[At-Large] RAA approved

[Alan Greenberg]

At its meeting in Mexico City, the package of Registrar Accreditation 
Agreement amendments was unanimously approved. This was following a 
GNSO meeting earlier this year where the package was rejected.

The ALAC had previously formally supported the acceptance of the RAA, 
not because it was felt to address all of our concerns, but rather 
that the proposed changes were in their own right, very important for 
the community.

Going into the Mexico City meeting, there was significant distance 
between the various constituencies (and ALAC) and in fact two very 
distinct motions were on the table.  The level of cooperation shown 
to achieve this result speaks well to the collaborative model that ICANN uses.

The new motion below approved the amendments, but at the same time 
sets a hard deadline for completing a Registrant Charter of Rights 
and puts the Registrars on record as committing to quickly begin 
working in good faith to address further changes to the RAA.

Alan

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Motion made by Tim Ruiz
Seconded by Kristina Rosette

Whereas, the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) has not been 
amended since May 2001, and ICANN has undertaken a lengthy 
consultative process related to amending the RAA, including several 
public comment periods and consultations;

Whereas, the proposed changes to the RAA include important compliance 
and enforcement tools for ICANN; The Council wishes to approve the 
set of proposed amendments as quickly as possible so that the ICANN 
Board may review them, and if approved then implement them as quickly 
as possible; and

Whereas,

The Council would like to proceed on the drafting of a charter 
identifying registrant rights that registrars would be obliged to 
link to, as contemplated in the set of amendments;

The Council would like a specific process and timeline to move 
forward with additional potential amendments to the RAA; and

The Registrar Constituency is supportive of these efforts and is 
willing to participate on a good faith basis on anticipated next steps.

Resolved:

The GNSO Council supports the RAA amendments as documented in 
http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/current-list-proposed-raa-amendments-16dec08.pdf 
and recommends to the Board that they be adopted at its meeting of 
March 6, 2009;

Within 30 days of Board approval of the set of amendments, 
representatives from the GNSO community and the ALAC shall be 
identified to participate in drafting a registrant rights charter, as 
contemplated by the amendments and the current GNSO Council 
discussions, with support from ICANN staff. A draft charter shall be 
completed no later than July 31 2009; and

Within 30 days of Board approval of the set of amendments, the GNSO 
Council will form a Drafting Team to discuss further amendments to 
the RAA and to identify those on which further action may be 
desirable. The Drafting Team should endeavor to provide its advice to 
the Council and ICANN staff no later than July 31, 2009.