Dear Hans Petter,

On 13/10/03 1:13, "Hans Petter Holen" <hph@tiscali.no> wrote:

Dear all,

First of all I would like to congratulate the RIRs with a constructive and solid proposal to move forward. I think the formalization of an organization to help the RIRs act in a coordinated manner is lomg overdue.

As a general comment I think the detailed specification of the global policy making process is a step forward. Under the current MOU this is not well defined and clarification of the process should be much welcomed to all involved.

In reading the proposal I have some questions, first to the NRO Agreement:

6. NRO Executive council

Is there a clear enough division between legislative and executive roles?

One of its roles is to ratify and reject global IP number policies. (Legislative), at the same time the Executive council is empowered to sign documents and contracts (executive). Maybe it needs some clarification in the language to make it clearer that the EC simply ratifies that polices has been formed according to process.

The formal ratification/rejection by the Executive Council would only take place in the (probably unlikely) scenario where ICANN fails and sombody else would have to steward the policy formation process. And both in this scenario and in the scenario where an MoU with ICANN is in force the work with developing policy would be undertaken by the Numbers Council, not by the Executive Council.

7 NRO Number Council

ii Composition What is the reason for the proposed composition? The Board of the RIRs are elected by the members of the RIR and the current procedures for electing ASO AC members are that mostly the members elect the council members. The proposal is in reality a combination between a direct and indirect election. What is the advantage of this?

Why not revert to just one approach direct or indirect election? a) Election by RIR members b) Election by RIR boards

The proposal is that two thirds of the Numbers Council members are elected directly by the regional policy fora the same way that Advisory Council members are elected today. Since the policies which are developed by the regional fora and will eventually be administered by the RIRs the proposal a minority of RIR board selected members (who might possibly be RIR staff) in the Numbers Council are intended to help secure the practical feasibility of such policies.

The Council shall under the agreement elect a chair. It may also be necessary to elect co-chairs and a secretary for the Council to maximize its ability to conduct its tasks.

The intention was that the NRO secretariat would support the Numbers Council. But your suggestion is useful and we will take it into consideration.

Regarding the composition of the two councils: what conflicts of interests exists between the two and the bodies of the RIRs? Are there global conflicts of interests or should this be left to the individual RIRs to decide?

As far as the Executive Council is concerned their role in the NRO is administrative so there does not seem to be any conflict of interest. As for the Numbers Council, the idea is to let the Regional fora and the RIR boards handle any conflicts of interest at the time of election or selection.

Then to the ASO MOU Attachment A: Global Policy Development Process: 4. For some RIRs (RIPE NCC) this introduces a new role to the Board in ratif ying policy proposals. While this may be a good idea - it does require some changes to the regional policy process to be aligned.

I think you refer to points 3. and 4. in Attachment A? I'm not sure that there is at present a policy formulated for working out a common policy based on similar but still different policies developed by the the different RIRs? The proposal is that RIR staff would do technical and clerical work in this area and that the boards would ratify the outcome. Obviously, if there is major policy work involved in getting a common proposal the issue would go back to the regional policy fora. best regards, Frode Greisen RIPE NCC Executive Board Member

Best Regards, Hans Petter Holen

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