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ORIGINAL:  English

DATE:  03 October 2010

STATUS: FINAL

Introduction

prepared by the Staff

The Operating Principles of the North American Regional At-Large Organisation were certified as having been adopted on 12^th June 2007 by the Interim Chair of the NARALO.

 The first revision of the Operating Principles was adopted on 3rd October 2010 by the NARALO ALS representatives.

(End of Introduction)

NARALO Operating Principles

 1.    The North American Regional At-Large Organization (NARALO) promotes and assures the North American user participation in the ICANN policy development process. It is formed by the unaffiliated individuals who meet the requirements under rule 17 and by those North American At-Large Structures (ALSs) accredited by the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC).

2.    The NARALO will function as long as the Memorandum of Understanding between ICANN and the NARALO remains valid.

3.    Participation to NARALO discussions is open to every user and group of users and their participation will be promoted.

4.    The NARALO will be multilingual from its inception. Public documents will be produced in English and French.

5.    The governance of the NARALO will be exercised by a General Assembly, formed by 1 representative of each member ALS and 1 representative of the unaffiliated individuals. Each year the General Assembly shall elect a Chair and a Secretariat from among the membership of the ALSs and the unaffiliated individuals. Each member of the General Assembly shall be allowed to cast a vote. The election can take place by electronic mail, online balloting, written balloting, or any other means deemed convenient and accurate by the Secretariat. The Chair shall act as moderator and facilitator of the work of the NARALO. The Chair shall be empowered to issue Calls for Statements of Interest for service on the ALAC and to sign and receive any official correspondence to and from ICANN or the At-Large Structures. The Chair and Secretariat shall be ineligible to serve on the ALAC or ICANN's Nominating Committee in any year in which they serve for NARALO.

6.    The General Assembly will be able to set up ad-hoc Task Forces to deal with specific issues.

7.    The General Assembly and its Chair will be supported by a Secretariat. The role of the Secretariat could be exercised by a person or an organization, as long as they fulfill the language requirements.

8.    The Secretariat will have administrative and informative functions. It will be responsible for maintaining a working communications system and for ensuring the information flux about the issues under discussion between the NARALO participants. The person(s) fulfilling the function of Secretariat to the NARALO shall be ineligible to simultaneously serve as the Chair of the General Assembly.

9.    The NARALO will choose two (2) persons to serve as members of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), in the terms that are specified in the ICANN By Laws. The candidates shall be unaffiliated individuals or members of different ALSs and must live in the region. Selected members will have the responsibilities described in the ICANN Bylaws and the RALO documents.

10.    These members will serve for terms of two (2) years and may not serve more than two consecutive terms totaling more than 40 months. Each new ALAC member selected by the NARALO will be seated at the close of ICANN's annual meeting. ALAC members filling a vacancy will be seated immediately following their nomination. The first chosen ALAC members will serve one (1) and two (2) years respectively, to allow for the yearly selection of one ALAC member, and they will be seated at the ICANN meeting where the MOU between ICANN and the NARALO is signed. If the first chosen ALAC members cannot agree between themselves on the length of their respective terms, a draw will determine which individual serves for one (1) and two (2) years.

11.    At least once a year, on or before the First of July, or whenever a vacancy arises, the NARALO shall issue a call for Statements of Interest from members of the North American Internet community to serve on the ALAC. The call for Statements of Interest shall be open for at least 30 days. New ALAC members will be selected and announced sufficiently in advance of ICANN's annual meeting to allow them to be seated as required by Paragraph 10.

12.    After the close of the period for submission of Statements of Interest, the NARALO shall convene its General Assembly to select its member(s) for the ALAC. Selection of the ALAC should be made through a "rough consensus" process. "Rough consensus" does not require that all participants agree although this is, of course, preferred. In general, the dominant view of the NARALO shall prevail. (However, it must be noted that "dominance" is not to be determined on the basis of volume or persistence, but rather a more general sense of agreement.) Consensus can be determined by electronic mail, online balloting, written balloting, or any other means deemed convenient and accurate by the Secretariat. Note that 51% of the NARALO does not qualify as "rough consensus" and 99% is better than rough. It is up to the Chair of the General Assembly to determine if rough consensus has been reached. (This definition of "rough consensus" is substantially similar to that found in paragraph 3.3 of RFC 2418).

13.    In the event that the Chair determines that rough consensus does not exist for the selection of one or more candidates for ALAC seats, the General Assembly will vote. In the event of a tie, the Chair will cast an extra vote.

14.    Rough consensus, as determined by the Chair, will generally be used within the NARALO to manage its current affairs (e.g. producing recommendations to ICANN).

15.    These Operating Principles will take effect when adopted by not less than 70% of the active North American At-Large Structures. They may be amended at any time by an affirmative vote of not less than 70% of active North American At-Large Structures.

16.    When an ALS representative does not vote in 3 consecutive NARALO elections or does not contribute a comment on ICANN policy through collaboration on the At-Large discussion lists in 12 consecutive months, it automatically loses its voting rights and active status within the NARALO. The ALS should be notified of the status change and may regain its voting rights and active status if within the next 12 months it votes or participates to online discussions, otherwise the Chair will submit to ALAC a request for de-certification of that ALS.

17.    The members of the unaffiliated individuals, including the representative to the NARALO General Assembly must submit a Statement of Interest indicating that they meet the following criteria:

• be subscribed to the NA-Discuss list,
• be a permanent resident of one of the countries/territories in the North American region as defined by ICANN,
• not be a member of a certified ALS.

The unaffiliated individuals will be responsible for selecting their representative to the General Assembly. Such representative must not be employed or contracted by, or have substantive financial interest in, an ICANN contracted registry or accredited registrar. Selection of a new representative of the unaffiliated individuals will occur whenever a new ALAC member is selected by the General Assembly.

The unaffiliated individuals will adopt a verifiable process to ensure that votes cast via their elected representative reflect the views held among their membership.  It shall also be possible to adopt an automated electronic voting process whereby the votes cast by all unaffiliated individuals combined are weighted to be equal to that of one ALS. This shall be promoted particularly in the event of electronic voting.

18.    Participation to NARALO affairs and discussions implies agreement with the NARALO Code of Conduct.