Proposed comments on BGC Changes

[Mueller, Milton L]

Hi, Matt
There is not, and should not be, any way around this. The problem is not that ICANN needs a fundamental bylaw change to "create a new committee," it is that Article 4 sec 3 of the bylaws, which is designated as "fundamental," specifically names the BGC as the handler of Reconsideration requests. (""The Board has designated the Board Governance Committee to review and consider any such Reconsideration Requests.")

Article 4 is also the home of a lot of other "Accountability and Review" stuff that we definitely do not want the board messing with without community approval.

So the board needs approval for this and should have to do through this exercise. But if the board decides to create a new "Committee to organize birthday celebrations" or a "Committee to Honor Snapping Turtles" I don't think there would be any problem.

And going forward, I guess ICANN legal and the rest of us will be mindful of future flexibility when deciding where to put things in the bylaws.

Dr. Milton L Mueller
Professor, School of Public Policy<http://spp.gatech.edu/>
Georgia Institute of Technology
Internet Governance Project
http://internetgovernance.org/



One issue that has been raised is that it seems silly to have to have a fundamental bylaw change for the Board to be able to create a new committee.  It is not clear that there is anyway around this but would love to hear otherwise.

Looking forward to your comments.
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