Stakeholders Groups

SG is the abbreviation for Stakeholders Group. The Stakeholders Group was primarily created after the Board Governance Committee Working Group recommended the creation of SGs in its GNSO Improvements Report. The Board Governance Committee (BGC) created the Stakeholder Groups with a view to enhance the creation of new constituencies as well as to add fillip to the growth of the GNSO participants. The main reason behind organizing the SGs was to eliminate the concern that would have otherwise been created due to addition of new interest groups and new constituencies as they would have led to an internal imbalance in the present composition of the GNSO Council.

The different Stakeholder Groups

The Board approved the following four SGs;

1. Commercial SG (CSG): It represents the commercial users and connectivity providers. It ensures that ICANN policies are consistent with the constantly developing Internet and is reliable for B2C and B2B transactions.
2. Non-Commercial SG (NCSG): It represents the views of those who are involved in non-commercial activities on the internet.
3. Registrars SG (RrSG): It represents the views of ICANN accredited Registrars in ICANN’s various supporting organizations and bodies.
4. Registry SG (RySG): It represents the interests of gTLD registries under ICANN and provide them with appropriate services.

Structure

The Board Governance Committee (BGC) initially did not specify the structure or the hierarchy for the SG. However, in the Charter, the SG Constituency Members should be recognized as well as approved the ICANN Board. The internal Constituency structure as well as the leadership positions and the working of every Constituency was left to the membership and the charter which the SG creates.

Functions

The SG functions only as a caucus. The SG has the responsibilities to bring together the like-minded stakeholder for the sake of electing the representatives to the Council for the sake of their representation.

Mission

The mission of the SG as stipulated under the SG’s Petition and Charter includes creating a process that would help the GNSO council members to be seated in a way that would be in accordance with the bicameral voting structure and is approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board.

Responsibilities

The SG’s Petition and Charter includes the following responsibilities that need to be carried out by the SG

• Create a methodology for and distribute the GNSO Council seats among the various member constituencies
• Select the delegates of the Nominating Committee as per the directions of the Board
• Evaluate the slate of GNSO Council candidates/nominees for the consistency within the comprehensive ICANN Bylaw requirements. For instance, geographic diversity and group representation
• Request the staff of the ICANN to assist with the following
• Coordination and organization of all the meetings of the SG
• Recruitment specifically targeted towards expanding the SG through the formation and identification of new Constituencies

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).

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).

Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group. Represents the full range of non-commercial entities of the Internet (ICANN Bylaws). Not to be confused with the At-Large Advisory Committee.