2. ABOUT ICANN
 Offices are located in Brussels, Belgium, LA, Silicon Valley and
Washington DC.
 Structured as a multi-stakeholder model with decentralized
governance which results in individuals, industry, non-commercial
interests and governments all being on the same level.
 It allows for community-based, policy driven consensus in the creation
of policies.
 ICANN’s Supporting Organizations are responsible for making policy
recommendations to the board
 The Advisory Committees advise ICANN & the board & sometimes
raise issues for policy development
 The ICANN Board is the ultimate authority in accepting/rejecting
policy recommendations
 The ICANN staff is responsible for the implementation of policies
created by the ICANN community.

3. ICANN’S MISSION
 Seek to coordinate the global internet system’s of
unique identifiers, at an overall level to ensure it
operates in a stable and secure manner.

4. THE 3 TYPES OF UNIQUE
IDENTIFIERS FOR THE INTERNET
 Domain Names- which form a system called the
Domain name System (DNS)
 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses & Autonomous
System (AS) numbers.
 Protocol Port & Parameter Numbers

5. ICANN’S POWERS
 They can only exercise these under the direction of the
board, who can only act by a majority vote.

6. ICANN’S RESTRICTIONS
 Prohibited from acting as a Domain Name System
Registry/Registrar or Internet Protocol Address
Registries in competition with entities affected by
ICANN’s policies.

7. ICANN ORGANIGRAM
Boards of Directors
Governmental
Advisory
Committee
Internet
Engineering
Task Force
Technical
Liaison Group
Root server
System
Advisory
Committee
Security &
Stability
Advisory
Committee
Internet Users
Per ICANN By
laws, Article
VII, Section 2
GNSO
Regional
Internet
Registries
ccTLD
Registries
ICANN Staff
Ombudsman

8. OMBUDSMAN
 Independent, impartial and neutral person
contracted to ICANN.
 Full-time position with salary and benefits
appropriate to the function, which is determined
by the board.
 Appointed for a term of 2years initially but this
is subject to renewal.
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9. FUNCTIONS OF OMBUDSMAN
 Dispute resolution practitioner for issues which the
Reconsideration Policy & Independent Review Policy
do not apply to.
 Internal evaluator of complaints by members of the
ICANN community who believe they have been
treated unfairly by either the ICANN staff, board or
constituent bodies.

10. NOMINATING COMMITTEE
 Community of volunteers which serves as the chief
authority in the selection of ICANN directors but does
not select the president and directors which are
appointed by the support organisations.

11. Composition of the Nominating
Committee (Non-voting Delegates)
 A chair, appointed by the ICANN board.
 A chair elect, appointed by the ICANN board as a non-voting
advisor.
 A liaison appointed by ICANN’s Root Server System
Advisory Committee.
 A liaison appointed by ICANN’s Governmental
Advisory Committee.

12. COMPOSITION OF NOMINATING
COMMITTEE (VOTING DELEGATES)
 5 delegates appointed by the At-Large Advisory
Committees.
 1 delegate from Registrars stakeholder group.
 2 delegates from Business Constituency; 1 representing
large businesses & the other representing the small ones.
 1 delegate from the Internet service providers Constituency
 1 delegate from Intellectual Property Constituency.
 1 delegate selected by the following entities;
 Council of Country Code names Supporting Organisation
 Council of Address Supporting Organisation
 Internet Engineering Task Force

13. TERMS OF SERVING IN
NOMINATING COMMITTEE
 Each voting delegate must serve one year at least, two
at most
 Non-voting liaisons serve for terms designed for them
by the entity that appoints them.

14. BOARD OF DIRECTORS
 Consists of 16 voting members and 5 non-voting
liaisons.

15. SELECTION OF BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
 8 Voting members selected by Nominating Committee
 2 Voting members selected by Address Supporting
Organisation
 2 Voting members selected by Country Code Names
Supporting Organisation
 2 Voting Members selected by At-Large Community.

16. CHARACTERISTICS OF BOARD
 Nominating Committee and Supporting Organisations
need to keep in mind when selecting board, that the
board is required to display diversity in terms of
geography, culture, skills, experience and perspective.
 The board elects a chairman and vice-chairman from
the directors annually, and this chairman is prohibited
from being the president.

17. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF
DIRECTORS
 Must be an accomplished person of integrity, objectivity,
intelligence and possess a reputation of good judgment.
 Must be committed to the success of ICANN, understand
its mission and the potential impact of decisions the board
makes on the global internet community.
 Must bring geographical and cultural diversity to the
board.Must be familiar with the operations of gTLD
registries and registrars, ccTLD registries, IP address
registries, internet technical standards, protocols,
development procedures and legal procedures.
 Must be able to work and communicate in English.

18. SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS
 The board ensures these pass periodic reviews of
performance & operations by an entity which is
independent of the particular organisation under
review.
 Reviews occur every 5years.
 Results of reviews are posted on ICANN’s website for
public views and comments
 Government Advisory Committee uses its own review
mechanisms.

19. CRITERIA OF REVIEWS
 Does the organisation under review have a purpose
under the ICANN structure?
 If so, do any changes need to be made in order to
improve its effectiveness?

20. THE TYPES OF SUPPORTING
ORGANISATIONS
1. Address Supporting Organisation
 Advises board with respect to issues relating to the
operation and management of internet addresses and
oversees recommendations of the ICANN board on
internet protocol address policy and manages global policy
development activities.
 Has an Address Council which consists of members of the
NRO Numbers Council.
 Comprised of representatives of 5 regional Internet
Registries.

21. THE REGIONAL INTERNET
REGISTRIES
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 AfriNIC- covers the African continent
 APNIC- covers the Asia-Pacific region including Japan,
Korea, China & Australia.
 American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)-
covers Canada, some Caribbean North Atlantic islands
and the USA.
 Latin America & Carribean Internet Address Registry
(LACNIC)- covers Latin America and the Caribbean.
 Reseaux IP Eauropeans (RIPE NCC)- covers Europe,
Middle east & parts of Asia.

22. RIR ZONES

23. HOW ADDRESS COUNCIL IS
CHOSEN
 Through separate nomination & election processes in
each of the Regional Internet Registries regions.
 Each region appoints 3 members to serve for two year
terms.
 The Council elects a Chair who appoints the vice
chairs.

24. HOW TO GET INVOLVED IN ASO
 You must be affiliated with the RIRs.
 RIRs have no membership requirements to participate
in their policy development process/attend their
meetings.
 Any member of the internet community is welcome.

25. 2. COUNTRY CODE NAMES
SUPPORTING ORGANISATION
(ccNSO)
Return
 Develops and recommends to the board on issues
relating to country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs)
such as .za ,.uk etc.
 Responsible for nurturing consensus across the
Country Code Names Supporting organisation’s
community, including name related activities of
ccTLD.
 Coordinates with other ICANN supporting
organisations and constituencies under ICANN.

26. CCNSO COUNCIL
 They administer & coordinate the affairs of ccNSO
whilst also managing the development of policy
recommendations.
 Lead & participate in various ccNSOWorking Groups
& they engage the community in topical issues.

27. MEMBERS OF CCNSO COUNCIL
 3 ccNSO council members elected from each of
ICANN’s geographical regions.
 3 members elected by Nominating Committee.
 Some liaisons
 1 from the Government Advisory Committee
 1 from the At-large advisory Committee
 1 from each of the regional organisations

28. 3. GENERIC NAMES SUPPORTING
ORGANISATION
Return
 Policy development body responsible for developing
and recommending to the ICANN board essential
policies relating to the generic top level domains such
as .COM .NET & .ORG .

29. GNSO COUNCIL MEMBERS
 3 representatives from the registries stakeholder
group.
 3 representatives from the registrar’s stakeholder
group.
 6 representatives from commercial stakeholder group.
 6 representatives from non-commercial stakeholder
groups
 3 representatives selected by ICANN Nominating
Committee

30. THE STAKEHOLDER GROUPS
 1. Registries Stakeholder Group
Represents all gTLD registries under contract to ICANN.
2. Registrars Stakeholder Group
Represents all registrars accredited by and under contract to ICANN.
3. Commercial Stakeholder Groups
Represents full range of large and small entities in the internet
4. Non-commercial Stakeholder Group
Represents interests of non-commercial registrants and non-commercial
internet users of the generic top level domains.

31. ADVISORY COMMITTEES
1. Government Advisory Committee
Return
 Provides advice on activities of ICANN which are related to
concerns of government, i.e. Where ICANN’s policies
interact with laws & international agreements.
 Chair of GAC elected by members of GAC
 GAC liaison on the Board elected by GAC & doesn’t vote,
just advises the board.
 No limitations on reappointment of GAC liaison on the
Board of ICANN.
 GAC liaison in Nominating Committee also nominated by
GAC and also does not have voting rights.
 GAC can put issues to board directly.

32. GAC MEMBERSHIP
 Open to all national governments , district economies
recognised by international fora, multinational
government organisations and treaty organisations.
 GAC adopts its own charter and internal operating
principles and procedures to govern their operation.

33. 2. SECURITY & STABILITY
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
 Advises ICANN community & board on matters relating to
Return
security & integrity of internet’s naming & address allocating
system.
 Communicates security matters with internet technical
community, operators and management which is critical to the
Domain Name system.
 Engages in ongoing threat assessment & risk analysis of internet
naming & address allocation services to assess where principal
threats lie and act accordingly.
 Communicates with those with direct responsibility for internet
naming & address allocation.
 Reports on its activities periodically to the board.
 Makes policy recommendation to ICANN community & the
board.

34. 3. AT-LARGE ADVISORY
COMMITTEE
 Primary organisation in ICANN which is home for the
individual internet users.
 Provides advice on activities of ICANN.

35. AT-LARGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEMBERS
Return
 2 members selected by Regional At large
Organisations (RALOs)
 5 members elected by Nominating Committee
 At-Large community set up in tiers and the grass root
level consists of many At Lrge Structures which one
should join in order to find their way into RALOs,
where the committees are selected from.

36. 4. Root Server System Advisory
Committee
Return
 Advisory Committee to ICANN about operation of root
name servers.
 Respond to ICANN board when they need technical
advice.

37. HOW ROOT SERVER ADVISORY
MEMBERS R SELECTED
 Representitives hail from the organisations responsible
for operating the world’s 13 root name servers & other
organsations concerned with stable technical
operation of authoritative root server system.

38. HOW TO GET INVOLVED
 Usually have their meetings during the same time as
thr Internet engineering Task Force which is usually a
few weeks after the ICANN meetings in a different
location.

39. THE ICANN STAFF
Return
 Execute and implement policies developed by the
ICANN community and adopted by the board.
 Divided into HR, Project planning, Finance,
Communication & the CEO and President of ICANN
comes from them.

40. IMPLEMENTATION OF ICANN
POLICIES
Should a policy substantially affect the operation of the
internet/3rd parties (i.e. imposition of fees) than ICANN
is required to;
 Provide a public notice on the website explaining what
policies are being considered for adoption & why, at
least 21 days prior to the action of the board.
 Provide opportunities for parties to comment on the
adoption of proposed policies.
 If the action will affect public policy, they have to
request an opinion from GAC.

41. ICANN MEETINGS
 3 international public meetings a year.
 They last a week and consist of about 200 different
sessions.
 In most cases, anyone may speak but in a few cases you
may need to be a member.
 Newcomers accommodated on the Sunday before the
meeting begins through a series of training sessions.