Technical Liaison Group
The Technical Liaison Group (TLG) is a group within ICANN whose purpose is to provide the ICANN Board with appropriate sources of technical advice on specific matters related to ICANN's activities.[1] The TLG acts in both a responsive and a 'watchdog' capacity. They must provide information both by request of the ICANN Board or other ICANN bodies, and also provide ongoing information about the progress of relevant technical developments which may affect the Board's decision-making process.
The TLG is not to have officers or hold meetings, nor shall it have any involvement in IANA's technical work with the IETF.[2]
Composition[edit | edit source]
The TLG is comprised of four organizations:
- The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
- The Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
- The World Wide Web Consortium or W3C
- The International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T).
Each group elects a maximum of two representatives to serve in the TLG, who are responsible for decided how and where to direct a technical question from ICANN. These individuals are technical experts, and must be present when necessary. The current representatives are:
- Christian Toche (ETSI)
- Howard Benn (ETSI)
- Reinhard Scholl (ITU-T)
One representative from the TLG is elected to serve as a Non-Voting Liaison to the ICANN Board. For 2011, this is Reinhard Scholl. A representative is also chosen annually to be a voting delegate for the Nominating Committee. These representatives are chosen rotationally: the rotation order for the Board liaison is ETSI, ITU-T, W3C, and the rotation order for the NomCom delegate is W3C, ETSI, and ITU-T. The IAB does not participate in the rotation, as the IETF otherwise appoints representatives to both structures.[3][4]