Introduction

Please find below the basic information on RALO Organizing Documents.

Draft Text

RALO Name

Approved/Draft Text within RALO Organizing Documents 

Notes

African Regional At Large Organisation (AFRALO)

To date, no draft text exists.

AFRALO Organizing Instruments

Asian, Australasian and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization (APRALO)

To date, no draft text exists.

APRALO Organizing Instruments

European Regional At-Large Organization (EURALO)

Options to Include Individual Members in the EURALO Structure as discussed on the EURALO Teleconference of 18-Jan-2011. 
The preferred approach, as discussed on the EURALO Teleconference of 18-Jan-2011 and approved by EURALO¹s Online voting and GA in May 2011, is the following:

OPTION B: Create a new ALS within the current structure that serves as the home to unaffiliated members. 

In this model, a new European ALS would be formed to "collect" unaffiliated individuals from the region. This ALS would be part of the existing EURALO structure and would need to fulfill the minimum ALS requirements according to the ALS formation framewor and also ICANN Bylaws. Once it is an integral part of the EURALO structure, this ALS would have the same rights and responsibilities as any other regional ALS.In particular:
     *The ALS needs to submit to the  EURALO Board their primary point of contact which shall also be responsible for casting the votes
     *Each ALS has one vote at the GA

The current Bylaws would not prevent the EURALO Board and the At-Large Staff from assisting the "individual-member-ALS" with voting procedures and the like if this is desired. However, the internal decision-making process would ultimately be independent from EURALO under the current Bylaws. To ensure that the representative of the individual members accurately reflect the view held among the ALS membership, it is important that the instruments and mechanisms of this individual-member-ALS are well designed and solid enough to prevent capture. If the ALS is endowed with a robust bottom-up decision-making process, the EURALO Bylaws would not need a special status for this ALS.

If additional safeguards are deemed necessary, EURALO could either:
     *Add a rule to the EURALO Bylaws to the effect that all At-Large Structures (or “members”) need to adopt a verifiable process to ensure that votes cast via their elected representatives reflect the views held among their membership.
     *Explore whether it is possible under the current MoU with ICANN to create a special status for the individual-member-ALS in the EURALO bylaws. According to this status, the internal processes of that ALS would need to follow certain          procedures set by EURALO/At-Large


EURALO Organizing Instruments

Latin American and Caribbean Islands Regional At-Large Organization (LACRALO)

To date, no draft text exists.

LACRALO Organizing Instruments

North-American Regional At-Large Organization (NARALO)

NARALO Memorandum of Understanding 
The NARALO shall be comprised of all At-Large Structures and Unaffiliated Individuals within the North American Region. All interested citizens or residents within the North American Region are welcomed to join as unaffiliated individuals, to join an ALS, to encourage their organization to apply for ALS certification or to form a new organization and apply for ALS certification. 

Operating Principles
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.

NARALO Organizing Instruments 

Bylaw Information

The following ICANN Bylaws contain information relevant to RALO Organization.

Article XI, Section 2, Paragraph 4:

g. There shall be one RALO for each Geographic Region established according to Section 5 of Article VI. Each RALO shall serve as the main forum and coordination point for public input to ICANN in its Geographic Region and shall be a non-profit organization certified by ICANN according to criteria and standards established by the Board based on recommendations of the At-Large Advisory Committee. An organization shall become the recognized RALO for its Geographic Region upon entering a Memorandum of Understanding with ICANN addressing the respective roles and responsibilities of ICANN and the RALO regarding the process for selecting ALAC members and requirements of openness, participatory opportunities, transparency, accountability, and diversity in the RALO's structure and procedures, as well as criteria and standards for the RALO's constituent At-Large Structures.

h. Each RALO shall be comprised of self-supporting At-Large Structures within its Geographic Region that have been certified to meet the requirements of the RALO's Memorandum of Understanding with ICANN according to paragraph 4(i) of this Section. If so provided by its Memorandum of Understanding with ICANN, a RALO may also include individual Internet users who are citizens or residents of countries within the RALO's Geographic Region.

i. Membership in the At-Large Community

  1. The criteria and standards for the certification of At-Large Structures within each Geographic Region shall be established by the Board based on recommendations from the ALAC and shall be stated in the Memorandum of Understanding between ICANN and the RALO for each Geographic Region.
  2. The criteria and standards for the certification of At-Large Structures shall be established in such a way that participation by individual Internet users who are citizens or residents of countries within the Geographic Region (as defined in Section 5 of Article VI) of the RALO will predominate in the operation of each At-Large Structure within the RALO, while not necessarily excluding additional participation, compatible with the interests of the individual Internet users within the region, by others.
  3. Each RALO's Memorandum of Understanding shall also include provisions designed to allow, to the greatest extent possible, every individual Internet user who is a citizen of a country within the RALO's Geographic Region to participate in at least one of the RALO's At-Large Structures.
  4. To the extent compatible with these objectives, the criteria and standards should also afford to each RALO the type of structure that best fits the customs and character of its Geographic Region.
  5. Once the criteria and standards have been established as provided in this Clause i, the ALAC, with the advice and participation of the RALO where the applicant is based, shall be responsible for certifying organizations as meeting the criteria and standards for At-Large Structure accreditation.
  6. Decisions to certify or decertify an At-Large Structure shall be made as decided by the ALAC in its Rules of Procedure, save always that any changes made to the Rules of Procedure in respect of ALS applications shall be subject to review by the RALOs and by the ICANN Board.
  7. Decisions as to whether to accredit, not to accredit, or disaccredit an At-Large Structure shall be subject to review according to procedures established by the Board.
  8. On an ongoing basis, the ALAC may also give advice as to whether a prospective At-Large Structure meets the applicable criteria and standards.

At-Large Improvements

ICANN ALAC Review Working Group Final Report

The ICANN ALAC Review Working Group Final Report includes the following language on the involvement of individual users:

3.2.2.4. Involvement of individual users in other parts of ICANN

The WG believes that ALAC is the primary organisational home for the voice and concerns of the individual Internet user, although individual users may choose to participate in many other ways in the ICANN process.

The WG acknowledges that an individual may have several perspectives on ICANN issues and therefore may wish to participate in ICANN in several ways. One individual might wish to contribute to ICANN

processes as a business owner through the Business Constituency, through the IP constituency as a lawyer and as an individual Internet user, through the ALAC. It is important not to confuse the possibility for an individual to contribute in several places because of these different perspectives with the need for the individual’s participation as an individual Internet user to have an organisational home.

The WG also believes that there is a difference between the inclusion in the ICANN process of input reflecting the concerns of individual users (for which the primary organisational home is At Large), and the inclusion

of input from organisations that operate on behalf of individuals. Bona fide consumer protection groups are an example of such an organisation. In the opinion of the WG, ICANN should seek to include in the ICANN

process such organisations whose mandate is to protect the interests of individuals. Such groups might choose to be part of the At Large as an ALS. Another logical place for including them might be as a constituency or part of a constituency within the GNSO. Implementation of significant GNSO Improvements is now under way, including the consideration of the role of individual Internet users in the GNSO, and those efforts should be coordinated with the ALAC leadership.

Recommendation 10 of the At-Large Improvements Implementation 

Recommendation 10 of the At-Large Improvements Implementation Project acknowledges the role of indiviudal users:

At-Large Advisory Committee The At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) is the primary organizational home within ICANN for individual Internet users. The role of the ALAC shall be to consider and provide advice on the activities of ICANN, insofar as they relate to the interests of individual Internet users. This includes policies created throughICANN’s Supporting Organizations, as well as the many other issues for which community input andadvice is appropriate. The ALAC, which plays an important role in ICANN’s accountability mechanisms, also coordinates some of ICANN’s outreach to individual Internet users. According to ICANN’s Bylaws, the 15-member ALAC consists of two members selected by each of the Regional At-Large Organizations for a total of ten directly elected representatives, and five membersselected by the Nominating Committee. The five members selected by the Nominating Committeeshall include one citizen of a country within each of the five Geographic Regions.