Changes

The ICANN Board conducts annual meetings at the main office of ICANN or any appropriate venue chosen by the Board; it must be held within 14 months of the previous annual meeting. Regular meetings are determined by the Board and special meetings are conducted when 1/4 of the members of the Board submit a request, or when a request comes from the Chairman of the Board or the President.The Secretary of ICANN will make the call for special meeting at a designated venue or at the ICANN main office.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/general/archive-bylaws/bylaws-25jan11-en.htm#VI-9 Meetings]</ref> The Board needs a quorum to be able to proceed or act on a particular issue during an any meeting. If there is no quorum, the meeting is to be adjourned.

The ICANN Board conducts annual meetings at the main office of ICANN or any appropriate venue chosen by the Board; it must be held within 14 months of the previous annual meeting. Regular meetings are determined by the Board and special meetings are conducted when 1/4 of the members of the Board submit a request, or when a request comes from the Chairman of the Board or the President.The Secretary of ICANN will make the call for special meeting at a designated venue or at the ICANN main office.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/general/archive-bylaws/bylaws-25jan11-en.htm#VI-9 Meetings]</ref> The Board needs a quorum to be able to proceed or act on a particular issue during an any meeting. If there is no quorum, the meeting is to be adjourned.

===Issues of Transparency===

===Issues of Transparency===

There is a constant tension between keeping ICANN Board decisions and meetings transparent to all stakeholders and holding private discussions related to confidential information, internally divisive, ad publicly detrimental issues. It has run a number of reviews, both internal and external, including a Board review in 2008, and the creation of an [[Accountability and Transparency Review Team]] to make recommendations to improve its internal processes and external communications. The team's first report was due at the end of 2010, and it is to continue to review and report at least every three years on the implementation of its previous findings and the identification of other discrepancies.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/reviews/affirmation/review-1-en.htm ICANN.org, Review]</ref> With regards to the board, the review team had two separate working groups, one looking at governance, performance and composition, and the other looking at the review mechanisms in place for its decisions. A number of important recommendations were made, and most notably on the issue of transparency it found that:

There is a constant tension between keeping ICANN Board decisions and meetings transparent to all stakeholders and holding private discussions related to staffing information and publicly detrimental issues. The board has run a number of reviews, both internal and external, including a Board review in 2008, and the creation of an [[Accountability and Transparency Review Team]] to make recommendations to improve its internal processes and external communications. The team's first report was due at the end of 2010, and it is to continue to review and report at least every three years on the implementation of its previous findings and the identification of other discrepancies.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/reviews/affirmation/review-1-en.htm ICANN.org, Review]</ref> With regards to the board, the review team had two separate working groups, one looking at governance, performance and composition, and the other looking at the review mechanisms in place for its decisions. A number of important recommendations were made, and most notably on the issue of transparency it found that:

''"Commencing immediately, the Board should promptly publish all appropriate materials related to decision making processes – including preliminary announcements, briefing materials provided by staff and others, detailed Minutes, and where submitted, individual Directors’ statements relating to significant decisions.  The redaction of materials should be kept to a minimum, limited to discussion of existing or threatened litigation, and staff issues such as appointments''".<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/reviews/affirmation/atrt-final-recommendations-31dec10-en.pdf ATRT Final Recommendations, 31 Dec, icann.org]</ref>  

''"Commencing immediately, the Board should promptly publish all appropriate materials related to decision making processes – including preliminary announcements, briefing materials provided by staff and others, detailed Minutes, and where submitted, individual Directors’ statements relating to significant decisions.  The redaction of materials should be kept to a minimum, limited to discussion of existing or threatened litigation, and staff issues such as appointments''".<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/reviews/affirmation/atrt-final-recommendations-31dec10-en.pdf ATRT Final Recommendations, 31 Dec, icann.org]</ref>