PAB CHARTER
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Contents
- Contents
- Definitions
- PAB Role Under the gTLD-MoU
- PAB Mission
- PAB Officers
- PAB Deliberation and Debate
- Election of Officers, Their Eligibility and Terms of Office
- Removal of Officers
- Duties of Officers
- PAB Executive Committee
- Modification of the PAB Charter
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Definitions
- PAB: Policy Advisory Body, a body defined under the
gTLD-MoU structure
- POC: Policy Oversight Committee, a body defined under the
gTLD-MoU structure
- CORE: Council of Registrars, a body defined under the
gTLD-MoU structure
- GTLD-MoU: generic Top-Level Domain Memorandum of Understanding
- PAB Member: an individual representative of a
signatory of the gTLD-MoU that has elected participate in the
PAB
- Active PAB Members: those PAB members who are subscribed to
the PAB mailing list, and who therefore may vote using the mechanism
referenced below
- PAB Representatives on POC: any PAB Member who is elected
by the PAB Membership to serve on POC
- rough consensus: the model of direct democracy practiced
by the IETF.
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PAB Role Under the gTLD-MoU
- 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.
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PAB Mission
- The Policy Advisory Body exists to represent the voices of all
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. 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. The PAB is furthermore
the chief mechanism through which dissent against the existing
gTLD-MoU structure can be expressed, and thus is a powerful catalyst
for change. 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. The PAB recognizes and embraces these roles. The PAB reserves
to itself all powers not specifically prohibited by the
gTLD-MoU.
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PAB Officers
- The PAB shall elect an Executive Committee, consisting of the
following officers:
- Chair
- Deputy Chair
- Secretary
- Liaison to CORE
- PAB Representative to POC #1
- PAB Representative to POC #2
- Any additional PAB Representatives to POC
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PAB Deliberation and Debate
- All discussion and deliberation shall take place via an echoed
email list, whose administration shall be entrusted to the Secretary
of the PAB.
- An archive of the email list may, at the discretion of the Active
PAB Membership, be made available to the public.
- 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. [Have to deal with willful misuse of the list -- flooding,
spam, etc]
- In the event of any election, except for the election of officers,
voting shall be conducted using a Usenet voting mechanism, described
in a separate document. A vote shall be said to have succeeded when
67% or more of the PAB Members who vote are in favor. The election of
officers shall be conducted according to the procedures and rules for
the election of officers described later in this Charter.
- The PAB shall arrive at recommendations, advice, resolutions,
internal policies, and other common positions by rough consensus
methods, as follows:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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, either through the
PAB Representatives to POC or directly. 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.
- 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.
- 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 via the PAB using the same Usenet voting
mechanism that is used for the elections of officers, and notice shall
be given to all Active PAB Members at least one week before the
election takes place.
- 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.
- In the event of an election, each PAB Member shall have one
vote.
- 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.
- Election of Officers, Their Eligibility and
Terms of Office
- 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.
- Nominations must be seconded by another member of the PAB by
posting a statement to that effect to the PAB list.
- 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.
- 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.
- No candidate who is a member of PAB shall be excluded from office
in the PAB, except as noted below in this section.
- Officers are to be elected using a Usenet voting mechanism [full
explanation of mechanism; Dan Busarow to supply] via the PAB email
list.
- The terms of all officers are to be one year from the date of
their election.
- Any PAB member is eligible to be an Officer of PAB, except:
- Members of the PAB who have signed the CORE-MoU, or whose employer
has signed the CORE-MoU.
- Members of the PAB who are also members of POC, unless they have
been appointed to the POC by the PAB.
- Members of the PAB who are employed by organizations which are
members of CORE
- Members of the PAB who are employed by organizations which have
the power to appoint or elect members of POC, the PAB itself
excepted.
- 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.
- 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 candidates will play a round of knock-out whist
to determine the winner [I don't know! -- help]
- Removal of Officers
- 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.
- Duties of Officers
- The duties of the Chair shall be as follows:
- 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.
- 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.
- To make or cause to have made public statements, press releases, and the like.
- 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.
- The duties of the Deputy Chair shall be as follows:
- 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.
- To assume the function of the Chair regarding any measure by the Membership to remove the Chair.
- To perform any duties of the Chair that the Chair may from time to time delegate to the Deputy Chair.
- The duties of the Secretary shall be as follows:
- To maintain the PAB website. The website shall include:
- A list of all PAB members
- A list of the Active PAB Members
- A list of the PAB officers
- A list, with the full text, of all PAB resolutions
- A list, with full text and a record of the votes, of all elections, whether for officers or for other matters
- A list, with the full text, of all PAB recommendations to the POC, and all advice given to the POC, and all responses by the POC as reported by the Chair
- To maintain a copy of this charter, and any subsequent amendments.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- The duty of the CORE Liaison shall be as follows:
- To inform the PAB Executive Committee of developments within CORE
- The duties of the PAB representatives to POC shall be as follows:
- To attend POC meetings, whether in person or via telephone or other electronic means, at their own expense.
- To pledge that their primary allegiance is to the PAB, then after that to the gTLD-MoU process, and only finally to the POC, and to perform their duties in conformance with this pledge.
- To provide regular, written, full reports to the PAB Executive Committee regarding the POC actions and deliberations. Reports shall be made to the PAB Executive Committee monthly, or at any time the Executive Committee requests them.
- To pledge that they will not withhold information from the PAB Executive Committee, and to perform their duties in conformance with this pledge, unless:
- They have been specifically requested to withhold information by a majority of the other members of the POC; or
- They have been specifically requested to withhold information by the POC Chair
- That in the event that they must withhold information from the PAB Executive Committee, the PAB Representatives to POC must nonetheless inform the Executive Committee that information has been withheld, and that they as far as possible inform the Executive Committee as to the nature of the information that has been withheld, along with an estimation of when such information will be made available.
- The PAB representatives on POC will consult with the PAB Executive Committee prior to and immediately after any POC meeting, whether formal or informal, whether in person or via telephone or electronic methods
- The PAB representatives on POC will represent the will of the PAB as it is expressed to them by the PAB Chair.
PAB Executive Committee
- The PAB Executive Committee shall consist of The Chair, The Deputy Chair, the Secretary, the CORE Liaison, and the PAB Representatives to the POC. Only the Chair, the Deputy Chair, and the Secretary shall have voting rights, the other members may participate in deliberations, but may not vote.
- The PAB Executive Committee shall make use of an echoed email list for all official business. This list will be maintained and archived by the Secretary. All official PAB Executive Committee business will take place via this list; no action or decision of the PAB Executive Committee shall be deemed to have taken place until and unless it shall have been posted to the PAB Executive Committee list.
Modification of the PAB Charter
- 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.