AIM comment re allowances system

["Philip Sheppard" <philip.sheppard@xxxxxx>]

Proposal for ICANN SO travel policy

Background: 

1. The work of SOs, in particular the GNSO Council, in tackling complex policy 
issues is
progressed more rapidly at face to face meetings. 

2. ICANN policy work in undertaken by volunteers

3. It is appropriate that ICANN fund the travel of Council members to all 
physical meetings.

4. A policy for funding travel is required that is simultaneously fair, 
reasonable, of a
standard commensurate with the professionalism of the volunteers ICANN wishes 
to attract,
and which minimises the administrative burden to ICANN.

 

Global policy experience

ICANN is not the first organisation to need a global travel policy. This 
proposal draws on
experience of multi-national companies such as Shell and BT, as well as 
international
organisations (IGOs) such as UN agencies, and the WTO. In doing so it seeks to 
avoid a
regional bias in setting travel norms. 

 

Class  of travel policy

Train:  first class.

Air travel: up to four hours economy, over four hours business class. 

 

This time reflects the typical threshold for an airline to move from a 
narrow-bodied short
haul jet (eg 737) to a long haul aircraft (747 etc) Source: British Airways

 

Funding of accommodation and incidentals

Most multi-national companies and IGOs have realised long ago that the internal
administrative cost of an expenses-based refunding system is high. In some 
cases the
internal procedures for checking and verifying expense claims and then 
refunding variable
amounts can be higher than the actual out of pocket expenses being refunded. 
For this
reason, these organisations set a system of daily allowances for a) 
accommodation and b)
incidentals such as meals depending on the location. No other costs are 
reimbursed. Such
lists are maintained by the organisations themselves at rates that are usually 
agreed with
the relevant fiscal authority so that the reimbursement does not constitute a 
benefit in
kind. 

 

ICANN will follow the daily allowances set by the UN and used by its agencies 
and other
organisations such as WTO. 

 

Administration procedure example

An SO member eg a GNSO council member attends a  three-day meeting in Amsterdam.

1.      the Council member sends a copy of the air ticket invoice (eg $500) to 
the ICANN
accounts staff member together with IBAN and SWIFT bank codes. 

2.      the meeting coordinator (eg GNSO secretary) sends a list of members who 
attended and
the number of days present to the ICANN accounts staff. 

3.      ICANN accounts staff calculates the daily allowances due, adds on the 
air fare and
sends the money electronically.

 

So in this example, using current UN rates the Council member receives:

$500 airfare + 3 x $332 accommodation = $996 +3 x $57 incidentals = $171

Total: $1667

 
 
Philip Sheppard
AIM - European Brands Association
9 avenue des Gaulois
1040 Brussels
+32 2 7360305  <http://www.aim.be/> www.aim.be
 
 
Philip Sheppard
AIM - European Brands Association
9 avenue des Gaulois
1040 Brussels
+32 2 7360305  <http://www.aim.be/> www.aim.be