The Board of Directors resolved on 2nd November 2007 to request public comments on a change to the Bylaws of ICANN requested by the At-Large Advisory Committee, related to the administration of applications from organizations that wish to join the At-Large community of Internet end-users participating in ICANN.

The change would amend the wording of Article XI, S2(4)(i) so that it would read as follows:

Membership in the At-Large Community
1. The criteria and standards for the certification of At-Large Structures within each Geographic Region shall be established by the Board based on recommendations from the ALAC and shall be stated in the Memorandum of Understanding between ICANN and the RALO for each Geographic Region.
2. The criteria and standards for the certification of At-Large Structures shall be established in such a way that participation by individual Internet users who are citizens or residents of countries within the Geographic Region (as defined in Section 5 of Article VI) of the RALO will predominate in the operation of each At-Large Structure within the RALO, while not necessarily excluding additional participation, compatible with the interests of the individual Internet users within the region, by others.
3. Each RALO's Memorandum of Understanding shall also include provisions designed to allow, to the greatest extent possible, every individual Internet user who is a citizen of a country within the RALO's Geographic Region to participate in at least one of the RALO's At-Large Structures.
4. To the extent compatible with these objectives, the criteria and standards should also afford to each RALO the type of structure that best fits the customs and character of its Geographic Region.
5. Once the criteria and standards have been established as provided in this Clause i, the ALAC, with the advice and participation of the RALO where the applicant is based, shall be responsible for certifying organizations as meeting the criteria and standards for At-Large Structure accreditation.
6. Decisions to certify or decertify an At-Large Structure shall be made as decided by the ALAC in its Rules of Procedure, save always that any changes made to the Rules of Procedure in respect of ALS applications shall be subject to review by the RALOs and by the ICANN Board.
7. Decisions as to whether to accredit, not to accredit, or disaccredit an At-Large Structure shall be subject to review according to procedures established by the Board.
8. On an ongoing basis, the ALAC may also give advice as to whether a prospective At-Large Structure meets the applicable criteria and standards.

This amendment is part of a series of other changes that do not impact the Bylaws of ICANN, which were resolved upon by the ALAC in their meeting on 10th August 2007. The complete package of changes can be found here.

ICANN have determined that a 30-day public comment period on the proposed Bylaw change is appropriate. Those wishing to comment are suggested to make their comments not later than 2 nd December 2007 at 12:00 EST.

Comments are therefore encouraged; they may be sent by email to alac-bylaw-comments@icann.org, and reviewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/alac-bylaw-comments.

PDF Copy of Proposed Amendment to ICANN Bylaws Article XI