Policy Development Process
PDP is the acronym for Policy Development Process and represents the common set of practices and policies which apply within a community.
Short overview edit
The policy development process entails the steps and actions of an organization such as the RIR (Regional Internet Registry). By means of the policy development process these institutions are able to fulfill their objectives and actions.
ICANN is an organization which has always been focused on policy development by means of consensus. This is the best way to attract support and generate compliance throughout the entire global Internet community.[1]
The creation of PDP edit
The policy development process is proposed by a policy working group from various organizations and members of an RIR. Based on the PDP various policies are discussed within a specific community and ratified by the RIR Board after consensus has been reached.
The PDP involved a few staged listed below:
- The policy development process is being proposed (by any member)
- It is further analyzed by the appropriate RIR by means of mailings and discussion. Anyone can join such discussions.
- After a period of 30 days the PDP is being brought to an open public meeting for further discussions and consensus.
- If consensus is achieved, then the next step will be applied. If consensus is not achieved then another period of 30 days will be allowed for more discussions and debates until consensus is achieved. If consensus is not achieved for a long period of time, the PDP can be abandoned.
- If consensus is achieved, another period of 15 days will be given so that anyone from the community can come with new observations and suggestions for final changes.
- The policy is ratified by the Board of Trustees and the policy is adopted for use.[2]
PDP working groups edit
The working groups that propose such policy development processes consists of members which can be individuals or representatives of organizations, but the members are basically volunteers. In order to ratify the PDP there is a need for consensus. Due to the fact that working groups consist of volunteers, various problems can occur such as:
- If the number of members within a working group is too small, then the development process is slowed down and achievements are more difficult to be achieved;
- If the number of members within a working group is too large, then a consensus is more difficult to be reached due to different opinion and the development process can be delayed;
- The lack of experience and knowledge of some members can complicate the development process.
The GPDP edit
The GPDP is an acronym used for "Generic Policy Development Process" and represents a tool that tries to improve the quality of regulatory interventions by providing explicit generic processes for clear and effective regulatory development.[3]