ICANN Reviews

As a public service organization, ICANN's bylaws establish the scope and direction of the organization's mission, commitments, and core values. The Bylaws specify review processes for ICANN and its stakeholder organizations. The review processes are designed to ensure that ICANN is performing its mission in the best way possible. Reviews aim to evaluate the health of the multistakeholder model, ICANN transparency and accountability, organizational effectiveness, and the security and stability of the DNS.

ICANN Review Cycle

Specific and Organizational Reviews each follow process models that share a common set of themes and expectations. In each process, the review is planned by a team or work party. In the case of Organizational Reviews, there is then the intervening step of selecting and engaging an Independent Examiner. Then, the review is conducted. Organization Reviews move directly to implementation, while Specific Reviews submit findings and recommendations to the ICANN Board, which then acts on the recommendations. In each case, the implementation of recommendations is refined and improved, and the implemented improvements become standard procedure. The different action phases are laid out below:

Action Phase	Specific Reviews	Organizational Reviews
Phase 1	Assemble a Review Team	Assemble a Working Party
Phase 2	Plan Review	Plan Review
Phase 3	Conduct Review	Engage Independent Examiner
Phase 4	Board Action	Conduct Review
Phase 5	Plan Implementation	Plan Implementation
Phase 6	Implement Improvements	Implement Improvements
Phase 7	New Standard Operating Procedure	New Standard Operating Procedure

Specific Reviews

ICANN's operations are subject to periodic Specific Reviews, enumerated in Article 4.6 of the bylaws:

• Accountability and Transparency (ATRT) - focused on ICANN operations
• Security, Stability, & Resiliency (SSR) - focused on the DNS
• Registration Directory Service (RDS/WHOIS) - focused on registration data and public access to registration information
• Competition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice (CCT) - ushered in as part of the New gTLD Program, this review is focused on the domain marketplace and the experience of registrants and other consumers

Timing & Process

ATRT, SSR, and RDS/WHOIS reviews must take place periodically, and no more than five years after the last review team was convened A CCT review is initiated one year after the launch of a New gTLD application round.

Review teams typically include members, observers, and/or liaisons from stakeholder groups, supporting organizations and advisory committees. The review process timeline runs between three to nearly five years, and involves multiple opportunities for participation, public comment, and deliberation among stakeholders.

Organizational Reviews

Each supporting organization and advisory committee, as well as the Nominating Committee is periodically reviewed pursuant to Article 4.4 of the Bylaws. The GAC is exempted from Article 4.4, although it is charged to implement and deploy its own review processes.

Timing & Process

The bylaws state that organizational reviews should take place no more than five years from the submission of the final report of the last review to the ICANN Board. However, that requirement is flexible, and "based on feasibility as determined by the Board."

An Independent Examiner is contracted to perform the fact finding, assessment, reporting, and recommendations of the review process. The examiner is selected through a competitive bid process. The review timeline for organization reviews can stretch between three to five years. Like specific reviews, the process has multiple stages of public comment, as well as interaction and comment between the organization being reviewed and the Independent Examiner.

Past Reviews

Specific Reviews

Review Type & Number	Status	Date Initiated	Date Completed	ICANN Wiki Page	Documents
CCT #1	Implementation Phase	October 1, 2015		CCT1	CCT1 Final Report - PDF
ATRT #1	Complete	January 11, 2010	January 29, 2013	ATRT1	ATRT1 Final Report - PDF ATRT1 Implementation Report - PDF
ATRT #2	Complete	October 5, 2012	December 31, 2015	ATRT2	ATRT1 Final Report - PDF ATRT2 Implementation Report - PDF
ATRT #3	Implementation Phase	January 31, 2017		ATRT3	ATRT3 Final Report
RDS/WHOIS #1	Complete	June 1, 2010	December 31, 2015	RDS1	RDS1 Final Report (PDF) RDS1 Implementation Report (PDF)
RDS/WHOIS #2	Implementation Phase	October 28, 2016		RDS2	RDS2 Final Report (PDF)

Efforts to Improve & Streamline the Review Process

Both the ICANN Board and ICANN staff have recently been engaged in efforts to improve the review process for both specific and organizational reviews. In 2019, the Board issued new Operating Standards for Specific Reviews In addition, ICANN staff drafted a process proposal for streamlining organizational reviews in April 2019. Public comments on the proposal addressed a much broader range of challenges and difficulties than the proposed streamlining measures.

The Board and staff of ICANN continue to address the issues raised during public comment processes, public meetings, and other communications related to the efficiency and timing of reviews. In November 2019, Lars Hoffman presented at ICANN 66 on the topic of improving the effectiveness of review recommendations and their implementation.