Guidelines and Procedures

PDWG Guidelines and procedures

1.0 Introduction

The Policy Development Working group (PDWG) provides an open public forum to discuss Internet numbers resource management policies and related topics of interest to AFRINIC and the Internet community in the AFRINIC service region. PDWG sessions are held at AFRINIC Public policy meetings. Between meetings, discussions continue via the Resource Policy discussions mailing list. The PDWG is open to all interested individuals.

This document provides guidelines on how the working group shall operate. It defines clear roles and responsibilities for the chairs and clear procedures for the working group’s administration.

2.0 Chairs

The Policy Development Working Group is primarily administered by two chairs. The WG Chairs perform a vital role in managing the working group. The effectiveness of the PDWG is dependent on the active participation of the Chairs. PDWG Chairs undertake their work on a volunteer basis.

Both chairs coordinate the activities of the policy development-working group and are expected to attend all AFRINIC Public Policy Meetings. They must remain subscribed to the AFRINIC Policy Discussion (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. mailing lists for the duration of their term.

For each policy proposal, one chair must be appointed as the primary contact; both however shall actively participate to the consensus gathering. The leading chair for the proposal as described above shall guide the policy proposal through its different phases.

2.1 Responsibilities of PDWG Chairs

The responsibilities of the AFRINIC PDWG Chairs are listed below:

2.1.1 Before an AFRINIC Public Policy Meeting

• Introduce a policy proposal into the adoption phase
• Announce policy proposals to the policy discussion mailing list
• Discourage any behaviour that jeopardizes open participation to policy discussions, especially for newcomers.
• Monitor andmoderate discussions held on AFRINIC policy discussion mailing list (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• Announce the call for presentation of policy proposals for Public Policy Meetings on the policy discussion mailing list.
• Carefully study and understand all submitted policy proposals.
• Remain subscribed to AFRINIC RPD and member-discuss lists during Chair’s tenure.

2.1.2 At the AFRINIC Public Policy Meeting

• Read initiators' slides to familiarize themselves with the details and ensure they align with proposal text. In case of any differences, submission of an updated version of the proposal on rpd list to notify the working group is required, even if these changes will not be considered.
• Work with with AFRINIC staff to create agenda presentation slides for the meeting
• Guide the consensus gauging process
• Announce the current phase of a policy proposal.
• Read AFRINIC Public Policy Meeting minutes and make corrections as necessary
• Present the policy discussion working group report to the AFRINIC Public Policy Meeting.

2.1.2 After a Public Policy Meeting

• Send a report of the Public Policy Meeting outcomes to the community and policy discussion mailing lists including policy proposal discussion outcomes and open action items.
• Monitor andmoderate discussion during the concluding phase for comments period.
• Summarize discussions and, following the end of the call for comments, post the decision regarding whether the proposal has reached rough consensus or not.

2.1.3 During a Public Policy Meeting

• Chair the Public Policy meeting and moderate the discussions
• Determine whether rough consensus has been achieved during the Public Policy Meeting
• Monitor remote chat-room discussions during the AFRINIC Public Policy Meeting
• Present the policy discussion working group report to the AFRINIC Public Policy Meeting.

2.2. Electing Chairs

The AFRINIC community elects policy development working group chairs for a two year term. Both chairs’election occur in alternate years.

The AFRINIC NomCom conducts the nomination process for the PDWG chairs using the following process:

1. NOMCOM sends a call for nominations to the policy development (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and other community mailing lists. The call will contain:
   • Details of the duties of the position.
   • The closing date for nominations; 30 days from the date of the call
   • A request for a short biography and description of nominees.
   • A requirement that candidates for the Chair position should be active on the AFRINIC policy mailing list and must have attended at least two (2) AFRINIC Public Policy Meetings,
   • A requirement for candidates to confirm their ability and willingness to commit to the responsibilities associated with the Chair position.
2. If at least one nomination is received by closing date, an election must be held. The election must conducted at the upcoming Public Policy Meeting as the first item on the agenda.
3. Candidates will be invited to give a short speech. Voting will take place by a count of a show of hands.
4. Only candidates who are present at the public policy meeting will be included in the vote.

2.3. Removing a Chair

1. If the PDWG Chair does not attend one in every two consecutive AFRINIC Public Policy Meeting, the Chair will be removed from their role. The process of electing a replacement will then begin.
2. Anyone may request the recall of a Working Group Chair at any time, upon written request with justification to the AFRINIC Board of Directors. The request must be supported by at least ten (10) other persons. The AFRINIC Board of Directors shall appoint a recall committee, excluding the persons requesting the recall and the Working Group Chair. The recall committee shall investigate the circumstances of the request for the recall and determine the outcome.
3. If the outcome is that the WG Chair has to be recalled then the process of electing a replacement chair will then begin.

2.4. Resignation of a Chair

1. If a PDWG Chair resigns, the remaining chair will assume the chairing role of the working group until the next Public Policy Meeting assisted by AFRINIC Staff. At least 30 days prior to the Public Policy Meeting, the AFRINIC NomCom will initiate procedures for nominating the new Chair.
2. If both Chairs resign, The AFRINIC Ltd CEO shall lead the appointment of an interim Chair via the mailing list or at The Public Policy meeting.
3. The Interim Chair will act up to the election of the new Chair and shall be assisted by AFRINIC staff.

3.0 Operations of the Working Group (PDWG)

3.1 Moderation of Working group discussions and sessions

The challenge of managing the policy development working group sessions is to balance the need for open and fair consideration of the issues against the need to make forward progress.  The working group, as a whole, has the final responsibility for striking this balance. The Working Group Chairs have the responsibility for overseeing the process.

To facilitate making forward progress, the Working Group Chairs may wish to decide to reject or defer the input from an individual, based upon the following criteria:

1. Old:
   The input pertains to a topic that already has been resolved and is redundant with information previously available;
2. Minor:
   The input is new and pertains to a topic that has already been resolved, but it is felt to be of minor importance to the existing decision;
3. Timing:
   The input pertains to a topic that the working group has not yet opened for discussion;
4. Scope:
   The input is outside of the scope of the working group.

3.2 Moderation of Working group discussions and sessions

Occasionally one or more individuals may engage in behaviour on a mailing list that, in the opinion of the WG Chair, is disruptive to the WG process. Unless the disruptive behaviour is severe enough that it must be stopped immediately, the WG Chair should attempt to discourage the disruptive behaviour by communicating directly with the offending individual. If the behaviour persists, the WG Chair should send at least one public warning on the RPD mailing list.

As a last resort and typically after one or more explicit warnings, the WG Chair may suspend the mailing list posting privileges of the disruptive individual for a period of not more than 30 days. Even while posting privileges are suspended, the individual must not be prevented from receiving messages posted to the list. Like all other WG Chair decisions, any suspension of posting privileges is subject to appeal.

3.2. Public Policy Meeting

A Public Policy Meeting is a meeting open to the community wherein proposals for policies are discussed within the framework of the Policy Development Process (PDP)

The agenda of the meeting shall be announced by the Chairs of the PDWG on the Resource Policy Discussion mailing list at least two weeks prior to the meeting. No change can be made to a policy proposal within one week of the meeting. This is so that a stable version of the policy proposal can be considered at the meeting.

1. The WG Chairs determine whether rough consensus has been achieved during the Public Policy Meeting.
2. When a policy proposal has reached the Review Phase, it is placed on the agenda of an open public policy meeting.
3. If one chair can’t participate in meeting, the second chair will lead the meeting assisted by AFRINIC staff.
4. If both chairs can’t participate the meetings, the working group shall appoint one (1) person assisted by one AFRINIC staff to lead the session.

While open discussion and contribution is essential to working group success, chairs are responsible for ensuring forward progress.  When acceptable to the WG, chairs may call for restricted participation (but not restricted attendance!) at Public Policy meetings for the purpose of achieving progress.

The Working Group chairs then have the responsibility to refuse to grant the floor to any individual who is unprepared or otherwise covering inappropriate material, or who, in the opinion of the chairs is disrupting the WG process.

3.3 Consensus

The Working makes decisions by consensus as defined in the PDP

4.0 Appeals

Suspension of posting privileges

Anyone whose privileges of posting to the Resources Policy Discussion mailing list have been suspended by the Working Group chairs may file an appeal against the decision to the appeal committee defined in the PDP. The appeal committee shall investigate the circumstances of the justification as prescribed and determine the outcome in 15 days after the appeal is recorded. The appeal committee decision is final.

5.0 Revision History

 09/11/2017: Version 1.0 submitted with version 2 of the PDP-BIS proposal

Policy Meeting Minutes

Minutes for PDP sessions held during AFRINIC Public Policy Meetings

Election Process

PDWG Election Process

According to the AFRINIC Policy Development Process (PDP), two (2) co-chairs shall be selected from the community to carry out the administrative functions of the Policy Development Working Group (PDWG).

1) Responsibilities

The PDWG chairs are responsible for:

• Creating reports (summaries) of mailing list discussions in preparation for face-to-face meetings.
• Chairing meeting sessions and declaring consensus.
• Creating post-meeting policy reports and posting them to the mailing list.
• Sending Last Call notifications and evaluating consensus or not thereof.
• Writing reports to the board to recommend ratification of policy proposals that have attained consensus.
• Evaluating emergencies that could necessitate varying the normal PDP.

2) Duration of Term

PDWG Co-Chairs are elected to serve for two-year staggered terms according to the AFRINIC region Policy Development Process.

3)  Candidate Eligibility

The candidate must:

• Be a natural person residing in a country from the AFRINIC service region.
• Not be a staff of AFRINIC or any other Regional Internet Registry (RIR).

4)  Eligibility to Vote

Voting is open to anyone from the AFRINIC community present at the face-to-face meeting that meets the following criteria:

• Has registered for the meeting (and possesses the Meeting Badge as proof).
• Resides in a country within AFRINIC service region.
• Is not a staff member of AFRINIC or another RIR.

5) Election time lines

The election will be run according the following schedule, counting down to election day.

6) Nomination

A person may only nominate one candidate. In case of multiple nominations by the same person, only the last nomination will be considered valid. All nominations (including self-nominations) must be backed by at least two AFRINIC community members; the two individuals must not work for the same organization.

AFRINIC or other RIR staff cannot nominate candidates nor be nominated

Nominations must be submitted using this nomination form.

7) Verification of Nominations

• NomCom shall verify that all nominations were submitted within the given period and includes all the required information.
• NomCom shall confirm receipt of the nomination to the nominees and/or the nominators.
• In case of ineligible nominations that are rejected, nominators and nominees shall be notified.

8) Finalising the Slate of Candidates

NomCom shall review all completed nominations to verify that the nomination process is followed and shall review nominations to determine that all nominees meet the general criteria for a PDWG chair.

NomCom may decide to conduct interviews or further background checks on candidates using any means. The chair of the NomCom shall then forward the slate of candidates to AFRINIC staff for publication.

9) Notification of Candidates

NomCom shall send the final slate of candidates, via e-mail to the following mailing lists:

• announce[at]AFRINIC.net,
• rpd[at]AFRINIC.net

The candidate list and biographical information shall be simultaneously posted on the AFRINIC website. The website will provide an online channel for anyone to voice support for any candidate during the open comment period.

All candidates shall be given the opportunity to present themselves to the community in a brief speech during the face-to-face meeting. The community may also direct questions to the candidate during the open comment period.

10) Voting

Voting shall be by simple show of hands.

11) Vote Counting and Announcement of Election Results

The CEO and NomCom Chair as well as two (2) or three (3) volunteers from the other RIRs present in cooperation with AFRINIC Legal Counsel, shall count the votes to determine the winners.

The candidate with the highest number of votes shall be declared the winner. In the case of a tie, a second round of voting shall be called. Only the candidates that tied in the previous round are eligible for the subsequent round. This shall continue until one candidate receives a clear majority of the votes.

The Chair of the NomCom shall announce the election results after the vote. The CEO shall send the final result via e-mail to

• announce[at]AFRINIC.net
• rpd[at]AFRINIC.net

Current Policy Proposals