[gnso-osc-csg] Guidance for Disclosures of Interest

[Julie Hedlund <julie.hedlund@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Olga,

As you know, in the revised GNSO Council Operating Procedures approved by the 
GNSO Council on 05 August 2010, Section 5 contains a new requirement for 
members of the GNSO Council and for GNSO Working Groups/Work Teams to provide 
written Disclosures of Interest (DOIs) per the following definition in Section 
5.1:

“Disclosure of Interest:  Relevant to a specific issue at a specific time.  A 
written statement made by a Relevant Party of direct and indirect interests 
that may be commercial (e.g. monetary payment) or non-commercial (e.g. 
non-tangible benefit such as publicity, political or academic visibility) and 
may affect, or be perceived to affect, the Relevant Party's judgment on a 
specific issue.”

To simplify matters, these DOIs can be considered updates to the members’ 
existing Statements of Interest (SOIs) already provided.  For example, if a 
member has an update relating to the work under discussion, it should be 
provided in writing to the email distribution list and it will be appended by 
staff to the existing SOI and posted.  See the SOIs at: 
https://st.icann.org/data/workspaces/icann-osc/attachments/constituency_operations_team:20090228061643-0-15066/original/GNSO%20OSC%20CSG%20Work%20Team%20SOIs.pdf.
  Please note that in future staff intends to develop a brief online form for 
the submission of SOIs and DOIs once the content of Section 5.3.3 (SOI 
questions) is determined and approved. That new electronic form process will be 
used by all new Working Groups.

In addition, to initiate these new procedures, we recommend that you announce 
at your next meeting the procedures and I will read the definition of the DOI.  
You should then ask if any members have any DOIs to provide that would update 
their SOIs and, if so, to state them now and to provide them in writing to the 
list.

I know that we have already done something similar to this in a previous 
meeting, but we didn’t have the definition of the DOI on hand or this new 
guidance.  So, if we should need further meetings, we can initiate this 
procedure.

You also should note that on 15 September the GNSO Council Operations Work Team 
is taking up the issue of possible changes to the SOI/DOI procedures, including 
section 5.3.3, which has not been approved pending changes to the content of 
SOI questions, as well as any changes to how the DOIs are provided.  You may 
also wish to note that in future staff will develop a brief online form for the 
submission of SOIs and DOIs once the content of Section 5.3.3 (SOI questions) 
is determined and approved

For subsequent meetings we suggest that the Chair/Vice-Chairs should ask at the 
beginning of the meeting whether members have any updates to their DOIs.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  For your reference, the complete 
GNSO Council Operating Procedures can be found at:  
http://gnso.icann.org/meetings/operating-procedures-revised-draft-clean-09oct09-en.pdf.

Best regards,

Julie