Policy Advisory Body

PAB is the abbreviation for gTLD Policy Advisory Body. It is an organization, which comprises of the signatories of gTLD MoU. The PAB was basically created along with the Council of Registrars (CORE) and Policy Oversight Committee (POC) and under the auspices of the gTLD MoU.

Mission of the PAB

The main mission of the PAB is to represent the voices of all the Internet stakeholders in the arena of the global Internet domain name system, as per the limitations set under the gTLD-MoU. For this, the PAB actively debates, solicits and tries to reach consensual positions wherever and whenever possible and voices its opinion in the form of recommendations about how the global Internet domain system should be administered. The main mission of the PAB is to work as a channel to involve those organizations and groups in the gTLD-MoU process, which are not represented in the framework of the PAB.

Functions of the PAB

The PAB was established mostly to make recommendations related to the general policy matters, which may need to be implemented in the gTLD-MoU to the POC. Any organization that wished to participate was incorporated in this body as members of the body. The decisions of this body are mostly taken on the basis of “roughed consensus” of the members of the body. However, the PAB does not have the power to make any kind of binding decisions and was created only to advise the POC. It basically serves as a ground to express new ideas and inclusion of new interest groups. The PAB is also a good platform to express the dissent against the gTLD-MoU. This has really made it one of the most powerful catalysts for change. The PAB understands that gTLD-MoU doesn’t provide any kind of oversight of the POC and hence it considers providing appropriate recommendations that would help to enhance the functioning of the POC.

Structure of PAB

The Policy Advisory Body thrives to provide a comprehensive input in the structure of the gTLD MoU. Obtaining the membership of this Body is pretty easy as it doesn’t involve paying any kind of fees or dues. Furthermore, it doesn’t include any kind of legally mandated internal structure. This is mainly because; the PAB organizes itself and works in accordance with the “rough consensus” model of the Internet.

As many as 170 organizations from various countries are represented in the Policy Advisory Body. These countries mostly include: Hong Kong, Indonesia, American Samoa, Austria, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Albania, Denmark, France, Germany, Ghana, Guadeloupe FWI, Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand, Togo, UK, and the USA Channel Islands, China, Czech Republic Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, and Monaco. In addition to these, there are 219 more signatories of the gTLD MoU but they chose not to participate in the PAB. The members of the PAB represent a wide range of interests such as large and small corporations, giant trade organizations, very small sole-proprietorships, international organizations, public service, non-profit interest groups and many others.

Officers of the PAB

The PAB elects an Executive Committee, consisting of the following officers:

1. Chair
2. Deputy Chair
3. Secretary
4. Liaison to CORE
5. PAB Representative to POC number 1
6. PAB Representative to POC number 2
7. Any additional PAB Representatives to POC