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Report on .nz Oversight Committee 19/02/02

Report Adopted by the Council Meeting of 01 March 2002

19 February 2002

InternetNZ Council members

.nz Board/Oversight Committee

1. At your meeting on 1 February, you confirmed your decision of 1 December 2001 to establish the ccTLD Office within InternetNZ and a .nz Board as a sub-committee of Council. This paper supplements the paper, Governance of the .nz ccTLD, which you considered at your 1 December meeting.

2. The objective, purpose, activities and accountabilities for the .nz Board (proposed to be known as the .nz Oversight Committee) were approved on 1 December 2001 and are set out for ease of reference in Appendix I.

3. At the 1 December meeting, you also agreed the following in relation to the .nz Oversight Committee:

  • registrar representation is not appropriate given the conflict of interest;

  • members of the .nz Oversight Committee will be appointed by the InternetNZ Council, taking into account the requirements and responsibilities of a governance role;

  • five members should be adequate to provide a small, focused and competent committee; and

  • members of the .nz Oversight Committee should be paid at a level that will attract, motivate and retain people with the ability and character necessary to carry out the role.

4. This paper covers the issue of payment/fees for the members of the .nz Oversight Committee. The President will be presenting separately a list of proposed members for the Committee.

Committee Fees

5. In assessing the fee levels for committee members, I have used the Fees Framework for Members of Statutory and Other Bodies Appointed by the Crown for guidance 1. This framework is useful as it establishes parity of the fee level with similar roles that also operate outside the traditional company model. In classifying the work of the Oversight Committee, I have assessed it as:

  • having a high level of autonomy and accountability over its functions

  • a longer term function with regular meetings that requires a steady application of effort

  • requiring skills, knowledge and experience of between 5 - 10 years

  • likely to attract some public interest involvement.

6. Fees can be paid either as an annual rate or on a daily basis. The Chair is generally paid a higher fee reflecting the higher workload of that position. It is proposed that the Chair be paid an honorarium, with the members paid a daily rate.

7. An annual honorarium for the chair is in line with current practice within InternetNZ. It also recognises that the workload of the chair (regular liaison with the Domain Name Commissioner) will be ongoing and occur outside formal meeting times, making it difficult to account for on a daily basis. An honorarium of $12,000 for the chair is proposed.

8. For the other members of the committee, a daily rate of $270 is proposed, to cover both the meeting time and preparation for the meeting. It is expected that a day's fee would generally cover both preparation and meeting time.

9. The fee levels for both the chair and members should be reviewed at the end of the first year to determine whether they are adequate to retain people on the committee.

10. The budget for the Office of the Domain Name Commissioner contains provision for member fees (and travel to meetings) for the Oversight Committee.

Recommendations

11. It is recommended that the InternetNZ Council:

(1) note the decisions taken on 1 December on the terms of reference for the .nz Oversight Committee;

(2) approve an honorarium for the chair of the .nz Oversight Committee of $12,000 per annum;

(3) approve a daily fee of $270 for members of the .nz Oversight Committee to cover preparation and meeting time.

Rose Percival
SRS Implementation Team

Appendix I

.nz Oversight Committee - Terms of Reference

Objective

The objective is the effective stewardship of the .nz domain name space.

Purpose

The purpose of the Committee is to discharge the Council's governance responsibilities for oversight of:

  • The general operation of the .nz domain name space and the contracts that underpin it;

  • The authorisation of registrars;

  • The development and implementation of .nz policies; and

  • International issues and developments as they affect .nz domain name space.

Activities

Activities of the .nz Oversight Committee include:

  • Developing a strategic view of .nz;

  • Establishing the priorities for and supervising the Office of the Domain Name Commissioner;

  • Regularly reviewing the robustness of the registrar market and the level of competition between registrars;

  • Establishing standards for performance monitoring of the Domain Name Commissioner, and the registry;

  • Setting a budget for .nz domain name space oversight activities and establishing the registry fees;

  • Approving policy changes relating to the .nz domain name space;

  • Publishing information on the .nz domain name space;

  • Approving the risk management strategy for management of the .nz domain name space (includes disaster recovery planning etc); and

  • Other responsibilities as delegated by the InternetNZ Council.

Authorities

The .nz Oversight Committee has full authority (within budget) to take decisions on issues related to the .nz domain name space, including but not limited to:

  • Approving .nz policies;

  • Authorising and de-authorising a registrar;

  • Reviewing the performance of the registry on an annual basis pursuant to its contract;

  • Requesting information from registrars and the registry pursuant to the contracts;

  • Approving technical changes to the register and DNS (following appropriate consultation);

  • Initiating reviews of specific areas - registry operations, a specific registrar etc - and appointing third parties to assist in investigation(s) of any aspect of domain name activity within .nz;

  • Seeking external advice as required;

  • Appointing the Domain Name Commissioner, conduct the annual review of their performance and approve remuneration changes;

  • Approving participation at international meetings and selecting the participants at these;

  • Directing the Domain Name Commissioner as appropriate;

  • Publishing reports on .nz; and

  • Issuing press releases on .nz issues.

InternetNZ Council Decisions

The Council retains decision making on:

  • The long term strategy for the .nz domain name space;

  • Changes to the .nz position on international issues/at international fora;

  • Major transactions;

  • Membership of the Oversight Committee and its members' fees; and

  • The terms of reference for the Committee and any sub-committees it establishes.

1 www.dpmc.govt.nz/cabinet/circulars/co01/8.html

©2002 The Internet Society of New Zealand
Last updated 25 February 2002

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