Council Minutes 14/12/02

Minutes of the General Meeting of the Council of InternetNZ Held at the InternetNZ Council Room, L4, 4 Bond Street, Wellington Saturday 14 December 2002 at 10 a.m.

Note - for links to papers etc, see the Agenda.

Status: Accepted at Council Meeting 030215

1. WELCOME FROM CHAIR

Keith Davidson (President) opened the meeting at 10.20 a.m. and welcomed all Councillors.

2. ATTENDANCE

a. Present

Keith Davidson (President), David Farrar (Secretary), Chris Streatfield (Treasurer), Jordan Carter, Grant Forsyth, Howard Frederick, Jennifer Northover, Bill Parkin, Simon Riley, Joop Teernstra, Michael Wallmannsberger, Nick Wallingford, and Sue Leader (Executive Director)

b. In Attendance

• Frank March, Chair, NZOC, for items 6 and 7.
• Debbie Monahan, Domain Name Commissioner for item 6.
• Bob Gray, Chair Domainz, for item 2
• Derek Locke, CEO, Domainz for item 2
• Christine Angus, Union, for item 2b.
• Zofia Krawczyk, Office Administrator - audio recording
• Angela Sheehan, Minute Taker

c. Apologies

Absence: Rick Shera, Jonathan Ah Kit, Richard Bourne, Roger De Salis, Bert Felt, Drew Whittle.

02/132 MOVED: (President/Secretary) THAT the Apologies be accepted.

CARRIED U

3. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

02/133 MOVED : (Secretary/Northover): "THAT the minutes of the Council Meeting held on 8 November 2002 be accepted as a true and correct record".

CARRIED U

4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

There were no matters arising.

5. DOMAINZ LTD REPORT

(Agenda Item 2)

a. Presentation on Research

Christine Angus, of market research company Union, attended the meeting to present the results of research that Union had been commissioned to do on Domainz customers. Her comments were illustrated by a PowerPoint presentation.

Additional comments - some in answer to questions - were as follows:

• Focus group participants had been very interested in commenting.
• There was a perception that Domainz tended to be reactive rather than proactive when working with its customers and providers to provide new service solutions or product development.
• Some groups had mentioned experiencing difficulties with the web interface.
• Over the past couple of years there had not been any problems with .nz registry, and fundamentally the company had been providing a reliable and stable service.
• There was a very strong perception, particularly amongst larger nameholder customers who had had more frequent contact with Domainz than had some smaller customers, that Domainz had improved markedly over the past 6 to 12 months.
• Very positive views had been expressed about Domainz call centre staff.
• The most common reaction to any change had been the losing of expertise currently resident within one group ? a sense that there may be some upheaval in the market.
• Given competition, Domainz would lose market share and that would reduce the organisation's revenues.
• There was an expectation that Domainz would face increased costs as one of the registrars purchasing from the shared registry service.
• It followed that, for Domainz to remain viable in the future, it would need to adopt more commercial behaviour; in particular, that would require Domainz perhaps to expand the range of products and services it offered.
• There was an expectation that Domainz inform its customers of any changes to the .nz registry and the implications of any such changes.

b. Domainz Board Report [Confidential to Council]

PoR 11.00 a.m. - move into committee (Cr Forsyth declared an interest and leaves the meeting)

PoR 11.14 a.m. - move out of committee (Cr Forsyth returns)

02/134 MOVED: (Secretary/Treasurer): "THAT the report of the Domainz Board be received".

CARRIED U

The President sought and obtained agreement from the meeting to take the agenda item Domainz Future Task Force Update whilst the Domainz representatives were still present.

6. DOMAINZ FUTURE TASK FORCE UPDATE

The Secretary said that it was hoped the draft valuation would be available by Christmas and therefore it would be able to be considered in January. He said there were two large issues to be thought about: first, should there be any restrictions on the identity of purchaser; secondly, how should the final stages of the sale process be managed? In relation to the first point, he suggested that Councillors bring any thoughts on the pros and cons to the February Council meeting. In relation to the second point, he suggested that a body of 18 would not be the ideal size to oversee a clause-by-clause negotiation. Probably the way ahead would be to get Council approval on the large details, the range and the identity, but delegate consideration of the complex legal and commercial issues to a smaller group.

7. ADMIN COMMITTEE

(Agenda Item 3)

a. Restructuring Report

PoR 11.26 - move into committee (the President declared an interest, vacated the chair, and left the meeting; staff except the Executive Director left the meeting)

PoR 11.37 a.m. - move out of committee (President and staff return)

The President resumed the chair.

b. Draft Governance Policy [Confidential to Council]

The Secretary said that the Draft Governance Policy was a living document, and Council would regularly look at what changes would be useful. Cr Northover recommended strict version control on the document. The Treasurer, in answer to a question from Cr Riley, said that the document was an internal document and, as such, members and stakeholders had no say in it. However, as with all policies, the Draft Governance Policy would be on the website. Cr Riley said he believed the policy went wider than just an internal Council policy, and warned that such a document could be used by certain types of people to hamstring the organisation. Cr Carter suggested holding a Council workshop on the document early next year, and there was no dissenting voice to that suggestion.

02/135 MOVED: (Teernstra/Northover): "THAT the document presented as Attachment 5, under 1. Governance Process, be amended by the following additions:

1.1 The role of the Council is to provide quality governance and strategic leadership of InternetNZ.

Accordingly:

1. The Council will set policies and strategies in consultation with the local Internet community.

2. In accordance with the outcome of such consultation the council: will develop and monitor policies that provide direction and boundaries both for its own and for the Executive Director's functions.

3. The Council will produce assurances of Executive Director performance against these policies."

CARRIED U

02/136 MOVED: (Teernstra/Northover): "THAT the document presented as Attachment 5, under 1. Governance Process, be amended by the following addition:

1.3 Linkage to the registrants in .nz: The Council will set policies and strategies in a manner that is answerable to the registrants in the .nz Top Level Domain and will demonstrate this by:

• open information sharing about its activities on its website
• responsible operation and direction of its subsidiary companies
• participation in registrant discussions on domain name policy
• gathering information from the registrants about their concerns
• remaining up to date in matters concerning the registrants' interests."

CARRIED

For: (4) Teernstra, Riley, Parkin, Secretary

Against: (3) Treasurer, Wallingford, Forsyth

Abstentions: (5) Carter, Wallmansberger, Northover, Frederick, President

ACTION : Secretary to incorporate Amendments into the next version of the Draft Governance Policy.

8. PRESIDENT'S REPORT

(Agenda Item 4)

The President said he had nothing further to add to his previously circulated report , and asked whether there were any questions.

• Cr Riley referred to the item on the desirability of joint meetings between InternetNZ, TUANZ, and ITANZ etc. The President said a resolution to that effect had been passed some time ago, but it had proved difficult to get all the parties together. However, it was a good idea to keeping trying to hold such meetings.
• Cr Frederick suggested that the Social Impact Committee should review the Industry New Zealand document on the creation of a formal network for a high-tech sector in New Zealand and consider making a submission on behalf of the Society.

02/137 MOVED: (President/Northover): "THAT the President's Report be accepted."

CARRIED U

9. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S FINAL REPORT

(Agenda Item 5)

The Executive Director referred to her final report , as previously circulated. She thanked Council very much for the previous evening's function and said that she had been overwhelmed by the tributes paid. She had the following additions to her report:

• She had received a letter from S Guest from the Internet Users Society, Niue thanking the Council for funding Andy Linton's attendance at the PAC-INET 2002 seminar in Nadi.
• The Society now had a registered trademark for the logo, the name was in acceptance stage.
• The IANA process was moving forward.
• The Admin contact details had finally been updated on the ccTLD database.
• Authorisation on the templates for the name server changes had been approved by IANA. They were currently with the US Department of Commerce.
• The third stage of the process was updating the technical contact details. She hoped to be able to leave her position having the technical contact details finally updated from the ITS operators at Waikato University.
• On completion of the name servers issue she would issue a press statement re severing the final link with NASA - the origin of the Internet in New Zealand.
• She had issued a media release on.geek.nz. International interest had been high.
• She was still working on preparations for the handover of her job.
• She believed it was appropriate that Council formally acknowledge the high-quality advice and unpaid time that John Vorstermans had put into the technical and network work.

02/138 MOVED: (President/Northover): "THAT Council thank John Vorstermans for his considerable efforts and unpaid time given as a kind donation to the Society."

CARRIED U by Acclamation

• The Executive Director highlighted the outstanding 1995 AGM Action point on the final page of her report. The President urged the Executive Director to try to complete the installation of a founders' plaque and also something in cyberspace.

ACTION: Executive Director arrange for founders' commemoration plaque and cyberspace tribute.

• In answer to a question from Cr Riley, the Executive Director gave some background to the UNESCO presentation by the Assistant Secretary General. She also suggested that someone within the Society - perhaps the Social Impact Committee - could take a much closer formal liaison role with the UNESCO co-ordinating committee.

02/139 MOVED: (Secretary/Northover): "THAT the Executive Director's report be accepted."

CARRIED U

• Cr Northover thanked the Executive Director for the quality of her reports to Council.

Lunch - 12.30 p.m. to 1.05 p.m.

10. .NZ OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

(Agenda Item 6)

a. NZOC Monthly Report

NZOC Chair Frank March highlighted the following points:

• He apologised to Council for not ensuring that members were notified of the time of the second face-to-face meeting. It was an error.
• That meeting had been productive and much more in line with where the committee expected to be going in the future. Its main purpose had been to deal with a couple of policies outstanding from the previous meeting and to agree on a programme going forward.

a. Policy on the Development of Policy

• The committee referred to Council for approval the Policy on the Development of Policy . It had not been part of the previous policy because the committee had wanted to give more detail about the objectives of InternetNZ.

b. International Review

• The committee had undertaken to review the International work, and it was referring to Council a paper outlining the process for doing that. The review would be not of policies but of responsibilities, for example, whether the society should continue with the current International Affairs Committee or who should be attending ICANN meetings
• A large review team was proposed for the review of International Affairs. The committee was proposing to issue a draft interim report by the end of March, because it wanted to take the whole issue in draft form to a public participation summit, perhaps in April 2003.
• The review should also look at non-ICANN international bodies of interest to the Society.

c. Review of Policy on Second Level Domains

• The committee had adopted a policy to review the Second Level Domains policy, which Council had agreed had a very high priority. The committee was seeking agreement to proceed with the Second Level Domains policy.
• The DNC, Debbie Monahan, would be driving the review, and it would be done within a quite tight timeframe. The committee had issued a call to people interested in participating in the review, but it wanted to have people with divergent views.

d. Policy on Confidentiality of Society Documents

• Debbie Monahan had prepared an addendum to the Policy on Confidentiality of Society Documents.
• NZOC suggests that Council consider the copyright of its own documents. NZOC's position was that if any non-public documents were released, the copyright was retained by NZOC, i.e., the requester had no right of publication.

e. Other

• The committee discussed the draft budget, but because it had insufficient experience as to what the ongoing budget level should be, it kept the budget as is.
• The committee did not expect to have to come back to Council for more money in its budget.
• In relation to Internationalise Domain Names, the committee would be recommending retention of the current tight limit on what characters were allowed on its DNS space, except for allowing for Maori macrons.
• It was proposed to pay people who had to travel to attend NZOC meetings a sum of $50 an hour for at least 4 hours on top of their usual fee. That payment would cover down time spent travelling.
• The DNC noted that .nz was now past the 120,000 active domain names, and there were now four competitive registrars putting names into the SRS and who had their own customers and billing practices. Another was set to join next week, and about another 10 were lined up.
• The SLA agreement with NZRS was still being developed but was near completion.

Discussion

• In answer to a question from Cr Frederick, Cr March said that the review of International work would start towards the end of January, and he would work forward from there on the details of hiring consultants, if needed, and the depth of the report.
• Cr Teernstra asked why the entire International Affairs Committee had not been invited to participate in the review. Cr March said that no invitations had yet been issued, although he expected that the International Affairs Committee would have a very strong presence on the review team. Cr Teernstra added that he would like to be on the review committee. Cr March said that it was up to Council to nominate members. Perhaps the process could be initiated by an on-line discussion, and an indication given to the committee by the middle of January.
• Cr Forsyth referred to the Policy on Policy and said he was confused between what he was hearing and what he saw written. He said while Cr March was talking about informing Council by making it aware of policies and while his committee stood open to receive comment from Council, who had the obligation to finally approve policy? Cr March said that NZOC had that obligation. Cr Carter added that Council had delegated policy setting to NZOC, so also had the power to override it. The President added that ultimately Council could dismiss the committee.
• Cr Riley referred to section 4 of the policy document entitled "Responsibilities" and asked whether the reference to "any party" included Council. Cr March said that it did. If Council required NZOC to give a high priority to a particular policy review the committee would take that as being given a direction in terms of its work.

02/140 MOVED: (Northover/President): "THAT Council agree to the .nz Oversight Committee conducting a review of International matters."

CARRIED U

02/141 MOVED: (Northover/President): "THAT the Confidentiality policy be accepted and also that Council review the .nz Oversight Committee's policy for appropriateness to itself."

CARRIED U

02/142 MOVED: (Northover/President): "THAT the .nz Oversight Committee's policy on policy setting be accepted."

CARRIED U

02/143 MOVED: (Northover/President): "THAT the report of the .nz Oversight Committee be adopted."

CARRIED

Abstention: Teernstra

The Secretary noted that, under the guidance of the .nz Oversight Committee, there was now a competitive registration system in New Zealand, and Debbie Monahan and her team should be thanked for all the work they had done in bring that off without criticism. ( Acclamation ).

ACTION: Executive Director review the .nz Oversight Committee's policy on Confidentiality for appropriateness to Society's Office.

11. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

(Agenda Item 7)

In the absence of IAC Chair, Peter Dengate Thrush, the Executive Director spoke to his previously circulated report . She highlighted the following points:

• The APTLD Secretariat was presently calling for tenders, and it did not seem likely that the Society would be putting in a tender.
• In relation to the ccTLD Secretariat, the committee was supporting the possibility of the outgoing Executive Director tendering for that, with InternetNZ support.
• In relation to the ICANN review, the assistance group had issued its first set of high-level recommendations and were calling for comment on questions like "What is a super majority?". It still sounded like they were saying that the ICANN Board was still planning to be able to impose policy, and the majority of the cc's were not impressed.
• The Council should proceed with some haste to determine what to organise for the visit of the China Internet Society delegation in February.
• The feedback from PAC-INET had been fabulous. The prospect of taking a more proactive role would fall to the International Affairs Committee.

Discussion

• Cr Frederick asked whether ITU was setting itself up to be an alternative ICANN. The Executive Director said that the short answer was "yes", and referred the question to New Zealand's GAC representative, Frank March, to elaborate. Frank gave a brief summary on the complexity surrounding the issue.

02/144 MOVED: (Northover/Secretary): "THAT the report of the International Affairs Committee be accepted."

CARRIED U

02/145 MOVED: (Northover/Secretary): "THAT Andy Linton's report be received and his thanks noted."

CARRIED U

ACTION: International Affairs Committee to move with some haste to organise for the visit of the China Internet Society.

12. AT LARGE REPORT

(Agenda Item 8 [Confidential to Council])

PoR 2.05 p.m - move into committee - all non-Council Members left the meeting

PoR 2.45 p.m. - move out of committee - all non-Council Members returned

02/146 MOVED: (Forsyth/Riley): "THAT Council has resolved that it will accept an amended report from Cr Teernstra on the At Large and will supply that report."

CARRIED

Abstention: Secretary, Teernstra

ACTION : Executive Director to place amended At Large Report in public area of the website once received.

13 . LEGAL & REGULATORY COMMITTEE REPORT

(Agenda Item 9)

In the absence of the Chair, Council agreed to receive the report . Cr Riley said that the new Copyright Bill should be added to the list. He said he would e?mail Cr Shera to that effect.

02/147 MOVED: (President/Secretary) "THAT the report of the Legal & Regulatory Affairs Committee be received. CARRIED U

14. TREASURER'S REPORT

(Agenda Item 10)

a. Monthly Report

b. October P & L

c. October Variance

The Treasurer said that there had been no dramatic changes in the financial report. He asked Cr Northover whether she was satisfied with the new layout of the financial report, including the year-to-date budget column. Cr Northover said that she was.

02/148 MOVED: (Treasurer/Northover): "THAT the Treasurer's Report and October Financial Statements be received."

CARRIED U

15. STRATEGIC PLANNING TASK FORCE REPORT

(Agenda Item 11)

Cr Riley said that the draft document was still a living document and it would probably change monthly. It was a tool that he would like to see included in all Council papers as a reminder. For the benefit of Committee Chairs not present, that suggestion should be posted to the Council List.

02/149 MOVED: (Riley/Parkin): "THAT the report of the Strategic Planning Task Force be accepted."

CARRIED U

ACTION : Any Chairs with outstanding dates for addition to draft planning cycle to send them to Executive Director by December 20.

16. NGI STEERING GROUP - FINAL REPORT

(Agenda Item 12)

Cr Riley presented the report in the absence of the Chair, Neil James. Cr Riley said that adoption of the report would officially terminate the NGI Steering Group. A Consortium had been formed, which another organisation, the National Library, had joined that week.

He noted that the NGI Steering Group had been one of the most successful groups he had ever worked with, and recommended the approach as a very good way of considering major initiatives.

02/150 MOVED: (Riley/President): "(1) THAT Council accept the final report of the NGI Steering Group; and (2) that Council recognise the contribution made by the group's members, in particular that of Neil James for chairing the group."

CARRIED U

02/151 MOVED: (Riley/President): "THAT Council approve expenditure of $15,000 to join NGI Consortium.

CARRIED U

ACTION: Executive Director arrange payment of NGI Consortium Membership fee.

17. CONSTITUTION REVIEW WORKING GROUP

(Agenda Item 13)

a. The September Report , the Supplement to the September Report, and the November Report

The Treasurer, Chair of the Constitution Review Working Group, explained that three reports from the working group had been circulated. The Supplementary Report concerned the implications of an Executive Committee versus an Admin Committee. The committee did not wish that paper to be received by Council as it wanted to re-examine the issues in the light of recent changes and particularly in light of the discussion around governance. The September Report and the September Supplementary Report were therefore tabled for information only.

In the November Report the working group noted that even though they would like to see a change of status from a working group to a standing committee, that was not a recommendation that could be put to Council but only to the President. The President said that he, as current President, had no issue with the recommendations.

The Treasurer outlined the first five recommendations in the November report, noting that the sixth should be deleted as it was now covered in the Secretary's paper (Proposed Policy on Sub-Groups of Council)

Discussion

• Cr Riley said that with the new Executive Director would be having an expanded role so would have input or ideas on committee structures. Secondly, Council had agreed that the number of Councillors would be reduced to 14, so that of itself would impact on how Council organised the committees. The meeting planning cycle was also an issue to take account of. All of those issues were interrelated.
• Cr Northover said she would support rethinking the proposals in the light of all the other changes going on such as the new Executive Director and the strategic planning process.
• The Treasurer added that anything put in place now would have a maximum guaranteed life of 6 months because, after the next Annual General Meeting, the President could change the way the committees worked and their terms of reference must be revisited. The strategic planning cycle may or may not have a serious impact.
• The Secretary said that he had no problem with relooking at the issues in the future.

02/152 MOVED: (Secretary/Treasurer): "THAT recommendations 1 to 5:

1. That this Working Group be made permanent and formalised as a Standing Committee;

2. That the name to be changed to "Governance and Constitutional Committee";

3. That the ToR as listed here be ratified by Council;

4. That Committees and Working Groups be directed to formalise their meeting dates, agendas and reports and to take up a Report Template (to be produced);

5. That a formal Model Agenda be created for Council Meetings and the consequence that papers not produced in a timely fashion be excluded from Council deliberations except as noted above;

of the Constitution Review Working Group November Report be agreed to."

CARRIED

Abstention: Northover

b. Proposed Policy on Sub-Groups of Council

The Secretary presented his paper on proposed sub-groups of Council. The key is to get consistency - he proposed standard terminology of "committee" for any permanent sub-group and "taskforce" for a limited duration specific purpose sub-group.

Discussion

• The purpose of the Audit Committee was queried and the Secretary explained that it would be a couple of Councillors who were not Officers, working with the Treasurer to deal with issues, for example, of 'strong' Officers making inappropriate decisions.
• Cr Riley said such a committee in terms would have independent members. The Secretary said the Board model meant would be comprised of members of Council.
• Cr Northover said there was another model as used by the University, where an ad hoc committee was created as necessary.
• The President said such a committee was of worth but that terms of reference and composition would come later when it could be debated.
• The Executive Director noted that with both the restructuring and its associated governance changes, and the initiative by the Treasurer to add extra checks and balances by involving the Accountants in the monthly accounts to improve safeguards, she felt this was unneeded as outlined, though an ad hoc group as needed could be useful.
• The Executive Director noted that under Recommendation 4 there would still be a risk of each Council member having to be on two or more committees. The Secretary replied that the minimum of three members did not mean three Council Members and he hoped more members would come from outside Council.
• Cr Riley noted that shouldn't require three Council members just to get them up and going. The Secretary agreed.
• The President noted the time and drew the discussion to a close.
• The Secretary said that he would bring Terms of Reference to the next meeting which will give Council a chance to vote against the Audit Committee recommendation if they wished.
• Cr Northover suggested endorsing them all, noting that Recommendation 3 on the Audit Committee be subject to review.

02/153 MOVED: (Secretary/Treasurer): "THAT recommendations 1 to 7:

1. That we confirm as standing committees of Council the Administration, International Affairs, Technical, Legal & Regulatory, Governance & Constitutional and .nz Oversight Committees

2. That the Social Impact Committee be renamed the Outreach Committee to better reflect its purpose

3. That an Audit Committee be established in principle with membership and ToR to be determined

4. That the recommended size of each Committee be a minimum of three and a maximum of seven members (excluding the Executive Director and President ex- officio)

5. That where possible at least one member of each Committee shall not be a member of Council

6. That all Committees integrate a meeting schedule with the Council meeting schedule and at least one meeting per quarter be scheduled, with additional ones held as necessary.

7. That all specific purpose sub-groups be renamed Taskforces

This would then leave Council's sub-groups as consisting of

Administration Committee

International Affairs Committee

Technical Committee

Legal & Regulatory Committee

Governance & Constitutional Committee

nz Oversight Committee

Audit Committee

Outreach Committee

Domain Name Dispute Resolution Taskforce

Future of DOMAINZ Taskforce

Internet Code of Practice Taskforce

The .nz Oversight Committee, it should be noted, has its own sub-groups such as Registrar Advisory Group.

on the Proposed Policy on Sub-Groups of Council be agreed to."

CARRIED

Abstention: Teernstra

18. FORESHADOWED MOTION TO CHANGE THE BY-LAWS

(Originally moved Riley/Bourne)

02/154 MOVED: (Riley/Treasurer): "THAT section 6.1 of the By-Laws

" 6.1 The meeting shall be chaired by the President. In the absence of the President the Vice-President shall chair the meeting and if both are absent or stand aside then any other Elected Council Member elected by the Meeting."

be amended to read:

"6.1 The meeting shall be chaired by the President. In the absence of the President the chair moves to those officers present in the following order: Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer; and, if all officers are absent or stand aside, then any other elected Council Member elected by the meeting."

CARRIED

Abstention: President, Secretary

19. GENERAL BUSINESS

a. Leave of absence

Cr Wallmannsberger asked for a leave of absence as he will be travelling overseas. He suggested a review at the end of March 2003. Leave of Absence was granted.

b. International Affairs Committee membership

02/155 MOVED: (Secretary/President): "THAT Council resolve that Sue Leader be appointed a member of the International Affairs Committee in her own right."

CARRIED U by acclamation

c. Executive Director Appointment Transition Issues

The Secretary noted that as it was unlikely the new appointee would start on January 1 2003, if there is a gap between Executive Directors the Admin Committee has appointed the Treasurer and Secretary to jointly carry out the role of ED to the minimal extent required for the normal remuneration (nothing!). They will jointly handle any issues which may arise and need to be dealt with before the new Executive Director starts.

d. Thanks to the Executive Director

Before closing the meeting the President wished to record his thanks to the Executive Director.

02/156 MOVED: (President/Secretary) "THAT Council wished to formally record a vote of thanks to Sue as this was her last attendance Council Meeting as the Society's Executive Director, though hopefully not her last involvement. The thanks acknowledged Sue's endeavours over the past years, and wished her the very best for the future."

CARRIED U by acclamation

20. Meeting Finish

The President thanked everyone for their attendance and declared the meeting closed at 3.40 p.m.

Note - for links to papers etc, see the Agenda.

© 2001 InternetNZ
Last updated 18 December 2002