ICANN REFORM AND ICANN's GOVERNMENTAL ADVISORY COUNCIL POSITION
A VIEW FROM ITALY
| By Stefano Trumpy, ISOC.IT |
estratto da ISOC-England: ISOC-E Digest 19 June 2003 Volume 2: Issue 03
URL http://www.england.isoc.org/newsletter/Issue-06-June-03.html
| In this article, I will put my view on the GAC position and its possible role in ICANN's reform after Rio meeting held the last March. I am following up on Richard Francis's article (ISOC-E Newsletter Vol. 1.3 - http://www.england.isoc.org/newsletter/) "Governance of the Internet at the Crossroad - ICANN 2 ?" and I will not repeat the background information contained in it. |
| The opinions I express are personal opinions of a GAC member having a technical background and a special interaction with the Italian Internet Community, as President of isoc.it I am referring to the GAC activity in general and on the last communiqué published in occasion of the public forum in Rio discussing, among other arguments, ICANN's evolution and reform. http://www.icann.org/committees/gac/communique-25mar03.htm |
GAC
continued to focus on the implementation of ICANN reform and on it's contribution
to the policy development process; this implies that the GAC will have
a major role in ICANN's decision making mechanism. This is connected to
the fact that the governments believe that ICANN has to gain more legitimacy
through them, in order to fulfill it's tasks and that the GAC is the appropriate
body to accomplish it. There are several aspects of GAC's role in the new
ICANN structure, including:
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Concerning the
organization of the work of GAC has to be reported:
The historical chair Paul Twomey has become ICANN's President and CEO; this move is a relevant one because Paul is the first non US President and also because he comes from a long experience as GAC chair. This last aspect says a lot about the evolution of the public - private partnership in ICANN. The setting of the secretariat function at the European Commission is another new in the GAC. The secretariat is then no longer connected to the chair and is handled by a team of people provided by the EC; this will give the possibility of giving more continuity and capacity to the GAC as a body able to produce analysis and preparing proposals, draft papers, etc. The secretariat supports the activity of the working groups and organizes the GAC meetings. The secretariat is managed by Christopher Wilkinson, former vice-chair of the GAC. |
| Arguments
at stake:
The cooperation with the International Treaties Organizations, in particular with WIPO and ITU. In their respective field of competence, they might play in the future an increasing role in the matters concerning intellectual property matters, DNS and IP numbering, in collaboration with ICANN. ITU, in occasion of a recent very successful workshop on ccTLDs, expressed official positions aiming towards a major collaboration with ICANN. WIPO has recently issued recommendations on names of countries and Intergovernmental Organizations. These organizations, where the governments are represented, tend not to interfere in the internal reorganization of ICANN and will be ready to make concrete proposals, when the reform process will be completed. GAC representatives have the task to interact with the government representatives in WIPO and ITU, in order to reach a coherent view on ICANN's reform and it's relations with the international treaties organizations. |
| ICANN mission statement, core values and policy implications. The mission statement and core values document proposed by the Evolution and Reform Committee has been reviewed and amendments have been proposed. Basically GAC believes that ICANN space of operation will depend on the funds made available by the stakeholders, on the support of external organizations and on the extent of policy implications. I would say that the tendency is towards a rather light new ICANN compared with the initial proposal of Stuart Lynn. http://www.icann.org/general/lynn-reform-proposal-24feb02.htm GAC's position on policy implications tends to limit the policy aspects to those strictly tied to the core values of ICANN. |
| GAC proposal for private/public partnership: This is a key issue, not for a matter of principle that is clear but for the way to realize this partnership within ICANN. GAC opinion is that the GAC itself is the forum where to realize that partnership; some GAC delegates asked to express clearly that. |
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