ICANN, the entity responsible for managing the domain name system, has been an object of interest for the dispute resolution community for the manner in which it has managed (or mismanaged) its Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. The following is an update on another ICANN dispute resolution activity, that of appointing an ombudsman and establishing an ombuds office.

In less than a month, on December 15, 2004, ICANN will observe the second anniversary of its adoption of new by-laws. Article 5 of the bylaws reads as follows:

Section 1. OFFICE OF OMBUDSMAN

1. There shall be an Office of Ombudsman, to be managed by an Ombudsman and to include such staff support as the Board determines is appropriate and feasible. The Ombudsman shall be a full-time position, with salary and benefits appropriate to the function, as determined by the Board.
2. The Ombudsman shall be appointed by the Board for an initial term of two years, subject to renewal by the Board.
3. The Ombudsman shall be subject to dismissal by the Board only upon a three-fourths (3/4) vote of the entire Board.
4. The annual budget for the Office of Ombudsman shall be established by the Board as part of the annual ICANN budget process. The Ombudsman shall submit a proposed budget to the President, and the President shall include that budget submission in its entirety and without change in the general ICANN budget recommended by the ICANN President to the Board. Nothing in this Article shall prevent the President from offering separate views on the substance, size, or other features of the Ombudsman's proposed budget to the Board.

ICANN advertised for the position of ombudsman over a year ago.

Perhaps ICANN will tell us tomorrow or the next day who the individual is who will serve as its first ombudsman. If that were to occurr, we might continue to wonder how this appointment could have possibly taken two years but we could also move on and hope that the ICANN ombuds office functions as the ICANN reform process hoped it would. Yet, the appointment of the ombudsman, at this moment, is highly troubling and seems to be an endless process with unexplained and unexplainable delays.

A little more than a month ago, in its tenth report to the United States Department of Commerce, submitted on October 7, 2004, ICANN stated that

The last report indicated that ICANN had retained the services of a professional search firm in order to locate and hire a suitable candidate for the position of Ombudsman. After an intensive search, that candidate has been located and contract terms have been settled. The identity of the candidate will be publicly announced in the near future.

What the "last" report, the Ninth Report to the Department of Commerce (April 7, 2004), also stated was that “ICANN expects to have this position filled and for the ombudsman program to be fully launched before June 30, 2004.” That did not happen.