1. Contents
2. Definitions
3. PAB Role Under the gTLD-MoU
4. PAB Mission
5. PAB Deliberation and Debate
6. PAB Officers
1. Election of Officers, Their Eligibility and Terms of Office
2. Removal of Officers
3. Duties of Officers
7. Modification of the PAB Charter
8. Appendix 1: PAB Voting Mechanism

1. PAB: Policy Advisory Body, a body defined under the gTLD-MoU structure
2. POC: Policy Oversight Committee, a body defined under the gTLD-MoU structure
3. CORE: Council of Registrars, a body defined under the gTLD-MoU structure
4. GTLD-MoU: generic Top-Level Domain Memorandum of Understanding
5. PAB Member: an individual representative of a signatory of the gTLD-MoU that has elected participate in the PAB
6. Active PAB Members: those PAB members who are subscribed to the PAB mailing list, and who therefore may vote using the mechanism referenced below
7. PAB Representatives on POC: any PAB Member who is elected by the PAB Membership to serve on POC
8. rough consensus: the model of direct democracy practiced by the IETF.

1. As defined by the gTLD-MoU (Section 5), the role of the PAB is to make recommendations to the POC regarding general policy matters, and to advise the POC with regard to changes in the gTLD-MoU and the CORE-MoU.

1. The Policy Advisory Body exists to represent the widest possible set of Internet stakeholders in the administration of the global Internet domain name system, as limited by the gTLD-MoU. The PAB actively solicits, debates, and where possible reaches consensual positions on how the global Internet domain system should be administered, and it reports its advice and recommendations to the POC.
2. The PAB is a vehicle for bringing into the gTLD-MoU process those groups and organizations that are not otherwise represented within its framework, and is therefore a fertile ground for the introduction of new ideas, and for the inclusion of new interest groups.
3. The PAB is furthermore a mechanism through which dissent against the existing gTLD-MoU structure can be expressed, and thus can be powerful catalyst for change.
4. The PAB recognizes that the gTLD-MoU does not provide for oversight of the POC, and therefore the PAB has a special duty to give advice and make recommendations regarding the role and function of the POC.
5. The PAB reserves to itself all powers not specifically prohibited by the gTLD-MoU.

1. The basic model for PAB as a deliberative body is that of rough consensus, as practiced by the IETF.
2. All discussion and deliberation shall take place via an echoed email list, whose administration shall be entrusted to the Secretary of the PAB.
3. An archive of the email list may, at the discretion of the Active PAB Membership, be made available to the public.
4. There shall be no limitation on what a PAB Member may write on the PAB list; nor shall any censorship be imposed on PAB Members; and no PAB Member shall be removed from the list except at its own request. However, while content is not controlled in any way, quantity of submissions may be, if the list is overloaded. In such a case, all controls will be applied equally to all members. [For example, the list may be restricted to 5 posts a day per member, or 100KB/day per member, or some such equitable restriction.]
5. On occasion formal elections may be held. All such elections shall be conducted using the PAB voting mechanism, described in a separate section. Generally, there are two classes of elections: "yes/no" elections for policy issues, and election of officers, though other classes are not ruled out. Policy elections are held on demand as part of a consensus process; officer elections are held according to different rules, described in the section on election of officers.
6. In addition, straw polls may be called. Straw polls are not binding, and are generally held for information gathering purposes. Straw polls will not be further discussed; all further reference to elections or votes will refer to those involving the PAB voting mechanism.
7. The PAB shall arrive at recommendations, advice, resolutions, internal policies, and other common positions by rough consensus methods, as follows:
   1. The Chair may attempt to determine a consensus concerning a given issue by announcing a Call for Consensus to the PAB list. The Chair must announce a Call for Consensus on a given issue if 10% or more PAB members request it of the Chair.
   2. After a resonable period of debate, generally not less than one week and not more than one month, the Chair shall announce either that a preliminary consensus has been reached or that it has not been reached.
   3. If the Chair announces that a preliminary consensus has been reached, then following the Chair's announcement, a reasonal period, generally not less than one week, shall pass in order to allow dissenting views to be heard.
      1. If 10% or more of the Active PAB Membership dissents from the Chair's announcement of a preliminary consensus, the Chair shall have the option of either tabling the proposition or calling for an election on the preliminary consensus by informing the PAB list.
      2. If less than 10% of the Active PAB Membership dissents from the Chair's announcement of a preliminary consensus, the Chair shall announce that a final consensus has been reached, and the Chair shall, if appropriate, communicate the results to the POC. The Chair may further instruct the Secretary to add the results to the PAB web site, and also communicate the results to the public by whatever other method the Chair at its sole discretion may deem advisable.

   4. If the Chair anounces that a preliminary consensus has not been reached, and the Chair does not decide to seek an election on the matter, it may continue to be debated on the PAB list, but the Chair may not be compelled to seek another consensus on the matter for three months. But if the Chair decides that with small modification a consensus could be reached on the matter, the Chair has an affirmative duty to find the correct compromise that will allow a consensus to be reached.
   5. In the event that the Chair announces that a preliminary consensus has not been reached, the Chair may determine, at the Chair's discretion, that the matter is important or timely enough that a definitive position by the PAB is required. Examples of such important or timely matters might be: a request from the POC for a recommendation, or a matter that is of clear and pressing importance. In such cases, the Chair may call for an election on the matter. The election shall be carried out using the PAB voting mechanism, and notice shall be given to all Active PAB Members at least one week before the election takes place.
      1. If 67% or more of the Voting PAB Members are in favor of the proposition being voted upon, the proposition shall have passed, and the Chair shall announce that a Consensus has been reached; otherwise, the proposition shall have failed, and the Chair shall announce that a Consensus has not been reached.
      2. In the event of an election, each PAB Member shall have one vote.

8. An Annual General Meeting of the PAB may be called by the Chair, or by a consensus of the PAB by the usual methods. All decisions and elections must nonetheless be carried out on the PAB list. All PAB Members attending an Annual General Meeting must pay for their own expenses.

1. The PAB shall elect the following officers:
   1. Chair
   2. Deputy Chair
   3. Secretary
   4. Liaison to CORE
   5. PAB Representatives to POC
   These officers together comprise the PAB Executive Committee.
2. Election of Officers, Their Eligibility and Terms of Office
   1. Any member of the PAB can nominate any other member of the PAB to be an Officer of the PAB, subject to the eligibility requirements noted below in this section, by posting a statement to that effect to the PAB list.
   2. Nominations must be seconded by another member of the PAB by posting a statement to that effect to the PAB list.
   3. Any person nominated to be a candidate for office in the PAB must accept the nomination by posting a statement to that effect to the PAB list.
   4. Any candidate who has accepted a nomination to be an officer of the PAB must declare his or her qualifications for the office in question, and to make known to the PAB membership any conflict of interest that he or she is aware of, by posting a statement to that effect to the PAB list. Candidates are encouraged to take a broad view of what might constitute a conflict of interest. Failure to declare a conflict of interest is prima facie evidence of bad faith on the part of the candidate.
   5. No candidate who is a member of PAB shall be excluded from office in the PAB, except as noted below in this section.
   6. Officers are to be elected using the PAB voting mechanism via the PAB email list. The Chair shall announce the schedule for each regular election by January 1 of each year. Each regular election shall be held no later than January 20.
   7. The terms of all officers shall run from February 1 to January 31 of each calendar year, except that the term of PAB officers elected in 1997 shall continue until January 31, 1999. Officers serve until their successors are elected.
   8. If an office becomes vacant, a special election to replace that officer shall be held within 30 days of the date the vacancy occurred.
   9. Any PAB member is eligible to be an Officer of PAB, except:
   1. Members of the PAB who have signed the CORE-MoU, or whose employer has signed the CORE-MoU.
   2. Members of the PAB who are also members of POC, unless they have been elected to the POC by the PAB.
   3. Members of the PAB who are employed by organizations which are members of CORE
   4. Members of the PAB who are employed by organizations which have the power to appoint or elect members of POC, the PAB itself excepted.
   5. Members of the PAB who hold any executive position in any organization, the PAB itself excepted, which has the power to appoint or elect members of POC.

   10. The Chair, Deputy Chair, and Secretary must be elected by more than 50% of the PAB Members who vote. In the event that no candidate reaches more than 50%, the two candidates receiving the most votes will meet each other in a run-off election. If the run-off election results in a tie, the chairman of the POC may cast 1 vote to determine the winner.

3. Removal of Officers
   1. The power to remove Officers of the PAB is reserved to the Membership of the PAB. If 25% of the Active PAB Members support a resolution to remove an Officer, the Chair (or, if the Active Members wish to remove the Chair, the Deputy Chair) shall call an election on the issue, to be conducted via the PAB Email list using the voting rules and procedures used for all elections except the election of officers.
4. Duties of Officers
   1. The duties of the Chair shall be as follows:
      1. To attempt to discern consensus among the PAB, and to call for consensus, and declare a consensus to have been reached, according to the methods described in "Deliberation and Debate" above.
      2. To make periodic reports, not less than one month apart, to the PAB Membership via the PAB list. The Chair's reports must be comprehensive, and must include summary results of all actions undertaken by the Chair on behalf of PAB, and summary results of all interactions with the POC.
      3. To make or cause to have made public statements, press releases, and the like.
      4. In the event that the POC requests PAB's recommendation or advice, the Chair must consult with the membership immediately. If the POC requires a reply before the PAB can reach a consensus, the Chair may communicate his best guess of the PAB's recommendation or advise to the POC, but in such a case the Chair must communicate to the POC that PAB's recommendation is entirely provisional pending ratification by the Membership.

   2. The duties of the Deputy Chair shall be as follows:
      1. To assume the function of the Chair temporarily in the event that the Chair is indisposed or unavailable, or, in the case where the Chair has been removed or has resigned, until new elections have been held.
      2. To assume the function of the Chair regarding any measure by the Membership to remove the Chair.
      3. To perform any duties of the Chair that the Chair may from time to time delegate to the Deputy Chair.

   3. The duties of the Secretary shall be as follows:
      1. To maintain the PAB website. The website will include such information as follows:
         • A list of all PAB members
         • A list of the Active PAB Members
         • A list of the PAB officers
         • The text of PAB resolutions
         • A record of the votes in elections, whether for officers or for other matters
         • PAB recommendations and advice to the POC, and responses by the POC as reported by the Chair
         • An archive of PAB email.
      2. To maintain a copy of this charter, and any subsequent amendments.
      3. To administer and maintain the echoed email list that the PAB uses to deliberate amongst itself, and any archive of the list that the PAB Membership shall decide to keep
      4. To administer and maintain the echoed email list that the PAB Executive Committee uses to deliberate amongst itself, and to maintain an archive of this list.
      5. To maintain a complete list of PAB Members and their designated email addresses, and to respond to PAB Members' requests to modify their designated email addresses, or to subscribe or unsubscribe themselves from the PAB list.

   4. The duties of the CORE Liaison shall be as follows:
      1. To inform the PAB Executive Committee of developments within CORE
      2. To publish periodic reports about CORE activities in the PAB email list.

   5. The duties of the POC representatives shall be as follows:
      1. To participate in the PAB Executive Committee, and keep other officers abreast of developments within POC.
      2. To ensure that the PAB membership is informed of developments within POC, through periodic reports published to the PAB email list.

1. This Charter can be modified only by the Membership of the PAB, and by no other body, via the usual methods the PAB employs to determine consensus.

PAB strives to reach rough consensus on an issue before making any recommendation to the POC or taking any other action. At one time or another it will become apparent that there is no consensus on a particular issue and the Chairman will declare that the issue will be put to a vote.

A draft ballot will be prepared by the Secretary and forwarded to the vote taker.

The vote taker prepares the final ballot, editing only for consistent wording and compatability with the voting software.

Prepared ballots are mailed to the voting contact of all PAB members four times at X day intervals. Using X=3 and having 4 days after the mailing of the final ballot gives a two week voting period.

(The voting contact is defined as the first, of possibly several, e-mail address an organization has subscribed to the PAB list.)

Votes are cast by Replying to the ballot e-mail and indicating their choice from the various options available.

When a completed ballot is received by the vote taker an acknowledgement is returned to the voter. The completed ballot is added to an archive message store established for this one vote and the vote is also parsed and a voting database updated to reflect the ballot.

If a ballot is deemed unacceptable for any reason it is returned to the sender with an explanation. (In our first vote the only errors encountered were votes from non-voting contacts (these were all resolved) and ballots received after the close of the voting period.)

Please note that all decisions are built into the voting software, no allowances are made for any reason.

A voting member may submit multiple ballots, the last ballot received is the only one counted.

At the end of the voting period the results are tabulated and an e-mail containing the results is sent to the list. Web pages containing the results are generated at the same time. See www.pab.gtld-mou.org/votes/index.html

As you can see the ballots are completely open once the voting period has ended. This allows everyone to verify that their vote was counted as cast. Members may only protest their own ballot. In the event of a protest, the original ballots complete with full headers are available for audit

The voting software was prepared by Dan Busarow.