Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability

The Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) was launched as part of the IANA Functions Stewardship Transition to develop and improve accountability mechanisms within ICANN and its constituent organizations.

Background

The IANA Functions Stewardship Transition was spurred by the NTIA's announcement in March 2014 that they intended to "transition key internet domain functions to the global multistakeholder community." At the time, ICANN was already serving as a contractor to the NTIA to perform those functions. The transition planning required the development of a plan that satisfied NTIA's stated requirements:

• Support and enhance the multistakeholder model;
• Maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS;
• Meet the needs and expectations of the global customers and partners of the IANA services; and
• Maintain the openness of the Internet.

ICANN initiated a discussion with the community around the topic of enhancing ICANN accountability and proposed a working group to respond to accountability issues, in May 2014. Before the CCWG was officially formed, public comment was sought on ICANN's "Enhancing ICANN Accountability" brief on its website. A second round of public comment occurred regarding ICANN's posting on the process and next steps in August 2014. In addition, the (Second Accountability and Transparency Review) presented its final report and recommendations in 2014, adding to the volume of community input and policy recommendations regarding accountability.

The CCWG-Accountability was established to develop ICANN-level accountability mechanisms to ensure that the NTIA's criteria were met, as well as to validate and strengthen ICANN's accountability to its stakeholders. As the CCWG's charter makes clear, community support for any transition proposal required improved accountability measures:

During discussions around the transition process, the community raised the broader topic of the impact of the change on ICANN's accountability given its historical contractual relationship with the United States and NTIA. Accountability in this context is defined, according to the NETmundial multistakeholder statement, as the existence of mechanisms for independent checks and balances as well as for review and redress. The concerns raised during these discussions around the transition process indicate that the existing ICANN accountability mechanisms do not yet meet stakeholder expectations. Recent statements made by various stakeholders suggest that current accountability mechanisms need to be reviewed and, if need be, improved, amended, replaced, or supplemented with new mechanisms (see for instance ATRT recommendations) in light of the changing historic contractual relationship with the U.S. Government. Considering that the NTIA has stressed that it is expecting community consensus regarding the transition, a failure to meet stakeholder expectations with regards to accountability may create a situation where NTIA does not accept the IANA transition proposal as meeting its conditions. Thus reviewing ICANN’s accountability mechanisms was considered to be crucial for the transition process.

The chartering organizations for the working group were the ALAC, the ASO, the ccNSO, the GAC, the GNSO, and the SSAC.

Dependencies and Work Streams

The IANA Transition was coordinated by the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG), whose job was to gather, assess, and consolidate proposals from the three operational communities affected by the work performed by IANA: names, numbers, and protocols. The IETF's IANAPLAN Working Group created the protocol proposal; the Regional Internet Registries assembled the CRISP Team to draft the proposal for the numbers community, and a number of chartering organizations within the ICANN community chartered the IANA Stewardship Transition Cross Community Working Group (CWG-Stewardship) for the development of a proposal for the names community. The functions surrounding numbers and protocols were, in the eyes of the respective operating communities, comparatively straightforward, as were the requirements for oversight. In the names operational community, however, there were multiple larger issues, including ICANN's accountability to fulfill its commitments to stakeholders and the global public interest. As a result, the CWG-Stewardship's transition proposal included both accountability proposals as they related to IANA functions and a number of dependencies upon actions or decisions of the CCWG-Accountability working group. The CCWG-Accountability charter described the interrelationship between the two working groups in this way:

This process on Enhancing ICANN Accountability is taking place alongside a parallel and related process on the transition of the stewardship of the IANA functions through the CWG to Develop an IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal on Naming Related Functions (hereinafter CWG-Stewardship). The CWG-Stewardship’s scope is focused on the arrangements required for the continuance of IANA functions in an accountable and widely accepted manner after the expiry of the IANA Functions Contract. Accountability for the administration of the IANA functions (i.e., implementation and operational accountability) is not within the scope of the CCWG-Accountability as it is being dealt with by the CWG-Stewardship. Nevertheless, the two processes are interrelated and interdependent and should appropriately coordinate their work.

To facilitate a smooth and swift transition of the IANA functions stewardship, the CCWG-Accountability divided work into two streams. Work Stream 1 addressed accountability issues that had to be addressed and resolved prior to the transition of the IANA stewardship from NTIA to the global multistakeholder community. Work Stream 2 focused on "those mechanisms for which a timeline for implementation may extend beyond the IANA Stewardship Transition."

Transforming Contractual Obligations into Institutional Mandates

A common concern raised in the wake of the NTIA's announcement was how to maintain ICANN's accountability to the global Internet community once there was no longer a contract for services between NTIA and ICANN. Similar concerns were raised in relation to the Affirmation of Commitments, which was expected to be terminated either alongside the expiration of the NTIA contract or in the aftermath of the transition of IANA stewardship functions. The working group's charter included an examination of how to ensure ICANN's accountability to the multistakeholder community in the absence of such legal safeguards.

Work Stream 1

Work Stream 1 (WS1) held its first meeting in December 2014. The group had a distinction between members and participants. All members were participants, but not all participants were members. The members of WS1 were appointed from the working group's chartering organizations:

ALAC
Leon Sanchez (Latin America) – Co-Chair
Sebastien Bachollet (Europe)
Tijani Ben Jemaa (Africa)
Alan Greenberg (North America)
Cheryl Langdon-Orr (Asia/Asia Pacific)

ASO
Fiona Asonga
Athina Fragkouli
Izumi Okutani
Jorge Villa

ccNSO
Mathieu Weill (.FR, European Region) – Co-Chair
Jordan Carter (.NZ, AP Region)
Eberhard Lisse (.NA, African Region)
Roelof Meijer (.NL, European Region)
Giovanni Seppia (.EU, European Region)

GAC
Par Brumark (Niue)
Olga Cavalli (Agentina)
Alice Munyua (African Union Commission)
Suzanne Radell (USA)
Julia Wolman (Denmark)

GNSO
Thomas Rickert (GNSO Council, Europe Region) – Co-Chair
James Bladel (RrSG, North America Region)
Becky Burr (RySG, North America Region)
Steve DelBianco (CSG, North America Region)
Robin Gross (NCSG, North America Region)

SSAC
Lyman Chapin
Julie Hammer

Others
Bruce Tonkin - ICANN Board Liaison
Samantha Eisner - ICANN Staff Representative

Participants were defined as anyone with an interest in the work of the CCWG-Accountability:

Anyone interested can volunteer to join the CCWG as a "participant," regardless of whether they are members of the ICANN community. Participants are expected to actively contribute to mailing list conversations as well as meetings. It is anticipated that participants will provide essential input to the process. They will participate similarly to ICANN chartering organization-appointed members and will be required to provide a Statement of Interest (SOI).

199 individuals submitted SOIs as participants. The distinction between appointed members and participants was a source of contention on a few occasions, including the submission of minority statements to CCWG drafts. Faced with a number of issues to address, the WS1 team divided into several work parties: legal, IRP implementation oversight, community empowerment, review & redress, emerging issues, and stress testing. Each group addressed facets of the identified work areas for the CCWG-Accountability project as a whole. During the course of its work, it became apparent that a work party should also be devoted to human rights issues.

Work Stream 1 drafts, meetings, work party activities, and other information can be found in their workspace archive.

Work Stream 1

main article: CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 1

Work Stream 1 (CCWG-Accountability WS1) was a process for ICANN to facilitate a smooth and swift transition of the IANA functions stewardship. The CCWG-Accountability divided work into two streams. WS1 addressed accountability issues prior to the transition of the IANA stewardship from NTIA to the global multistakeholder community. Work Stream 1 held its first meeting in December 2014.

Work Stream 2

In June 2016, the CCWG-Accountability Team began organizing WS2 issues into nine independent topics. By ICANN 61 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March 2018, all eight WS2 team sub-groups had completed public consultations of their draft recommendations and submitted final reports and received the approval of the CCWG-Accountability plenary. The final report released in June 2018 included over 100 recommendations for the ICANN Community, Board, and Org to undertake. Implementing WS2 was included as a priority for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. By the end of Q1 of 2022, ICANN Org had completed 13 recommendations for ICANN org were complete, leaving 39 recommendations still in progress. The org expects to complete implementing the guidance on ICANN Board deliberation transparency (Recommendation 8.3), enhancing staff accountability mechanisms, publishing service level targets (Recommendations 7.1-7.3), and developing a web page on ICANN's human rights efforts (Recommendation 3.1).

Areas for Improvement

Diversity

• ICANN and SO/ACs should define, measure, promote, and support diversity. Toward this end, ICANN Organization began its search for a diversity SME in December 2021 to be hired by April 2022.

Guidelines for Good Faith

• The Guidelines for Standards of Conduct Presumed to be in Good Faith Associated with Exercising Removal of Individual ICANN Board Directors outline the procedures for petitioning and carrying out a review and vote to remove a board member.

Human Rights Framework of Interpretation

• The team recommended a Framework of Interpretation for the ICANN Bylaw on Human Rights.

Jurisdiction

• ICANN should be required to apply for and secure an OFAC license if the other party is otherwise qualified to be a registrar (and is not individually subject to sanctions). During the licensing process, ICANN should be helpful and transparent in the licensing process and communication with the potential registrar.
• ICANN should commit to applying for and securing an OFAC license for all applicants that would otherwise be approved (and are not on the specially designated nationals list).
• ICANN should clarify to registrars that their RAA with ICANN does not cause them to be required to comply with OFAC sanctions.
• ICANN should explore various tools to remind registrars to understand their applicable laws and reflect those laws in their customer relationships.
• ICANN should pursue one or more OFAC general licenses. If unsuccessful, ICANN should find other ways to remove “friction” from transactions between ICANN and residents of sanctioned countries.

Ombuds

• The Office of the Ombuds should

1. Clarify the role and processes to manage expectations
2. improve its standing and authority
3. Strengthen independence
4. Become more transparency
5. Develop a Policy for non-dispute roles

Reviewing the Cooperative Engagement Process

• The reviewing of the Cooperative Engagement Process (CEP) was merged with the Independent Review Process – Implementation Oversight Team (IRP-IOT) in June 2017.

SO/AC Accountability

• Every SO/AC/Group should document and publish its processes, guidelines, and decisions on its webpage. They should make the rules of eligibility and criteria for membership should be outlined and shared. SO/AC/Groups should consider term limits.

Staff Accountability

• ICANN Org should:

1. describe the organization’s performance management system and process; how departmental goals map onto ICANN’s strategic goals and objectives; and the Complaints Office's connection to the Ombudsman Office;
2. evaluate and possibly include other communication mechanisms;
3. enhance accountability mechanisms;
4. work with the community to develop and publish service level targets and guidelines (similar to the Service Level Agreement for the IANA Numbering Services) that clearly define the services provided by ICANN to the community; and
5. standardize and publish guidelines for timeframes for acknowledging requests made by the community and for responding with a resolution or updated timeframe for when a full response can be delivered.

Transparency

• ICANN should

1. improve its Documentary Information Disclosure Policy (DIDP),
2. document and report on its interactions with governments,
3. improve the transparency of Board deliberations, and
4. improve ICANN’s Anonymous Hotline (Whistleblower Protection).