[May 28, 2020] The DotAsia Board is pleased to announce a series of governance enhancements to the DotAsia Organisation.  This announcement of 5 foundational governance documents is the result of a year’s work at the DotAsia Board since May 2019.  As some of you may be aware, DotAsia’s integrity and governance is under attack, and we are grateful for the continued support and solidarity shown by our members and the community at large at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2020 as well as at other community forums.  As a responsible community organization, DotAsia is responding to the challenges with resolve and dedication.

The DotAsia Board took the lead in reorganizing and formalizing the DotAsia governance and corporate structure.  Since May 2019, Board minutes are formally produced and publicly posted to enhance transparency and accountability.  In June 2019, the DotAsia Board established four Board Committees: 1. Board Governance Committee (BGC); 2. Board Finance Committee (BFC); and, 3. Board Community Projects Committee (BCC); along with the Board Executive Committee (Board Exco) formed by the Board Chair and the 3 Board Committee Chairs.

After many months of deliberation and the reviewing of policies from other relevant organizations, we were able to finally develop a framework appropriate for the legal jurisdiction where we are domiciled and on which to develop our own governance infrastructure.  We must thank and give acknowledgement to APNIC, ISOC APAC, ICANN and the Hong Kong Council of Social Services whose policies and suggestions we referenced during this development. Today we announce the completion of five DotAsia Governance Policy documents:

  • Board Governance Framework (BGC-001) – roles, responsibilities and processes of the Board, Board Chair and Board Committees (https://dot.asia/BGC-001/);
  • DotAsia Code of Conduct (BGC-002) – expected behaviour, for Board, Advisory Council, DotAsia Staff and representatives; and remedial mechanism (https://dot.asia/BGC-002/);
  • Standard Operating Procedures for Finance & Procurement (BFC-001) – purchasing, banking and banking practices;
  • Company Documents Director Request Process (BFC-002) – process for directors to request company financial documents from DotAsia; and,
  • DotAsia Core Values & Core Competence (BCC-001) – DotAsia’s Vision and Mission expressed in an operational framework for the prioritization of resources (https://dot.asia/BCC-001/).

These were adopted at the April 2020 DotAsia Board Meeting, with the minutes to the meeting approved today at the May 2020 DotAsia Board Meeting, one year since the reforms kick-started.

While this represents perhaps merely catch-up work in terms of DotAsia’s organizational governance, it nevertheless represents a great leap forward.  Building on this momentum, we will look towards closer involvement of with our members and the larger community not only in our contributions for the community, such as our work at APrIGF, NetMission.Asia, APACSpace and others, but also in the governance of our organization itself.  This includes, of course, the AGM and the annual DotAsia Board Elections, but also other aspects such as the direction for the .Asia gTLD registry and our community activities, as well as our efforts to collaborate with others to further expand our community projects.  Together, these efforts are important for DotAsia’s growth and ensure that as we participate in supporting Internet Governance, our own governance can be strengthened by collaboration, and more frequent participation, with our DotAsia community.

We invite you to join us in the DotAsia journey.  Please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Facebook (http://facebook.asia/dot.asia).