DAG 4 Comments: Role of the Board

[Liz Williams <lizawilliams@xxxxxxx>]

Just a follow up to the comments I made in the session in Brussels.

1.  The Board's role needs to be extremely clearly defined from the  
beginning of the process -- all applicants need to know when and under  
what conditions the board may step in.
2.  The Board, like the evaluators, need to be bound by the probity  
requirements of the evaluation process to ensure no background  
lobbying (most particularly from national governments but not  
necessarily limited to this particular group.)
3.  The Board's role in the delegation process needs to be clearly  
articulated -- if there was a bottleneck for delegation because of  
board workload for an applicant who had successfully completed the  
application process, this would be terribly unfair and impose  
unnecessary financial and operational burden on the applicant.
4.  If the Board found that, even though the applicant had passed the  
evaluation but then declined the application to be delegated, a full  
refund of the costs of the evaluation would need to apply.
Bottom line is that the Board's role in any part of the evaluation and  
delegation process is not sufficiently articulated or constrained --  
and we don't want another international arbitration on the application  
of policies fairly, neutrally and objectively.
Kind regards.

Liz