[NA-Discuss] Decertification of an ALS

Alan Greenberg alan.greenberg at mcgill.ca
Mon Jun 13 14:10:06 UTC 2011


There was a discussion at the NARALO meeting today on the need for 
rules and processes to decertify an ALS which no longer exists or is 
no longer active.

Here are the procedures that are currently on the books.



 From the ALAC ALS appliation and certification procedure 
(http://www.atlarge.icann.org/framework.htm).

7. Decisions to de-certify an ALS shall require a 2/3 majority of the 
members of the ALAC who cast a vote as provided in the Rules of 
Procedure of the ALAC, and any decertification decision shall be 
subject to review as provided in the ICANN Bylaws, Article IV, 
Section 2. Reasons for the ALAC to pursue de-certification action, 
and to de-certify an ALS, may include persistent non-compliance with 
significant ALS requirements. The ALAC will provide advance notice to 
the ALS in question, and the ALS will have an opportunity to be heard 
and respond to the ALAC prior to a decision on de-certification. The 
ALAC will notify the ALS of its de-certification decision and provide 
information on requesting a review of the decision.

I. Minimum criteria for an At-Large Structure:

    1. Commit to supporting individual Internet users' informed 
participation in ICANN by distributing to individual 
constituents/members information on relevant ICANN activities and 
issues, offering Internet-based mechanisms that enable discussions of 
one or more of these activities and issues among individual 
constituents/members, and involving individual constituents/members 
in relevant ICANN policy development, discussions and decisions.
    2. Be constituted so that participation by individual Internet 
users who are citizens or residents of countries within the 
Geographic Region in which the ALS is based will predominate in the 
ALS' operation. The ALS may permit additional participation by others 
that is compatible with the interests of the individual Internet 
users within the region.
    3. Be self-supporting (not rely on ICANN for funding).
    4. Post on the Internet (on the ALAC's website or elsewhere) 
publicly-accessible, current information about the ALS's goals, 
structure, description of constituent group(s)/membership, working 
mechanisms, leadership, and contact(s).
    5. Assist the RALO in performing its function.



 From the NARALO Operating Procedures 
(https://community.icann.org/display/NARALO/NARALO+Operating+Principles+NA-2007-1-1+Revision+1)

16.    When an ALS representative does not vote in 3 consecutive 
NARALO elections or does not contribute a comment on ICANN policy 
through collaboration on the At-Large discussion lists in 12 
consecutive months, it automatically loses its voting rights and 
active status within the NARALO. The ALS should be notified of the 
status change and may regain its voting rights and active status if 
within the next 12 months it votes or participates to online 
discussions, otherwise the Chair will submit to ALAC a request for 
de-certification of that ALS.


So the current rules for us are:

- Since we don't tend to have many votes or elections, 12 months of 
inactivity can trigger losing its active status. Assuming they are 
notified of this, 12 months later, the NARALO chair can request that 
the ALAC decertify the ALS, which requires a 2/3 vote to pass.

I note 2 things:

- For an ALS that no longer exists, we could institute a new 
procedure to effect the decertification faster, but it is not clear 
that for most ALSs, there is any way of definitively saying that it 
no longer exists.

- Based on rule 16, I suspect that MANY NARALO ALSs could be put in 
the non-active status. If we apply this rule inconsistently, we could 
in theory have problems (but in practice probably not). I guess our 
real target is to get such active participation from all of our ALSs.

Alan





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