Request for Comments: 3777 eList eXpress LLC
Obsoletes: 2727 June 2004
BCP: 10
Category: Best Current Practice
IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process:
Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004).
Abstract
The process by which the members of the IAB and IESG are selected,
confirmed, and recalled is specified. This document is a self-
consistent, organized compilation of the process as it was known at
the time of publication.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Nominating Committee Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5. Nominating Committee Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6. Dispute Resolution Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7. Member Recall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8. Changes From RFC 2727. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
9. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
10. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
11. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
A. Oral Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
B. Nominating Committee Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Author’s Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1. Introduction
This document is a revision of and supercedes RFC 2727 [2]. It is a
complete specification of the process by which members of the IAB and
IESG are selected, confirmed, and recalled as of the date of its
approval.
The following two assumptions continue to be true of this
specification.
1. The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) and Internet Research
Steering Group (IRSG) are not a part of the process described
here.
2. The organization (and re-organization) of the IESG is not a part
of the process described here.
The time frames specified here use IETF meetings as a frame of
reference. The time frames assume that the IETF meets three times
per calendar year with approximately equal amounts of time between
them. The meetings are referred to as the First IETF, Second IETF,
or Third IETF as needed.
The next section lists the words and phrases commonly used throughout
this document with their intended meaning.
The majority of this document is divided into four major topics as
follows.
General: This a set of rules and constraints that apply to the
selection and confirmation process as a whole.
Nominating Committee Selection: This is the process by which the
volunteers who will serve on the committee are recognized.
Nominating Committee Operation: This is the set of principles, rules,
and constraints that guide the activities of the nominating
committee, including the confirmation process.
Member Recall: This is the process by which the behavior of a sitting
member of the IESG or IAB may be questioned, perhaps resulting in
the removal of the sitting member.
A final section describes how this document differs from its
predecessor: RFC 2727 [2].
An appendix of useful facts and practices collected from previous
nominating committees is also included.
2. Definitions
The following words and phrases are commonly used throughout this
document. They are listed here with their intended meaning for the
convenience of the reader.
candidate: A nominee who has been selected to be considered for
confirmation by a confirming body.
confirmed candidate: A candidate that has been reviewed and approved
by a confirming body.
nominating committee term: The term begins when its members are
officially announced, which is expected to be prior to the Third
IETF to ensure it is fully operational at the Third IETF. The
term ends at the Third IETF (not three meetings) after the next
nominating committee’s term begins.
nominee: A person who is being or has been considered for one or more
open positions of the IESG or IAB.
sitting member: A person who is currently serving a term of
membership in the IESG, IAB or ISOC Board of Trustees.
3. General
The following set of rules apply to the process as a whole. If
necessary, a paragraph discussing the interpretation of each rule is
included.
1. The completion of the annual process is due within 7 months.
The completion of the annual process is due one month prior to the
Friday of the week before the First IETF. It is expected to begin
at least 8 months prior to the Friday of the week before the First
IETF.
The process officially begins with the announcement of the Chair
of the committee. The process officially ends when all confirmed
candidates have been announced.
The annual process is comprised of three major components as
follows.
1. The selection and organization of the nominating committee
members.
2. The selection of candidates by the nominating committee.
3. The confirmation of the candidates.
There is an additional month set aside between when the annual
process is expected to end and the term of the new candidates is
to begin. This time may be used during unusual circumstances to
extend the time allocated for any of the components listed above.
2. The principal functions of the nominating committee are to review
each open IESG and IAB position and to either nominate its
incumbent or a superior candidate.
Although there is no term limit for serving in any IESG or IAB
position, the nominating committee may use length of service as
one of its criteria for evaluating an incumbent.
The nominating committee does not select the open positions to be
reviewed; it is instructed as to which positions to review.
The nominating committee will be given the title of the positions
to be reviewed and a brief summary of the desired expertise of the
candidate that is nominated to fill each position.
Incumbents must notify the nominating committee if they wish to be
nominated.
The nominating committee does not confirm its candidates; it
presents its candidates to the appropriate confirming body as
indicated below.
A superior candidate is one who the nominating committee believes
would contribute in such a way as to improve or enhance the body
to which he or she is nominated.
3. One-half of each of the then current IESG and IAB positions is
selected to be reviewed each year.
The intent of this rule to ensure the review of approximately
one-half of each of the IESG and IAB sitting members each year.
It is recognized that circumstances may exist that will require
the nominating committee to review more or less than one-half of
the current positions, e.g., if the IESG or IAB have re-organized
prior to this process and created new positions, if there are an
odd number of current positions, or if a member unexpectedly
resigns.
4. Confirmed candidates are expected to serve at least a 2 year term.
The intent of this rule is to ensure that members of the IESG and
IAB serve the number of years that best facilitates the review of
one-half of the members each year.
The term of a confirmed candidate selected according to the mid-
term vacancy rules may be less than 2 years, as stated elsewhere
in this document.
It is consistent with this rule for the nominating committee to
choose one or more of the currently open positions to which it may
assign a term of not more than 3 years in order to ensure the
ideal application of this rule in the future.
It is consistent with this rule for the nominating committee to
choose one or more of the currently open positions that share
responsibilities with other positions (both those being reviewed
and those sitting) to which it may assign a term of not more than
3 years to ensure that all such members will not be reviewed at
the same time.
All sitting member terms end during the First IETF meeting
corresponding to the end of the term for which they were
confirmed. All confirmed candidate terms begin during the First
IETF meeting corresponding to the beginning of the term for which
they were confirmed.
For confirmed candidates of the IESG the terms begin no later than
when the currently sitting members’ terms end on the last day of
the meeting. A term may begin or end no sooner than the first day
of the meeting and no later than the last day of the meeting as
determined by the mutual agreement of the currently sitting member
and the confirmed candidate. A confirmed candidate’s term may
overlap the sitting member’s term during the meeting as determined
by their mutual agreement.
For confirmed candidates of the IAB the terms overlap with the
terms of the sitting members for the entire week of the meeting.
For candidates confirmed under the mid-term vacancy rules, the
term begins as soon as possible after the confirmation.
5. Mid-term vacancies are filled by the same rules as documented here
with four qualifications.
First, when there is only one official nominating committee, the
body with the mid-term vacancy relegates the responsibility to
fill the vacancy to it. If the mid-term vacancy occurs during the
period of time that the term of the prior year’s nominating
committee overlaps with the term of the current year’s nominating
committee, the body with the mid-term vacancy must relegate the
responsibility to fill the vacancy to the prior year’s nominating
committee.
Second, if it is the case that the nominating committee is
reconvening to fill the mid-term vacancy, then the completion of
the candidate selection and confirmation process is due within 6
weeks, with all other time periods otherwise unspecified prorated
accordingly.
Third, the confirming body has two weeks from the day it is
notified of a candidate to reject the candidate, otherwise the
candidate is assumed to have been confirmed.
Fourth, the term of the confirmed candidate will be either:
1. the remainder of the term of the open position if that
remainder is not less than one year.
2. the remainder of the term of the open position plus the next 2
year term if that remainder is less than one year.
In both cases a year is the period of time from a First IETF
meeting to the next First IETF meeting.
6. All deliberations and supporting information that relates to
specific nominees, candidates, and confirmed candidates are
confidential.
The nominating committee and confirming body members will be
exposed to confidential information as a result of their
deliberations, their interactions with those they consult, and
from those who provide requested supporting information. All
members and all other participants are expected to handle this
information in a manner consistent with its sensitivity.
It is consistent with this rule for current nominating committee
members who have served on prior nominating committees to advise
the current committee on deliberations and results of the prior
committee, as necessary and appropriate.
7. Unless otherwise specified, the advice and consent model is used
throughout the process. This model is characterized as follows.
1. The IETF Executive Director informs the nominating committee of
the IESG and IAB positions to be reviewed.
The IESG and IAB are responsible for providing summary of the
expertise desired of the candidates selected for their
respective open positions to the Executive Director. The
summaries are provided to the nominating committee for its
consideration.
2. The nominating committee selects candidates based on its
understanding of the IETF community’s consensus of the
qualifications required and advises each confirming body of its
respective candidates.
3. The confirming bodies review their respective candidates, they
may at their discretion communicate with the nominating
committee, and then consent to some, all, or none of the
candidates.
The sitting IAB members review the IESG candidates.
The Internet Society Board of Trustees reviews the IAB
candidates.
The confirming bodies conduct their review using all
information and any means acceptable to them, including but not
limited to the supporting information provided by the
nominating committee, information known personally to members
of the confirming bodies and shared within the confirming body,
the results of interactions within the confirming bodies, and
the confirming bodies interpretation of what is in the best
interests of the IETF community.
If all of the candidates are confirmed, the job of the
nominating committee with respect to those open positions is
complete.
If some or none of the candidates submitted to a confirming
body are confirmed, the confirming body should communicate with
the nominating committee both to explain the reason why all the
candidates were not confirmed and to understand the nominating
committee’s rationale for its candidates.
The confirming body may reject individual candidates, in which
case the nominating committee must select alternate candidates
for the rejected candidates.
Any additional time required by the nominating committee should
not exceed its maximum time allotment.
4. A confirming body decides whether it confirms each candidate
using a confirmation decision rule chosen by the confirming
body.
If a confirming body has no specific confirmation decision
rule, then confirming a given candidate should require at least
one-half of the confirming body’s sitting members to agree to
that confirmation.
The decision may be made by conducting a formal vote, by
asserting consensus based on informal exchanges (e.g., email),
or by any other mechanism that is used to conduct the normal
business of the confirming body.
Regardless of which decision rule the confirming body uses, any
candidate that is not confirmed under that rule is considered
to be rejected.
The confirming body must make its decision within a reasonable
time frame. The results from the confirming body must be
reported promptly to the nominating committee.
8. The following rules apply to nominees candidates who are currently
sitting members of the IESG or IAB, and who are not sitting in an
open position being filled by the nominating committee.
The confirmation of a candidate to an open position does not
automatically create a vacancy in the IESG or IAB position
currently occupied by the candidate. The mid-term vacancy can not
exist until, first, the candidate formally resigns from the
current position and, second, the body with the vacancy formally
decides for itself that it wants the nominating committee to fill
the mid-term vacancy according to the rules for a mid-term vacancy
documented elsewhere in this document.
The resignation should be effective as of when the term of the new
position begins. The resignation may remain confidential to the
IAB, IESG, and nominating committee until the confirmed candidate
is announced for the new position. The process, according to
rules set out elsewhere in this document, of filling the seat
vacated by the confirmed candidate may begin as soon as the
vacancy is publicly announced.
Filling a mid-term vacancy is a separate and independent action
from the customary action of filling open positions. In
particular, a nominating committee must complete its job with
respect to filling the open positions and then separately proceed
with the task of filling the mid-term vacancy according to the
rules for a mid-term vacancy documented elsewhere in this
document.
However, the following exception is permitted in the case where
the candidate for an open position is currently a sitting member
of the IAB. It is consistent with these rules for the
announcements of a resignation of a sitting member of the IAB and
of the confirmed candidate for the mid-term vacancy created by
that sitting member on the IAB to all occur at the same time as
long as the actual sequence of events that occurred did so in the
following order.
* The nominating committee completes the advice and consent
process for the open position being filled by the candidate
currently sitting on the IAB.
* The newly confirmed candidate resigns from their current
position on the IAB.
* The IAB with the new mid-term vacancy requests that the
nominating committee fill the position.
* The Executive Director of the IETF informs the nominating
committee of the mid-term vacancy.
* The nominating committee acts on the request to fill the mid-
term vacancy.
9. All announcements must be made using at least the mechanism used
by the IETF Secretariat for its announcements, including a notice
on the IETF web site.
As of the publication of this document, the current mechanism is
an email message to both the "ietf" and the "ietf-announce"
mailing lists.
4. Nominating Committee Selection
The following set of rules apply to the creation of the nominating
committee and the selection of its members.
1. The completion of the process of selecting and organizing the
members of the nominating committee is due within 3 months.
The completion of the selection and organization process is due
at least one month prior to the Third IETF. This ensures the
nominating committee is fully operational and available for
interviews and consultation during the Third IETF.
2. The term of a nominating committee is expected to be 15 months.
It is the intent of this rule that the end of a nominating
committee’s term overlap by approximately three months the
beginning of the term of the next nominating committee.
The term of a nominating committee begins when its members are
officially announced. The term ends at the Third IETF (not three
meetings), i.e., the IETF meeting after the next nominating
committee’s term begins.
A term is expected to begin at least two months prior to the
Third IETF to ensure the nominating committee has at least one
month to get organized before preparing for the Third IETF.
A nominating committee is expected to complete any work-in-
progress before it is dissolved at the end of its term.
During the period of time that the terms of the nominating
committees overlap, all mid-term vacancies are to be relegated to
the prior year’s nominating committee. The prior year’s
nominating committee has no other responsibilities during the
overlap period. At all times other than the overlap period there
is exactly one official nominating committee and it is
responsible for all mid-term vacancies.
When the prior year’s nominating committee is filling a mid-term
vacancy during the period of time that the terms overlap, the
nominating committees operate independently. However, some
coordination is needed between them. Since the prior year’s
Chair is a non-voting advisor to the current nominating committee
the coordination is expected to be straightforward.
3. The nominating committee comprises at least a Chair, 10 voting
volunteers, 3 liaisons, and an advisor.
Any committee member may propose the addition of an advisor to
participate in some or all of the deliberations of the committee.
The addition must be approved by the committee according to its
established voting mechanism. Advisors participate as
individuals.
Any committee member may propose the addition of a liaison from
other unrepresented organizations to participate in some or all
of the deliberations of the committee. The addition must be
approved by the committee according to its established voting
mechanism. Liaisons participate as representatives of their
respective organizations.
The Chair is selected according to rules stated elsewhere in this
document.
The 10 voting volunteers are selected according to rules stated
elsewhere in this document.
The IESG and IAB liaisons are selected according to rules stated