[ga] Consensus

["William S. Lovell" <wsl@cerebalaw.com>]

As many of you may be aware, Joanna Lane and I have been
working mightily on a Best Practices procedure for reaching
consensus within the GA.  The first three parts of that have been
posted, as shown in the signature line down below, and the fouth
part, which outlines the function of the GA Secretariat (and hence
of the whole process) will be out shortly.  In doing all of this, it
must be recognized that the GA itself has not the slightest power
to determine whether or not it has reached a consensus. The
ICANN Bylaws, relevant parts of which are set out below, give
to the (a) Names Council the power of determining whether the
(b) General Assembly of the DNSO has reached a consensus.
But that said, the Best Practices procedures embody a mechanism
of overwhelming power if properly utilized, from which a denial
that consensus had been reached would be rather difficult to
sustain.  So time will tell how all this shakes out.

Bill Lovell
____________________
(b) The NC is responsible for the management of the consensus
building process of the DNSO. It shall adopt such procedures and
policies as it sees fit to carry out that responsibility, including the
designation of such research or drafting committees, working groups
and other bodies of the GA as it determines are appropriate to carry
out the substantive work of the DNSO. Each recognized Constituency
shall be invited to participate in each of such bodies. Each of such
bodies shall provide appropriate means, as determined by the NC,
for input and such participation as is practicable under the
circumstances by other interested parties. Any reports or
recommendations presented to the NC by such bodies shall be posted
on a web site accessible by the public for public review and comment;
absent clear justification, which shall be publicly stated at the time
of any
action, the NC shall not act on any report or  recommendation until a
reasonable time for public comment has passed and the NC has
reviewed and evaluated all public comments received. The NC is
responsible for ensuring that all responsible views have been heard
and considered prior to a decision by the NC.

* * *

    (d) If two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the NC determine that the
DNSO process has produced a community consensus, that consensus
position shall be forwarded to the Board as a consensus recommendation,
along with all materials or other information that could reasonably be
relevant to the Board's review of that determination, including (but not

limited to) the dissenting statement(s) of any member(s) of the NC. If
more than one-half (1/2) but less than two-thirds (2/3) of the members
of the NC determine that the DNSO process has produced a community
consensus, that position may be forwarded to the Board as a NC
recommendation, along with statements of majority and minority views,
and any separate or dissenting statement(s) of any member(s) of the NC.
Any proposed recommendation that is not supported by an affirmative
vote of one-half (1/2) of the members of the NC may be returned to the
body from which it originated, or may be assigned to a new body, for
further work. In such a case, the NC may report to the board the lack
of a consensus and the steps, if any, it plans to take from this point
forward with respect to this particular recommendation. The NC is
responsible for ensuring that the Board is informed of any significant
implementation or operational concerns expressed by any     responsible
party.

--
The URLs for Best Practices:
DNSO Citation:
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/gaindex.html
(Under "Other Information Documents"; "August 2001:
Proposal for Best Practices for the DNSO GA." This
page also includes much else about the DNSO.)
Part I:
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20010813.GA-BestPractices.html
Part II:
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20010813.GA-BP-flowchart.pdf
(Access to the .pdf file requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader,
available for free down load at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.)
Part III:
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20010813.GA-BP-PartIII.html


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