16 November 2013

Email voting:

1. Which group do you represent? GNSO Council
2. To which rules or processes do you refer? Voting
3. Please outline the problems: The Council does not have a mechanism to conduct votes outside of a meeting.
4. What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems?  The SCI should consider whether and how the Council could vote outside of a meeting and under what circumstances.  Quote from Jonathan Robinson in the Council transcript at the Wrap Up Meeting in Durban on 18 July 2013: "So I wanted - an issue I wanted us to consider maybe giving to the SCI and then to the group or to a committee to look at is I’d like to rethink about whether potentially voting by email or something like that is a possibility? I know we’ve looked at it on and off over the years.…And if that would help speed things along it would be great to just look at that issue in just maybe we can’t do it first time around obviously but for future..."  He raised this issue because the Council was in the process of scheduling a special meeting in August to conduct a vote.
5. Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes easier to administer? Potentially voting by email could in some circumstances enable the Council to avoid having to schedule a special meeting for a vote that has to occur quickly.

Waivers and/or Exceptions to the GNSO Council Operating Procedures

1. Which group do you represent? GNSO Council
2. To which rules or processes do you refer? Submitting a motion and possibly other procedures
3. Please outline the problems: The Council does not have a mechanism to waive or invoke an exception to and of its operating procedures.  An example is whether the deadline for submitting motions could be waived in certain circumstances.  Quote from Jonathan Robinson in the transcript at the Wrap Up Meeting in Durban on 18 July 2013: "And essentially I wasn’t empowered as chair by our rulebook to allow that motion to be put on the table even if technically although we have done it by precedent and prior practice, even if no one objected from the council I didn’t really - there isn’t really device in the rulebook to allow that to take place. So I personally I think that’s an area we should look at is the - when and under what circumstances - formal council procedure can be bypassed in the event that there is no objection from the council?"
4. What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems?  The SCI should consider whether and how the Council could vote outside of a meeting and under what circumstances.
5. Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes easier to administer? A waiver mechanism could allow the Council to consider a motion or document after the deadline of notice/submission to the Council has passed.

Actions from 08 October Meeting:

1.  Resubmitting a motion: Greg Shatan will suggest revised language.

2   SCI Charter:  Review final draft charter and indicate whether it is acceptable or needs further revisions by COB Tuesday 15 October; the GNSO Council is considering whether to change the decision-making methodology.

3.  Working Group Self Assessment: Staff will identify an alternate Working Group to take the survey and also revise the response form to enable Working Group members to comment also on the survey questions.

4.  Voting my email and possible inclusion of a waiver/exception:  Staff will develop a list of how many votes are taken throughout the year and when votes have been held outside of a regularly scheduled GNSO Council meeting.

5.  SCI Meeting in Buenos Aires: Staff will suggest two alternative meeting times.