ASO Review 2017
In 2017, the NRO engaged ITEMS International to conduct the second independent review of the ASO. The report, published in August 2017, outlined a set of 18 Recommendations, the first 17 of which the NRO resolved to accept and implement (see announcement).
The NRO also resolved to accept the 18th recommendation, “The NRO should initiate a public consultation, involving the five RIR communities, to determine the future structure of the ASO”, and has launched a community consultation on the issues identified in the ASO Review Report to facilitate this.
Details can be found in the ASO Review 2017 Community Consultations section.
ASO Review 2017: Recommendation Implementation Status
| Report Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|
| Recommendation #1: ICANN should consider updating its Bylaws to reflect the fact that the NRO will, like the GAC, and according to the ASO MoU, provide its own review mechanism for the review of ASO. | Completed (November 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
The NRO EC considers that changes to the ICANN Bylaws are not necessary at this point. The revised ASO ICANN MoU (signed on 7 November 2019) and the ICANN Bylaws currently provide enough flexibility with regards to the review mechanism. However, the NRO EC could request that ICANN implement this recommended change in the future (see NRO EC face-to-face minutes November 2019) |
| Recommendation #2: The NRO should consider updating the ASO MoU to reflect the fact that the appropriate section of the New ICANN Bylaws regarding Organizational Reviews is Section 4.4 (previously Article IV, Section 4). | COMPLETED (November 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
Article 9 of revised ASO ICANN MoU. Signed on 7 November 2019. |
| Recommendation #3: The NRO should adopt a procedure for conducting periodic reviews of the ASO in line with processes used by the ICANN Organizational Effectiveness Committee. | COMPLETED (February 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
The NRO Process for Review of the ASO document (November 2018) outlines the process by which the independent periodic review of the ASO role within ICANN shall be initiated, conducted, and concluded. The document was published on the NRO website in February 2019. |
| Recommendation #4: The signatories of the ASO MoU should consider updates to the MoU including i) the addition of AFRINIC as a signatory, ii) the removal of Appendix B. iii) updates in connection with the responsibilities of the ASO as a Decisional Participant in the ICANN Empowered Community. | COMPLETED (November 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
The revised ASO ICANN MoU was signed on 7 November 2019.
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| Recommendation #5: Upon completion of every independent review of the ASO, the NRO and ICANN should initiate discussions, as per Article 9 of the MoU, to examine results and consequences of their cooperation. The parties should determine if the ASO has a continuing purpose within the ICANN structure, and re-evaluate the MoU accordingly. | COMPLETED (November 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
The NRO EC has consulted with, and will continue to consult with, ICANN on the output of the 2017 review and future reviews. |
| Recommendation #6: The ASO AC should ensure that procedures are developed for Steps 12, 15 and 16 of the GPDP as described in Attachment A of the ASO MoU. |
COMPLETED (January 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
The ASO AC confirmed that paragraph 6.6.2.3 of the ASO AC Operating Procedures fulfils the needs of Step 12 of ASO MoU Attachment A. The ASO AC referred Steps 15 and 16 to the NRO EC (see ASO AC Teleconference Minutes November 2018, agenda item 4). |
| About Step 15: The reference to “agreed procedure” here is a reference to procedures agreed with a mediator before the commencement of mediation. Most organisations providing mediation services have standard template agreements and processes that parties will need to agree, before submitting to the mediation process. These need not be established now; but could be established at the time (or immediately before) a referral is to be made.
About Step 16: Step 16 envisages an agreed procedure for the ICANN Board to initiate a policy development process. Step 1 of the Global Policy Development Process in ASO MoU Attachment A allows any member of the public to initiate a policy development process. The NRO EC’s position is that the RIRs and ICANN could simply agree that step 16 will be handled using the procedure in Step 1 of the Global Policy Development Process in ASO MoU Attachment A. This position was made clear to ICANN on 4 March 2019, and having received no further correspondence from ICANN, the NRO EC considers this issue to be closed. |
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| Recommendation #7: The ASO should consider the adoption of a single, authoritative description of the GPDP for global numbering policies. The same description of the GPDP should appear in Attachment A of the ASO MoU and the relevant section of the Operating Procedures of the ASO AC (Currently Section 6). | COMPLETED (November 2018) – IMPLEMENTED
The ASO AC considers that the ASO MoU (and specifically Attachment A) is the authoritative document from which ASO operational procedures are defined. The ASO MoU should only contain high-level policy descriptions and perhaps operational descriptions should be removed from the Attachment A (see full text in the ASO AC Teleconference November 2018 Minutes, agenda item 4). The NRO EC agreed with the ASO AC that the ASO MoU (and specifically Attachment A) is the authoritative document from which ASO operational procedures are defined (See the full text in the NRO EC Teleconference January 2019 Minutes, agenda item 3c). |
| Recommendation #8: With a view to increasing awareness regarding the mission, main operations, and separation of roles between the ASO AC and the NRO EC within the ASO, the NRO should consider the use of more infographics on its website. | COMPLETED (July 2018) – IMPLEMENTED
Infographics will be used on the website where possible. |
| Recommendation #9: The ASO AC should implement term limits for the positions of Chair and Vice-Chair. |
COMPLETED (March 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
The ASO AC voted to implement term limits for the positions of Chair and Vice Chair (See ASO AC Face-to-Face Meeting Minutes March 2019 and ASO AC Meeting Minutes January 2019, agenda item 6b). The ASO AC Procedures were subsequently updated. See Section 4.4., Procedure for Election of ASO AC Chair and Vice Chairs, for more information.
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| Recommendation #10: The ASO AC should ensure that the duties of the Address Council Chair and the Address Council Vice-Chairs need to be added to the ASO AC Operating Procedures. | COMPLETED (January 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
The ASO AC agreed to add the duties of the ASO AC Chair and Vice Chair to the ASO AC Operating Procedures (see ASO AC Teleconference January 2019 Minutes, agenda item 6c). The NRO EC considered the ASO AC’s proposed amendment to its Operating Procedures and approved the proposed amendment (see NRO EC Teleconference January 2019 Minutes, agenda item 3d). The ASO AC Operating Procedures have been updated. |
| Recommendation #11: The ASO AC should ensure that its internal procedure for the removal of an ICANN Board Director is consistent with Section 7.11 of the New ICANN Bylaws. | COMPLETED – IMPLEMENTED
The NRO EC (acting as the ASO) is the Decisional Participant unless the ASO AC decides to define procedures to enable it to participate in ICANN Board Director removal. See ICANN Empowered Community and ASO Procedures for ICANN Empowered Community Powers for more information. |
| Recommendation #12: The ASO should establish the NRO Executive Secretary as the ASO Point of Contact (PoC). The ASO AC should establish procedures for forwarding communications to appropriate parties within the ASO. | COMPLETED (February 2018) – NOT IMPLEMENTED
The ASO did not establish the NRO Secretariat as the ASO point of contact and the ASO AC did not establish said procedures: The NRO EC (acting as the ASO) agreed to review the contact points and procedures for reaching relevant parties in the ASO and NRO. The NRO EC did not, however, recommend proceeding with establishing the NRO Secretariat as the ASO contact point, but instead recommended reviewing and establishing clear contact points and procedures as appropriate. The Contact pages on the ASO and NRO websites were subsequently updated. |
| Recommendation #13: The ASO MoU should be updated to reflect the new reality of the Empowered Community and specify that the roles and responsibilities within the ASO must be clearly defined | COMPLETED (February 2018) – NOT IMPLEMENTED
The NRO EC noted that the Empowered Community is out of the scope of the ASO review, and that updating the MoU is not appropriate as the updates would be duplicative of information already contained in ICANN Bylaws. |
| Recommendation #14: The ASO AC should either confirm that the designated representative of the ASO on the Empowered Community Administration will be the Chair of the NRO EC, or develop a procedure for appointing another representative. | COMPLETED (June 2018) – IMPLEMENTED
The NRO confirmed that the NRO EC Secretary is the the ICANN Empowered Community Designated Representative of the ASO when it adopted the ASO Procedures for Use of Empowered Community Powers. |
| Recommendation #15: ASO AC meetings should be open to the public, except for discussions regarding the selection of individuals for ICANN roles. | COMPLETED (January 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
The ASO AC drafted new procedures to implement Recommendation #15 and voted to implement them into its Operating Procedures (see ASO AC Teleconference January Minutes). The NRO EC subsequently approved the new procedures (see NRO EC Teleconference February 2019 Minutes). The ASO AC Operating Procedures have been updated. |
| Recommendation #16: For its internal communications, and for most matters related to the operations of the ASO, the ASO should favour the use of a publicly archived mailing list. In exceptional circumstances, for issues (e.g. Board appointments) that cannot be discussed in public, a non-publicly archived list should be used | COMPLETED (April 2019) – IMPLEMENTED
The ASO AC agreed to use a publicly archived mailing list except for confidential discussions, such as ICANN Board Seat 9/10 Appointments (See ASO AC Face-to-Face Meeting Minutes March 2019). A new publicly archived mailing list, ac-discuss, is now live. |
| Recommendation #17: In the interests of transparency, the ASO website should be updated with recent presentations, contact details and an archive of the activities of both the ASO AC and NRO EC. | COMPLETED – IMPLEMENTED
The website has been updated with relevant information and this is an ongoing process. A new website was launched in Q1 2020. |
| Recommendation #18: The NRO should initiate a public consultation, involving the five RIR communities, to determine the future structure of the ASO. | COMPLETED – IMPLEMENTED
Community Consultations were initiated in the five RIR regions. |
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Last modified on 16/03/2021