[bc-gnso] GNSO Improvements Board action and follow-up efforts

["BC Secretariat" <secretariat@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Community Members:
 
At last Thursday's Board meeting, the Directors considered a number of issues 
related to GNSO Improvements, and made significant progress towards seating the 
new GNSO Council in Seoul. 
 
Specifically, the Board adopted resolutions that: (i) approved all of the 
Stakeholder Group Charters as recommended by the Structural Improvements 
Committee, and (ii) approved the ability of the Contracted Party House to 
select Board Seat #13, and the ability of the Non Contracted Party House to 
select Board Seat #14.  

The Board also discussed pending new Constituency applications, and 
acknowledged that Staff is posting a complete set of Bylaws Amendments for 
public comment.  The Amendments, which have been posted, reflect the Board's 
recent decisions and other GNSO restructuring matters necessary to seat the new 
Council.    
Please note that these Bylaw Amendments (Version 2)  address a number of issues 
that impact the work of the GNSO Restructuring Work Teams.  Because these 
proposed Bylaws include provisions that the GNSO Restructuring Drafting Team 
did not review during its work, Staff posted two documents to assist the 
community in its review.   One document highlights the differences between the 
GNSO proposed Bylaws proposals 
(<http://icann.org/en/general/proposed-gnso-council-bylaw-amendments-notes-comments-03aug09-en.pdf>)
 and the other is a Staff Explanation for some of the more substantive 
amendments included in Version 2 
(<http://icann.org/en/general/proposed-gnso-council-bylaw-amendments-explanation03aug09-en.pdf>).
 These include a discussion of issues such as: changes to Annex A; additional 
voting threshold for certain contracting parties; and procedures for adopting 
the GNSO Operating Rules and Procedures.  

We encourage the GNSO Restructuring Work Teams to review and discuss these 
materials at their next meetings, and to provide comments during the public 
comment period, which closes on 23 August. The Board expects to act on a 
comprehensive set of amendments at its 27 August meeting.  

 .  
Additional information on GNSO Improvements follow-up actions that should be 
completed in the next few months will be posted shortly.
 
Regards,
Denise 

Denise Michel
ICANN Vice President
Policy Development