New Policy Development Process to Debut at LACNIC 30

20/09/2018

The Public Policy Forum (PPF) that will meet during the LACNIC 30 event in Rosario will be the first to use the new Policy Development Process (PDP) approved by the LACNIC community at its latest meeting.

This new process introduces substantial changes to the mechanisms and deadlines that apply for the presentation and approval of policy proposals, and also incorporates the possibility of appealing new rules.

All policy proposals presented during the online meeting held on 3 September (watch video here) will be subject to the new process approved by the LACNIC community.

Consensus. One of the most important new features of the new PDP is that policy proposals must reach consensus both on the Public Policy List and at the Forum. Also, once discussions have ended, the chairs have a two-week period to decide whether the proposal has reached consensus and notify the community.

According to the definition of consensus added to the PDP, a proposal is considered to have reached consensus when it is supported by meaningful opinions, after a broad discussion, and when no irrefutable technical objections remain.

Forum chairs are now referred to as Policy Development Process chairs, as their responsibility covers all instances of the PDP.

Appeals. An appeals process has been added to the PDP in case a member of the community wishes to express their disagreement regarding consensus of any given policy. While the Member Assembly is no longer the place for this purpose, anyone can still be heard through the appeals process.

New stages. The community has modified the time-line for the submission of a policy proposal, defining the following stages:

An initial discussion period lasting at least eight weeks and at most the time required for the proposal to be presented at the FPP.

The chairs will have two weeks to decide whether consensus has been reached and, if so, notify the community of the beginning of a four-week period for last comments.

The chairs will then have one week to decide whether consensus has been maintained and submit the proposal to the LACNIC Board for ratification.

If consensus is not reached or if it is not ratified by the Board, the proposal may be sent back to the list for further discussion or abandoned.

Click here for more information.