Business Constituency

The Business Constituency (BC) represents the position and interests of small, medium, large and multinational enterprises as DNS and Internet Users to the within the ICANN. The Constituency has more than 1.5 million member worldwide wherein 90% belong to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It is one of the Constituencies under the Commercial Stake Holders Group (CSG) set forth by the ICANN Bylaws.

Mission

The main objective of the Business Constituency is to ensure the full representation of the views and interests of the Internet business user community, as ICANN policies should be consistent in maintaining a secure, stable and reliable internet in conjunction with business development and promote consumer confidence and the policies of the internet governing body should incorporate a broad stakeholder participation in a common forum for both suppliers and users.

Responsibilities

The Business Constituency has a Executive Committee designated to administer, supervise and coordinate its activities and positions to accomplish its mission and effectively represent its members to the ICANN Board.

The Constituency's responsibilities include:

• Election of two representatives, from different geographical regions, to the GNSO to discuss the Constituency's position regarding domain name policy issues.
• The Constituency's Credentials Committee evaluates the qualification of a member based on the BC charter. David Fares, Mike O'Connor & Martin Sutton are members of the Credentials Committee.
• Appoints two members to ICANN's Nominating Committee to represent the small and large business. Mike Roberts & Chris Martin were appointed in 2009.
• The BC appoints one rapporteur who will be responsible for leading every major policy issue, prepare drafts of position papers, and serve as spokesperson; appoints one support and one or more observer to be assigned to the rapporteur to ensure a more active policy group.

Executive Committee

• Marilyn Cade, Chair
• Steve DelBianco, Vice Chair Policy Coordination:
• Chris Chaplow, Vice Chair Finance & Operations:
• Zahid Jamil & Mike Rodenbaugh, GNSO Councilors
• Sarah Deutsch,CSG Representative

Roles of BC Members

Every member has important role and contributes to the development of the Constituency by:

• Sharing their views and opinions regarding ICANN's proposal to change policies
• Contributing to developing the Constituency's position in the GNSO Council
• Providing Input in every ICANN public comment process
• Becoming an active participant to the BC e-mail lists
• Attending the BC Conference calls
• Becoming Issue Managers/Rapporteurs regarding specific policy topics and help in guiding the development of positions for the Constituency.
• Helping to represent the interests and views of the Constituency in the development of policy recommendation for gTLD Policy through Working Groups
• Representing the Constituency in leadership position in the different organization of ICANN
• Reaching out and act as "ambassadors" to other businesses, to increase awareness and business engagements within ICANN and Business Constituency
• Serving as liaison for information exchange and interaction on behalf of the Business Constituency with other GNSO constituencies
• Interacting and speaking on behalf of business users regarding their concerns and views with the ICANN Board its staff, and other stakeholders, such as the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC).

Positions and Statements on ICANN Policy Issues

The Business Constituency actively provides the consensus position and statements of its member for every ICANN Policy that greatly impact the interest of the commercial internet and DNS users. The Constituency provided its positions and statements regarding:

• gTLD Applicant Guidebook
• Inter Registrar Transfer Policy Part B Working Group Proposed Final Report
• Recommendations on new gTLD Guidebook
• Recognizing new UDRP providers
• Initial Report on Registration Abuse Policies
• Process for Amending gTLD Registry Agreement
• Response to theWhois Response Team
• Response to the Security, Stability, and Resiliency Review Team
• Propose new GNSO policy development process and many other policy issues presented within ICANN

Business Constituency

Commercial Stakeholder Group. Represents the full range of large and small commercial entities of the Internet, including the Business Constituency, Intellectual Property Constituency and the Internet Service Providers and Connectivity Providers Constituency (ICANN Bylaws).

Generic Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities set forth in the Bylaws (ICANN Bylaws).

Governmental Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues (ICANN Bylaws).