Historical Resolution Tracking Feature » Publication of Board Committees Activity Reports

Important note: The explanatory text provided through this database (including the summary, implementation actions, identification of related resolutions, and additional information) is an interpretation or an explanation that has no official authority and does not represent the purpose behind the Board actions, nor does any explanations or interpretations modify or override the Resolutions themselves. Resolutions can only be modified through further act of the ICANN Board.

Publication of Board Committees Activity Reports


Resolution of the ICANN Board
Meeting Date: 
Fri, 3 Feb 2017
Resolution Number: 
2017.02.03.15
Resolution Text: 

Whereas, on 26 June 2014, the ICANN Board accepted the recommendations of the Final Report of the Second Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT2) published on December 31, 2013.

Whereas, Recommendation 1 stated "The Board should develop objective measures for determining the quality of ICANN Board members and the success of Board improvement efforts, and analyze those findings over time."

Whereas, Recommendation 2 stated "The Board should develop metrics to measure the effectiveness of the Board's functioning and improvement efforts, and publish the materials used for training to gauge levels of improvement."

Whereas, Recommendation 3 stated "The Board should conduct qualitative/quantitative studies to determine how the qualifications of Board candidate pools change over time and should regularly assess Directors' compensation levels against prevailing standards."

Whereas, the Board Governance Committee (BGC) considered ATRT2 Recommendations and provided the Board with recommendations on implementation, including among other things the development of Key Performance Indicators to help measure the Board's function and improvement efforts.

Whereas, the Board recognizes the importance of measuring how well the Board functions, including at Committee level, and of measuring the Board's improvement efforts.

Whereas, the Key Performance Indicators list approved by the Board on 3 February 2016, includes a KPI on the percentage of Board Committees that produced a report every six months.

Whereas, the Board Committees, to the extent it is consistent with the Board activity, produce an activity report every six month.

Whereas, the Board intends to improve its transparency and accountability and considers that these Committee Activity Reports should be made available to the Community.

Resolved (2017.02.03.15) the Board approves the publication of the Board Committees Activity Reports released every six month on the Board Activity pages of the ICANN website: (https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/documents-2014-03-24-en).

Rationale for Resolution: 

The implementation of recommendations [PDF, 3.46 MB] from the Second Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT2) began in June 2014, shortly after the Board accepted the recommendations. The initial Implementation Plan scheduled the completion of Recommendations 1, 2 and 3 in June 2015, which was later revised to February 2016, to allow Board Governance Committee (BGC) to further discuss the overall process, including the development of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to help measure the efforts called for in ATRT2 Recommendations 1, 2 and 3.

The BCG is working with the Board to review comprehensively the Board's performance and improvement efforts and to develop relevant and substantive KPIs to measure both.

With respect to ATRT 2 Recommendation 2, which is partly redundant to Recommendation 1, a proposed first list of KPIs measures the Board and the Board's Committees current logistical functioning. Among the approved set of KPIs, the percentage of Board Committees that produced a report every six month follows a best practice in global, not-for-profit organizations.

The Board Committees therefore produce an activity report every six months to the extent it is relevant and consistent with their activity.

Pursuing its effort towards increased transparency and accountability, the Board considers that the Board Committees Activity Reports constitute a source of relevant information that should be made available to the Community. The Board therefore considers that these activity reports should be published on the ICANN website, under the Board Activity section, every six months.

Publishing the Board Committees Activity Reports will have no direct fiscal impact on ICANN or the community that is not already budgeted, and will not have an impact of the security, stability and resiliency of the domain name system.

This is an Organization Administrative Function that does not require public comment.