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<p>Thanks, Richard and Caleb. <br>
</p>
<p>This -- <br>
</p>
<p>
<blockquote type="cite">495. ICANN’s lack of a detailed public
explanation was exacerbated by its assertion of the
attorney-client privilege as to almost all of its internal
documents. The result is that there is virtually no documentary
record of ICANN’s internal deliberations or why ICANN decided
that price controls were no longer needed. As discussed above,
the Panel has decided not to address the precise extent of any
obligation to maintain a non-privileged record, but has serious
concerns on this subject.</blockquote>
</p>
<p>This kind of lack of consultation (in organizations that
purportedly support the Multistakeholder model), opacity / lack of
transparency is a major flaw in / critique of MS governance
models. <br>
</p>
<p>WYn<br>
<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 26 Jan 2023 1:05 AM, Caleb Olumuyiwa
Ogundele via Chapter-delegates wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAL_ZvK5jypS4G-vLdOhGO4_-iua3YjiC+Y6Aw_zde-wSawhV3w@mail.gmail.com">
<div dir="ltr">Hi Richard,<br>
<br>
Namecheap also put out a statement on this. It will be nice to
take a look at both views.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div><span><b><a
href="https://www.namecheap.com/blog/namecheap-vs-icann-removal-of-price-caps-for-org-and-info-found-improper/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">NameCheap's
Statement</a></b></span></div>
<div><a
href="https://www.namecheap.com/blog/namecheap-vs-icann-removal-of-price-caps-for-org-and-info-found-improper/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.namecheap.com/blog/namecheap-vs-icann-removal-of-price-caps-for-org-and-info-found-improper/</a></div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I also gathered that the ICANN board of directors <a
href="https://www.icann.org/en/board-activities-and-meetings/materials/approved-resolutions-regular-meeting-of-the-icann-board-21-01-2023-en#section2.b"
rel="noopener" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">at the
weekend voted</a> to ask its Board Accountability Mechanisms
Committee (BAMC) to “review, consider, and evaluate” the IRP
decision and recommend the next steps.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><a
href="https://www.icann.org/en/board-activities-and-meetings/materials/approved-resolutions-regular-meeting-of-the-icann-board-21-01-2023-en#section2.b"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.icann.org/en/board-activities-and-meetings/materials/approved-resolutions-regular-meeting-of-the-icann-board-21-01-2023-en#section2.b</a><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We are following the output of the BAMC keenly.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><b>Caleb Ogundele<br>
ISOC, Nigeria Chapter<br>
</b><a href="mailto:muyiwacaleb@gmail.com"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">muyiwacaleb@gmail.com</a><br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Jan 25, 2023 at 10:51
AM Richard Hill via Chapter-delegates <<a
href="mailto:chapter-delegates@elists.isoc.org"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">chapter-delegates@elists.isoc.org</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote">
<div class="msg-5167297294111638495">
<div lang="EN-US">
<div class="m_-5167297294111638495WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">An ICANN Independent Review Panel
(IRP) has found that “ICANN’s action with respect to
the Price Cap Decision [removing price caps for “.org”
and “.info”] was inconsistent with Sections 1.2(a),
1.2(b), 2.1, 3.1, 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6(a) of the Bylaws
and Article III of the Articles of Incorporation.”
(Paragraph 505 of the decision)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The decision is at:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <a
href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/irp-namecheap-icann-final-declaration-redacted-23dec22-en.pdf"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/irp-namecheap-icann-final-declaration-redacted-23dec22-en.pdf</a>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Paragraphs 372 and above, regarding
lack of transparency, may be of particular interest to
those who participated in discussions regarding ISOC’s
proposal to sell “.org”.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And also the following
recommendations:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“494. With regard to the 2019
Registry Agreements for .ORG and .INFO, the
fundamental issue is that ICANN does not appear to
have given sufficient consideration to the strong
public opposition to removal of price controls,
especially as to .ORG. While ICANN may have discussed
and considered this issue internally, ICANN’s public
explanation of its decision did not specifically
explain why it concluded that price caps were no
longer needed, or take into account any market power
that .ORG may have in its particular niche of the
domain market. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">495. ICANN’s lack of a detailed
public explanation was exacerbated by its assertion of
the attorney-client privilege as to almost all of its
internal documents. The result is that there is
virtually no documentary record of ICANN’s internal
deliberations or why ICANN decided that price controls
were no longer needed. As discussed above, the Panel
has decided not to address the precise extent of any
obligation to maintain a non-privileged record, but
has serious concerns on this subject.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">500. Third, as discussed above, the
Panel finds that the evidence that price controls
should be retained is much stronger for .ORG than for
.INFO, given that .ORG is an original gTLD with a much
larger number of DUMs, and serves a special market
focused on not-for-profit organizations. Thus, while
the ICANN Board should consider what remedial measures
to take as to both .ORG and .INFO, the measures for
.ORG may be stronger and more extensive than for
.INFO.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">502. Fifth, if the Board concludes
that some form of price controls for .ORG and/or .INFO
are in the global public interest, the Panel
recommends that ICANN seek to amend the 2019 Registry
Agreements to include appropriate price controls. The
registry operator of .ORG has publicly represented
that it will not raise prices unreasonably, so it
presumably would be willing to agree to some form of
price controls. The registry operator for .INFO may
also be willing to agree to price controls, given that
prices do not appear to have increased by more than
what would have been allowed under the prior price
control provisions.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The full case file is at:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a
href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/irp-namecheap-v-icann-2020-03-03-en"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/irp-namecheap-v-icann-2020-03-03-en</a>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Best,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Richard</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
</div>
</div>
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</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr"><b>Caleb Ogundele</b>
<div>Mobile: +1-204-558-6904</div>
<div>Email: <a href="mailto:muyiwacaleb@gmail.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">muyiwacaleb@gmail.com</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">_______________________________________________
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to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society Chapter Portal (AMS):
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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