Later this week, ICANN’s Chartering Organizations will indicate whether they will support the third draft proposal of the CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 1 Recommendations. This is a significant moment in the IANA transition process. Support for the accountability proposal by the ICANN community will mean that we are very close to a point when the transition can move to its next phase.

Since the beginning of this process, the IANA transition has had many moving parts. In its original announcement, NTIA identified what it called “directly affected parties” – each of whom had work to do to develop a consensus proposal on how the transition could take place in a way that upholds the core principles that NTIA set forward.

On the operational side, this work has been completed by the IETF, the RIRs and, for the most part, by the names community.

The remaining piece is to ensure that, post-transition, ICANN is fully accountable to the community it serves. This work has been ably led by the CCWG.

In Dublin, the community reached a milestone inasmuch as it agreed, in concept, to work within a so-called Single Designator Model. It is understood that this governance model can meet the requirements of the community for accountability while having minimal impact on ICANN’s corporate structure.

There is also agreement on a set of community powers “designed to empower the community to hold ICANN accountable for the organization’s Principles”.

In addition, there is general agreement on the need to clarify ICANN’s Mission & core values; to appropriately reaffirm ICANN’s commitment to human rights; and, to discuss the accountability of the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees.

Finally, in Dublin, the community agreed to a general set of procedural steps for the exercise of the community powers, namely:

Community powers will be exercised through consensus: Engage, Escalate, Enforce.

In short, there appears to be consensus around a governance framework for how accountability will work inside ICANN going forward.

Let’s not lose sight of this considerable progress.

The open questions that remain to be solved have to do the scope of those powers, who exercises these powers, and the implications for ICANN as a corporation. While these issues are by no means trivial, they are solvable, particularly if the parties stay focused and collaborate in good faith.

It strikes me that we are in a place where we need to grab consensus knowing that the community has done the hard work of satisfying the fundamentals of its Charter -- meeting the criteria for success that has been set forth, not just by NTIA, but by and for itself. I was encouraged by Steve Crocker’s blog earlier this week in which he expressed the Board’s commitment to work with the community to get the transition done on time.

For the past few weeks, there have been intense discussions on how to improve the current draft proposal based on community feedback. This is typical in any consensus process but in working collaboratively towards the ultimate objective, we should make sure that the timeframe of the transition is met.

Importantly, while the discussions about accountability are primarily focused on the ICANN community and its processes, the outcome of this is critical for the IANA transition as a whole and for all the directly affected parties to the transition.

Moreover, seeing this transition through, in a timeframe that is realistic in light of the U.S. political environment, matters for the entire multistakeholder ecosystem. We cannot go back – we cannot simply pretend that the past 22 months haven’t changed the landscape for Internet governance. They have. If we, as a community, fail to deliver, there will be ripple effects throughout the IG ecosystem.

02 Feb 2016

Leading into Marrakech: An Update from the CCWG-Accountability co-Chairs

The Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN’s Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) has ushered in 2016 with a full schedule and renewed dedication to its mission.

Following the release of the staff report and the summary of public comments, both of which were published on 8 January, the group wasted no time in setting up a rigorous schedule of conference calls for the rest of the month.

The schedule was designed to enable inclusive and informed debates about the input received during the 21-day public comment period and the feedback provided by the six Chartering Organizations of CCWG-Accountability.

The dedication of our members and participants, along with the increased involvement by members of the ICANN Board, has allowed us to make significant progress over the past four weeks. The collaborative environment has brought us even closer to our goal of a consensus proposal that will meet the requirements of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and fulfill the dependencies of the CWG-Stewardship in the ICG Final Proposal.

Here is the current status of each CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 1 Recommendations:

Recommendation #1: Establishing an Empowered Community for Enforcing Community Powers	Finalized.
Recommendation #2: Empowering the Community Through Consensus: Engagement, Escalation, Enforcement	Final comments by CCWG-Accountability. Expect final by February 5th.
Recommendation #3: Redefining ICANN’s Bylaws as ‘Standard Bylaws’ and ‘Fundamental Bylaws	Finalized.
Recommendation #4: Ensuring Community Engagement in ICANN Decision-making: Seven New Community Powers	Edits to reflect input on PTI budget (CWG-Stewardship) and indemnification language for removal of Directors by the Empowered Community.
Recommendation #5: Changing Aspects ofICANN’s Mission, Commitments and Core Values	Still under discussion by the CCWG-Accountability.
Recommendation #6: Reaffirming ICANN’s Commitment to Respect Internationally Recognized Human Rights as it Carries Out its Mission	Final comments by CCWG-Accountability. Expect final by February 5th.
Recommendation #7: Strengthening ICANN’s Independent Review Process	Edits to reflect input on applicability to PTI.
Recommendation #8: Improving ICANN’s Request for Reconsideration Process	Final comments by CCWG-Accountability. Expect final by February 5th.
Recommendation #9: Incorporating the Affirmation of Commitments in ICANN’s Bylaws	Still under discussion by the CCWG-Accountability.
Recommendation #10: Incorporating the Affirmation of Commitments in ICANN’s Bylaws	Final draft to be reviewed by lawyers before final comments by CCWG-Accountability. Expect final by February 5th.
Recommendation #11: Board Obligations with regards to Governmental Advisory CommitteeAdvice (Stress Test 18)	Still under discussion by the CCWG-Accountability.
Recommendation #12: Committing to Further Accountability Work in Work Stream 2	Finalized.

For the latest versions of all of the recommendations above, visit the CCWG-Accountability wiki.

After consensus has been reached on our few outstanding issues, the CCWG-Accountability will develop a “supplemental” report of the Work Stream 1 Recommendations, including a summary of changes from the Third Draft Report.

The supplemental report is currently being developed, and will go through an open and transparent process of 1) CCWG-Accountability consultation, 2) support staff editing/proofing, 3) co-Chair and Rapporteur finalization, 4) legal review and 5) final publication. Our hope is that the majority of changes from the Third Draft Report will relate to specificities of implementation rather than content, and as such, an additional public comment period will not be necessary before approval by the Chartering Organizations.

Our goal is to distribute the supplemental report to our Chartering Organizations in time for consideration and approval on all Work Stream 1 Recommendations at ICANN55 in Marrakech.Keeping in mind the working methods for the various Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees, we ask that this be into account as the Chartering Organizations plan their discussions and schedules leading into and during ICANN55. With that said, we encourage any Chartering Organizations that can deliberate and/or approve the Work Stream 1 Recommendations prior to Marrakech to do so.

We are grateful for the increased involvement of the ICANN Board as our work has progressed since the Third Draft Report. It has been helpful to understand Board comments in real-time, including ways to ensure any global public interest concerns are debated and considered as the recommendations are being revised. We hope to continue this open dialogue as the supplemental report is finalized, and ask the ICANN Board to be mindful of the timeline as they plan their review period of the Work Stream 1 Recommendations and submission to NTIA.

CCWG-Accountability co-Chairs
Mathieu Weill, Thomas Rickert, León Sanchez

But if we succeed, when we succeed, we will have collectively done the right thing for the Internet.

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Leading into Marrakech: An Update from the CCWG-Accountability co-Chairs