.

e) Be accountable for its actions before LACRALO.

 

31.  The mandate term of the two representatives elected by LACRALO for ALAC shall be of two (2) years and they may be reelected only for one consecutive period.

 

32. The respective substitutes of the elected LACRALO representatives for ALAC shall take on the elected LACRALO representatives' duties until the end of their mandate only in case of resignation, absence, incapability, decease or conflict of interests, which impede the LACRALO representatives from carrying out their duties.

 

The Function of Vice ALAC shall be:

c) To assist ALAC representative to spread the different topics being discussed in ALAC and to collaborate with the representative for the region to express its views on these topics.

d) To be part of a working group within LACRALO.

 

33. Each full member and substitute will be elected during the same call for elections as a result of the preference obtained from the respective election's results.

 

34. For a better continuity of policy discussions, these representatives shall be renewed in alternate periods, and a representative will be elected every year.

 

To establish cases of conflict of interest, the rules established by ICANN with additional procedural rules shall be used.

 

III. D of LACRALO Board of Directors.

 

35. LACRALO shall have a body, named Board of Directors, which will have administrative and operative functions.

 

36. This body will be comprised by a minimum of eleven accredited ALS representatives and will be automatically formed by the people who are elected to act as Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Vice Secretary, both representatives elected by LACRALO for ALAC and their respective substitutes, and the representative elected by the NomCom for ALAC.

 

37. For the integration of the two remaining members, called Policy Directors, the Chair of the Board will call delegates of accredited ALSes to be part of this Board, an integration shall be made automatically.

 

38. The two alternate ALAC representatives, Vice Chair and Vice Secretary shall each be part of a working group within LACRALO.

 

39. The Vice Chair shall be the working group coordinator within LACRALO pursuant to Section 10 subsection b.

 

40. The function of each of these six Policy Directors will be to lead different Working Groups within LACRALO, and be in charge of selecting the members for the respective groups and conducting discussions on matters that are being discussed in ICANN.

 

41. When making decisions by the Board, each member shall have one vote and decision shall be made by simple majority.

 

42. The the length of the mandate term of each one of these five Policy Directors shall be determined according to the needs of the specific subjects that are being dealt by each Working Group, and they may be replaced periodically by decision of the Board. .

 

Title IV. of the election of the Chair, vice Chair, Secretary, Vice Secretary, ALAC members and ALAC vice members

 

43. To elect a Chair, Secretariat, LACRALO representative for ALAC and their corresponding substitutes, a virtual meeting shall be convened for the sole purpose to listen to the candidates' proposals and platforms; the election shall be carried out through an online vote, for which all ALS delegates entitled to vote shall be summoned and registered, and a specific target date will be set for this online vote.

 

Title V of LACRALO monthly meetings

 

44. LACRALO shall have an organic monthly meeting operation by electronic means which will enable virtual meetings or by any other means determined by the chair and secretary.

The operational forms will be defined in the rules of procedures and secondarily by any other rule applicable to LACRALO.

 

Temporary Provisions

 

45. First Temporary Provision. The amendments established within this amendment will be considered to be applicable to the current mandates of LACRALO Chair, Secretary and representatives for ALAC.

 

46. Second Temporary Provision. In regards to the staggered election of the LACRALO Chair and Secretary established in Operating Principle 7, the mandate of the Secretary who is acting in this role at the moment of the approval of the respective amendments shall be extended to 3 years. This way, on the second year of mandate of the LACRALO Chair, a call for elections will be made in order to replace him/her, while the Secretary continues performing his/her functions until the next year, which is when a call for elections will be made to replace him/her on the third year of his/her mandate.

 

47. Third Temporary Provision. The constitution of the LACRALO Board of Directors will be made during the next election, once the amendments included herein are approved.