The text below is excerpted from the Process and Next Steps published on 14 August 2014.
ICANN Accountability & Governance Cross Community Group
The Cross Community Group has three tasks:
- Identify issues for discussion or improvement;
- Appoint participants to the Coordination Group which may be members of the Cross Community Group or from the broader stakeholder groups; and
- Provide ongoing community input to the Coordination Group.
Membership in the Cross Community Group is open to any stakeholder. There are no prescribed membership numbers or methods of selection to this group. The Cross Community Group is envisioned as the place for representative participation for the ICANN community. Those who wish to follow and observe the work of the Cross Community Group will be able to do so through the open working methods expected for the Cross Community Group. The development of the Cross Community Group addresses comments made regarding the need for representation across ICANN's SOs, ACs, and the GNSO SG's in a way that is fully community directed. The community – not ICANN leadership – selects the members. One of the first tasks of the Cross Community Group will be to select its Chair and the stakeholder expert participants to the Coordination Group to allow the Coordination Group to meet at ICANN 51 in October 2014.
The Cross Community Group will be charged with identifying issues (in addition to those set forth in the "Issues" list compiled from the public comments) to send to the Coordination Group for further prioritization, research, and consideration. The Coordination Group will, from time to time, have matters for which it would benefit from further input from the Cross Community Group and will refer those matters back. The Cross Community Group may provide suggestions on external experts they feel would be helpful to the accountability effort.
The Cross Community Group's Charter will be developed by the ICANN Board, and will mainly focus on issues of working methods and interaction with the Coordination Group. The Cross Community Group will have wide latitude in its discussions, so long as the scope of the process as set forth above is maintained.
The Cross Community Group work is expected to proceed through open and transparent working methods. All meetings of the Cross Community Group will be through virtual methods, though there will be opportunities for face-to-face interactions at ICANN meetings where members are already in attendance. The first such opportunity will be at the October 2014 ICANN 51 meeting in Los Angeles, California.
