Mandate for the alternative dispute resolution committee

1. The alternative dispute resolution (ADR) committee is the complaints forum for registrations under the top-level domains and the generic domains that are managed by Norid, as well as for decisions made by Norid in accordance with the domain name policy for .no.

2. The ADR committee adjudicates complaints brought in terms of the domain name policy in effect, with annexes. In adjudicating complaints, the ADR committee is bound by the domain name policy in effect for .no. The ADR committee's decisions shall not be in conflict with the domain name policy in effect. The ADR committee may not adjudicate complaints about the domain name policy itself. Complaints applicable to issues that cannot be challenged in relation to the domain name policy or that have formal errors or defects shall be refused. The ADR committee is responsible for its own decisions.

3. The ADR committee shall be independent of the operations of UNINETT Norid AS.

4. The ADR committee shall consist of at least 4 members. The members are appointed by Norid. The members shall preferably be recruited from communities, organizations and sectors that are regarded as representing key interests or areas of expertise for the administration of domain names. The majority of the ADR committee's members and its chair shall be lawyers.

5. The members are appointed for two years at a time. A member may not serve for more than three consecutive terms of office. To ensure that the ADR committee obtains a steady transfer of competence from old to new members, Norid will carry out a process of gradual succession of the members as their terms of office end. To facilitate this process, Norid may appoint a member for a term of less than two years, and may extend a member's term of office by up to one year beyond the three terms mentioned above.

6. The members themselves elect the chair of the ADR committee. The chair shall be a lawyer with a broad base of experience. The chair acts as the ADR committee's contact person with regard to the Press.

7. Three members shall participate in the adjudication of each case. The chair of the ADR committee decides which members are to participate in the adjudication of a case, based on a rotation system determined by the chair. At least one of the participants shall be a lawyer. Questions about withdrawal from a case due to partiality or for other reasons are to be communicated to the chair, who decides whether a deputy shall be appointed and designates the deputy. If the chair finds that a case raises questions of principle that have not been decided by the ADR committee previously, the chair may decide that the case is to be adjudicated in a plenary session. The same applies if it emerges that two or more members who participate in the adjudication of a case wish to decide it in a way that varies from the practice that the ADR committee has followed previously. The members shall contribute to making the chair aware of the existence of such a situation.

8. The members have a duty of confidentiality regarding all information of which they become aware as members of the ADR committee about complaint proceedings as well as parties and others involved in complaint proceedings, and which are not made public through the publication of the decision. In connection with mediation, the duty of confidentiality also applies to other members, but not to the chair of the ADR committee.

9. A member shall withdraw from the adjudication of a case if circumstances exist which are liable to weaken confidence in the member's impartiality in the case. This does not apply if there are circumstances that are clearly not liable to influence the outcome of the case. The member is however obliged to notify the chair of circumstances such as those mentioned above. The question of withdrawal is decided by the chair, who may present the question to the other members of the ADR committee.

10. The dispute resolution proceedings take place electronically by email (distribution list). The members must therefore have access to email. Physical meetings are organized at the request of at least one of the members participating in the adjudication of the case.

11. Norid functions as the secretariat for the ADR committee. The secretariat receives the complaint and gathers the other case documents from the parties in accordance with the relevant dispute resolution procedure. Norid sends the case documents electronically to the distribution list for the ADR committee, and the chair immediately designates the members who will participate in the adjudication of the case and notifies these members. If the ADR committee asks the parties for further information or documentation in the case, the secretariat shall contribute to obtaining this without undue delay.

12. The chair shall inform Norid about which members are to adjudicate the case at the latest simultaneously with the notification sent to the members from the chair, and shall immediately notify Norid if any changes take place.

13. Voting takes place through submission of the members' evaluation of the case to the distribution list by the deadline set in accordance with the domain name policy for .no. The chair decides on the work plan for the dispute resolution committee with regard to which of the members adjudicating the case will be responsible for preparing the decision in the case.

14. If the prerequisites for adjudicating the complaint are not fulfilled, the ADR committee shall refuse the complaint and send the case back to the secretariat, which informs the complainant.

15. Payment for the work is made according to rates specified by Norid.