RE: [ga] Proposed GA Adcom

[Karl Auerbach <karl@CaveBear.com>]

> Now, (I think that) the GA processes are supposed to work as follows:  Once 
> a proposal has been worked up in the DNSO GA, it is supposed to be 
> forwarded to the Names Council for consideration and (possible) approval.

The ICANN bylaws say it rather differently.

Under the bylaws, the GA (and bodies of the GA, which is what Working
Groups are) work on things.  The NC merely measures the degree of
consensus into three classes (< 50%, 50% - 65%, > 67%) and, depending on
the class, either forwards it to the ICANN board or not.

In other words, the Names Council has no power under the ICANN bylaws to
deal with the substantive merits of an issue.

(The names council members are, of course, free to join the GA and the
working groups, as they have done, and add their voices to the
discussions.  But they do so as GA and Working Group members, not as Names
Council people.)

The GA is a distinct body, it is free to organize itself in whatever
manner it sees fit subject only to those very few powers of the NC,
enumerated in the ICANN bylaws, to establish certain specific and limited
procedures for the GA.

		--karl--