GNSO Improvements Initiative

GII is the abbreviation for GNSO Improvements Initiative. It is an initiative undertaken by the Board of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to improve the accessibility, efficiency and the overall effectiveness of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO).

Background of GII

Just like any other structure of ICANN, the GNSO too is subject to review every three years. There were in all three independent reviews conducted of the GNSO which included GNSO self-review (2004), by the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2005-06 and then by the Board Governance Committee Working Group (BGC WG) in the year 2007. Based on the input of these reviews, the Board Governance Committee Working Group approved the following areas for improvement in the GNSO. The GNSO is now implementing these following five areas:

1. Adopting a Working Group Model: This working group model would become the key point in framing policies and improve the policy development process by making it more representative and inclusive as well as effective and efficient.
2. Revising the Policy Development Process (PDP): The GNSO is revising the PDP and working towards making it more responsive and effective based on the policy development needs of ICANN. It is being brought on a line with the effort and time that is actually required to develop a policy and is making it consistent with the existing contracts of ICANN.
3. Restructuring of the GNSO Council: The Council is being moving away from a legislative body looking after voting towards focusing more towards being a strategic entity consisting of four major stakeholder groups having strengthened management and a good oversight of the term limits of the PDP for the members of the Council.
4. Enhancing the Constituencies of GNSO: The GNSO is also working on making the constituency operations and procedures more transparent, easily accessible and accountable.
5. Enhance communication and co-ordination with ICANN structures: The GNSO has also found the need to implement a regular contact between the GNSO constituencies, GNSO Council and the members which the Council selects to the Board.

Initiative taken by ICANN

ICANN invited all the interested entities/individuals to participate in the GII and ask them to contribute their expertise. To get this done, ICANN provided a set of 5 primary ways to the interested entities/individuals through which they can participate in the GII. These mostly include:

1. Contributing in building or launching of a new GNSO Constituency.
2. Reconfirming the charter of an already existing GNSO Constituency with the ICANN Board.
3. Contributing towards setting up new Stakeholder Groups.
4. Participating in the five new GNSO Improvements Work Teams.
5. Providing necessary input as and when the new GNSO improvement-related proposals are made available for public comment.

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).

Policy Development Process