Consultation
1. Subject to D3-D4 above, within 3 working days of the end of the time limit specified in accordance with G5 above, the Secretariat will invite the Nominet Policy Advisory Board specifically to comment on all applications and will undertake a broad initial public consultation in accordance with best practice and with regard to the principles outlined in the Cabinet Office's "Code of practice on written consultation" as amended or replaced from time to time.
2. The call for consultation responses shall include the following:
(a) the existence and identity of all applications to operate the relevant proposed SLD, including the names of all applicants;
(b) the location of the applications and of the summaries on its own website;
(c) an invitation to comment on any aspect of the applications and details about how to submit comments;
(d) a specified deadline for submitting consultation comments on all applications, which must be not less than 12 weeks from the first publication of an advertisement under this stage;
(e) the fact that the Nominet Policy Advisory Board has been specifically invited to comment by the date at (d);
(f) a date 40 working days after the date at (d) when the Secretariat will publish the Panel's Stage 4 recommendations (described at section I below) on its own website and request final public consultation, to follow the end of the period for amended applications;
(g) a date 5 working days after the date at (f) by which applicants may (if they so choose) submit any comments, clarifications and responses to the Panel's recommendations, which the Secretariat shall publish; and
(h) a date not less than 12 weeks after the date at (g) when all consultation will end and when the Panel will commence finalisation of its Stage 6 report (described at section K below), thus allowing a period of not less than 12 weeks for final consultation.
The aim of specifying the dates at (f), (g) and (h) in this initial round of consultation is to facilitate and expedite final public consultation at section J below.
3. As part of the consultation, the Secretariat will publish the following on its web site:
(a) the (competing) application(s) in full, together with the summary provided by each applicant; and
(b) a list of questions on which consultation responses are sought, in a format which addresses all relevant aspects of the SLD Policy. An example of a consultation framework is annexed to this SLD Procedure as Schedule 2.
4. The Secretariat may at its discretion not publish, or remove, any consultation responses which in its sole opinion it deems to be libellous, obscene or wholly unintelligible. Otherwise, the Secretariat will publish on its own web site in a timely manner the consultation comments received by the date at H2(d) above and applicants may submit to the Secretariat responses to these comments for publication during the consultation period or for a period of 5 working days after its end, unless expressly stated otherwise. The Panel will where it is reasonable to do so take the responses of the applicants into account in formulating its initial recommendations or final report, but is not obliged to treat such responses as part of the application(s).
5. The Panel (to the extent that it has been appointed) may, via the Secretariat, contact and communicate with actual or potential respondents to the consultation if they believe it to be necessary.
Panel Selection
6. If at any point during the process of selecting Panellists the Secretariat or Panel Chair is of the opinion that the Pool is, as a result of objections or for any other reason has become, insufficiently large to provide a Panel which meets the requirements for a diverse and qualified Panel at B10 and B13, the Secretariat shall commence the process of appointing further Pool Members in accordance with the procedure at B7, and the costs of such appointment will be borne by the applicants in the SLD Procedure.
7. Following the appointment of additional Pool Members, the Secretariat shall give each applicant 5 working days to object to the new Pool Members on the basis that they have a conflict of interests bias and H8 will be repeated.
8. Each objection from an applicant to a potential Panellist should be examined by the Secretariat. The Secretariat shall investigate the complaint to the degree that it feels necessary and as promptly as it believes reasonable. This investigation may include providing a copy of the complaint to the potential Panellist or requesting proof of any allegations made from the complainant. If the Secretariat upholds any objection on the grounds at H7 the potential Panellist shall be removed from the Pool in respect of that Application.
9. Within 3 working days of the end of the process at H8 the Panel Chair shall select the final Panel and notify the Secretariat.
End of Stage
10. The expiry of the consultation period specified at H2(d) above, and the notification of the final Panel at H9 above will together mark the end of Stage 3. Within 3 working days of the end of Stage 3, the Secretariat will notify the applicants that Stage 3 has ended and give details of the identity of the Panel selected.
I. Stage 4 - Evaluation of application(s)
1. Subject to D3-D4 above, and within 3 working days of the commencement of Stage 4, the Secretariat will ask the Panel to fully evaluate the application(s) against the SLD Policy. Where the Panel in its reasonable judgment believes EITHER that it is not adequately qualified to conduct an appropriate evaluation of the application(s) against the criteria or a subset thereof OR that there is another compelling reason for seeking alternative, expert opinion, it shall retain the services of further independent persons with expertise in the relevant areas, such as, but not limited to finance, economics, market research, management, business consultancy and intellectual property law, in each case in order to help and inform the evaluation. The cost of retaining such services will be met by the applicants and the Secretariat will request further Stage 4 cleared fees from all applicants, prior to such services being used.
2. Within 20 working days of the Secretariat's request at I1, the Panel will deliver to the Secretariat a summary of its recommendations (for publication as part of Stage 5) and its initial report. The Panel will not be obliged to recommend the appointment of any applicant and may recommend the appointment of none.
3. The Secretariat will forward a copy of the Panel's initial report to the applicants within 3 working days of receipt, and will publish the initial report on its web site within 5 working days of receipt
4. The applicants will be given an opportunity to respond formally to the Panel's recommendations within 5 working days of the date of receipt of the Panel's initial report.
5. The publication of the Panel's initial report, or the delivery to the Secretariat of the applicant's response (whichever is the later) will mark the end of Stage 4. Within 3 working days of the end of Stage 4 the Secretariat will notify the applicants that Stage 4 has ended.
J. Stage 5 - Final Public Consultation
1. Subject to D3-D4 above, and within 3 working days of the commencement of Stage 5, the Secretariat shall commence a final consultation period in accordance with best practice and with regard to the principles outlined in the Cabinet Office's "Code of practice on written consultation" as amended or replaced from time to time.
2. Despite paragraph J1, this final public consultation shall not exceed one month in length.
3. As part of the consultation, the Secretariat shall invite the Nominet Policy Advisory Board specifically to comment on the Panel's recommendations and will advertise for further public comments on the Secretariat's website.
4. In addition to referring to the documents and information set out in section H2 above, the advertisement on the Secretariat website will (i) publish the Panel's summary of its recommendations and (ii) confirm the date (specified at paragraph H2(h) above) at which consultation will end.
5. Subject to paragraph H4 above, the Secretariat will publish in a timely manner on its web site the consultation comments received in the final public consultation stage and the applicants may submit to the Secretariat responses to these comments during the consultation period or for a period of 5 working days after its end. The Panel will where it is reasonable to do so take the responses of the applicants into account in formulating its final report, but is not obliged to treat such responses as part of the application(s).
6. The expiry of the consultation period specified at H2(h) above will mark the end of Stage 5. Within 3 working days of the end of Stage 5, the Secretariat will notify the applicants that Stage 5 has ended.