Barcelona Consultative Meeting on the Formation of the DNSO - Final Agenda

Background

Article VI of the Bylaws of ICANN defines the requirement for a Domain Name Support Organization (DNSO). Section 3.B of that Article requests an application to be forthcoming to the ICANN Board of Directors proposing the establishment of the DNSO and covering a list of items specified in the section. It further implies that the ICANN Board expects to receive only one proposal supported by a broad consensus of the interested parties.

An outline of an application to form the DNSO has been prepared which has sections covering all the items required by the ICANN Bylaws. However, it leaves many specific items to be determined. It has been prepared by only one interested party in DNS matters. It is the intention of that initiating party to jointly propose a final version of the proposal to ICANN with as many other relevant parties as it can in order to meet the consensus requirements of the Bylaws.

It is not intended to remain the property of any one party, but a joint submission which will satisfy all of the party's expectations of the DNSO. Nothing in the initial document is cast in stone but is subject to debate and discussion to reach a final text.

Aims of the Barcelona Meeting

It is hoped that the majority of key players will attend the 3 day meeting to debate, evaluate and decide on the many issues left open in the initial draft proposal. The meeting will start with a few presentations by the key players as to what is important to their constituency and how they see these being covered in the DNSO's structure.

The majority of the meeting will be a facilitated debate to try to reach consensus on as many open issues as possible, and, where consensus is not possible within the time frame of the meeting, to bring out the differing views within the document for more extended debate.

The output of the meeting is intended to be a revised version of a proposal to ICANN for the establishment of the DNSO.

The meeting will only consider issues of the structure, operation and scope of the DNSO. It will NOT begin debating or considering any of the substantive matters which will be the subject of the DNSO itself, such as the creation or not or new gTLDs, the position of ccTLDs with respect to ICANN, the role of Registrars and Registries etc.

The aim is to prepare the specification of a new organization which will be openly able to decide on all such matters for recommendation to the ICANN Board.

Plan for the Meeting

Friday 16th Venue: Casa Llotja de Mar, Passeig Isabel II, 1 08003 - Barcelona. Note: Entrance to the Llotja will be at Carrer del Consolat del mar (the immediate parallel to Passeig Isabel II)
1500 - 1600 Registration of attendees
Collection of fees
1600 - 1630 Opening Session
  • Welcome by Jordi Masias on behalf of Mr. Antoni Negre i Villavecchia, President, Cambra Oficial de Comerç, indústria i Navegació de Barcelona (Barcelona Chamber of Commerce)
  • Local arrangements: Amadeu Abril i Abril, Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca (Catalan Research Foundation)
1630 - 1930 (approx.) Session I - The Background
Chair: Amadeu Abril i Abril

This session will be an opportunity for each of the representatives of the key interests involved to make a short (20 min) presentation to the attendees of the key requirements of their constituencies:

  • The ICANN environment where DNSO must sit: David Maher (POC)
  • The ccTLD perspective: Bernard Turcotte (.CA) and Kilnam Chon (APTLD)
  • Registrars' expectations: Ken Stubbs (CORE Excom Chair)
  • Potential Registry Perspective: Jay Fenello (Iperdome)
  • Internet-related Industry: Neil Gibbs (ETNO) & Olivier Muron (France Telecom)
  • The Trademark owners' needs: Carles Prat (MARQUES)
  • The general business community: Jordi Masias (Cambra oficial de Comerç, Indústria i Navegació de Barcelona/Eurochambres)
  • Government concerns: Christopher Wilkinson (European Commission/DG XIII)
The session will close with a short brainstorming on whether new items should be added to the following sessions, or whether items should be moved from one session to another.
Saturday 17th
0900 - 1300
[30 min coffee break]		 Session II - Structural Issues
Chair: Dr. Nii Quaynor

This session will address issues concerning membership of DNSO:

  • the types of membership classes
  • eligibility for each class 
  • financial "size"? employee "size"?
  • length of existence? incorporation status?
  • differences for each class?
  • how to get the "user" input
  • are users the same as DN Registrants?
  • are ISPs the same as Registrars?
  • are TM organizations sufficiently representative of business as a whole disclosure requirements on members
Also to be addressed are issues surrounding an "Executive" for the DNSO:
  • is an executive/council of management needed?
  • if so, what size should it be?
  • what should its representative structure be?
  • would this executive be the Domain Names Council?
Lunch Nominalia/Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca invites all DNSO Meeting participants for the Saturday lunch at El Gran Café!
1530 - 1930
[30 min coffee break]		 Session III - Financial Matters
Chair: Tadao Takahashi

This session will cover:

  • membership fees
  • how apportioned among the membership classes
  • how to relate, if at all, to size of member
  • who sets the budget: executive/members/ICANN?
  • how voting relates to fees and membership classes
Sunday 18th
0930 - 1300
[30 min coffee break]		 Session IV - Procedural Methods
Chair: Fay Howard

Covering issues of election process for the council and how the organization makes decisions and gives its recommendations to the ICANN Board

  • powers of the council v powers of members
  • length of tenure of council members
  • methods of filling vacancies
  • majority for decision making (membership, council)
  • chairperson of council?
Also there is a need to cover methods for the discussion and resolution of substantive issues
  • how are new proposals tabled
  • how is the discussion moderated
  • how should votes be taken (timetables, deadlines)
  • methods for selecting DNSO reps to the ICANN board
1530 - 1730  Session V - Final Drafting

A (perhaps smaller) group of representatives will meet to document the findings of the meeting as a whole and to prepare a revised text of the proposal

The output document will be made available on the WEB as soon as possible with recommendations as to what the next steps are: submission, revision, another meeting?