The global public interest (GPI) is central to many of ICANN’s primary governance documents - the Affirmation of Commitments, Bylaws. and Articles of Incorporation. Operationalizing the concept of the GPI remains a challenge, despite years of attempts to understand and define it within ICANN.
The ICANN Board identified the GPI as one of its 2019 operational priorities. In September 2019, the Board published a discussion paper on a proposed GPI framework, which marked the beginning of a longer process to develop a framework as a toolkit for the ICANN community to consider the global public interest.
These considerations would not change the process by which decisions are made but could instead serve as tools for the community to reinforce the commitment to the public interest and to demonstrate how specific recommendations, advice, and public comments are in the global public interest. This includes the ICANN community guiding the ICANN Board about the public interest determination the latter must make in its decisions.
Webinars
Two webinars were held to discuss the proposed Global Public Interest Framework with the community:
The first webinar took place on Tuesday, 17 September 2019 at 15:00 UTC.
Recording here. |
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The second webinar took place on Thursday, 19 September at 03:00 UTC.
Recording here. |
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18 September - 18 October 2019 Community Consultation
In reviewing the proposal, the Board is asking the ICANN community to consider the following questions for input to the Board:
- What are your thoughts on the proposed framework approach? Do you have any suggestions for how it could be improved?
- What are your thoughts on the proposed approach for decisions in the ICANN ecosystem to be accompanied by a consideration of their impact on the global public interest (as well as an explanation regarding what is meant by the GPI in the specific case)?
- How do you see this working for the Supporting Organization (SO), Advisory Committee (AC), constituency, group, review team, or cross-community working group (CCWG) to which you are contributing?
Feedback should be emailed to gpitoolkit@icann.org by 18 October 2019.
Public Session at ICANN66
The public session at ICANN66 took place on Monday, 4 November from 17:00 - 18:30. For additional info, please visit: https://66.schedule.icann.org/meetings/1116753
Resources
