Governmental Advisory Committee
GAC is the acronym for the Governmental Advisory Committee, which is a formal advisory body providing important feedback and input for ICANN regarding its public policy.[1]
Overview
ICANN relies on certain advisory committees to receive guidance and advice related to the interests and needs of stakeholders who are not able to directly participate in the Supporting Organizations; one of these advisory committees is the Governmental Advisory Committee, which is composed of representatives of national governments from all over the world.
The GAC provides its advice and guidance upon request. One of its most important responsibilities is its duty to analyze ICANN's activities and policies as they might influence governments, especially with regards to the interaction between ICANN's policies and national laws or international agreements.[2]
The GAC has the duty to incorporate the diverse opinions and perspective of its members when supplying advice to ICANN, and it's imperative that its members stay informed about new Internet trends and pending policy issues.
The GAC is constantly looking for new members, especially from developing countries in order to increase global awareness, increase participation, and make sure that ICANN reflects global diversity.
GAC Structure
The GAC has more than 100 members; and three of its important organizational features are:
- GAC structure consists of a Chairman and 3 Vice-Chairs
- GAC has its own GAC Secretariat
- GAC organizes at least three meetings on a yearly basis which are held in conjunction with ICANN's meetings.
Related Bodies
Other such advisory committees which are important for ICANN are:
- ALAC (At-Large Advisory Committee)
- Root Server System Advisory Committee
- SSAC (Security and Stability Advisory Committee)
- TLG (Technical Liaison Group)
GAC Achievements
Over the years, GAC is proud of accomplishing the following:
- Setting up the principles for ccTLD management and delegation;
- Setting up the principles for public policy for delegation, introduction, and gTLD operation;
- Setting up the principles for public policy of gTLD Whois services;[3]
The GAC has been influential with regards to IDNs, as well as IPv4 and IPv6 best practices.
GAC Working Style
The GAC creates different Working Groups to study and address each issue; for instance there was a different working group for IDNs than that used for ccTLDs.[4]
New gTLDs
A new version, the ninth, of the Applicant Guidebook was released on January 11th, 2012, by ICANN, just a day before the application window for ICANN's new gTLD program opened. The new version gave much greater power to the GAC in forcing the ICANN Board to manually review any application that the committee found problematic. Exactly how many GAC members it would take to cause this review is vague, but it could be as little as one nation's objection. This is a significant change given that the ICANN Board had no requirement to heed any GAC objection in the previous guidebook; the board is still able to over-rule any GAC objection.[5]