The deadlines for the public comment periods for the two proposals that will soon be forwarded to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) are fast approaching, with just over one week left for stakeholders to submit their views on the contents of the proposals:
In addition, to enable the community the necessary time to prepare for the transition of stewardship after the proposals have been accepted by the community and NTIA, NTIA has announced that it will extend the IANA Functions Contract with ICANN for one year, ending 30 September 2016.
The IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) public comment period for the Proposal to Transition the Stewardship of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Functions from the U.S. Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to the Global Multistakeholder Community ends on 8 September 2015.
The proposal and the form for submitting comments are now available in all 6 United Nations languages plus Portuguese (see links below). To date, there have been twenty-four responses received. The comment period will close on 8 September 2015.
Use the online form (AR | EN | ES | FR | PT | RU | ZH)
After you have submitted the form, you will receive an automatically generated email asking you to click a link to confirm your submission. Your comments will then be posted to the archive
of public comments.
Send an email to [log in to unmask] using the optional
template (AR | EN | ES |FR | PT | RU | ZH)
After submitting your comments you will receive two emails: the first confirms receipt of your email; the second confirms your comments have been posted to the comments
archive.
The public comment period for the 2nd Draft Proposal on Work Stream 1 Recommendations by the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) closes on 12 September 2015. The proposal is now available in all 6 United Nations languages plus Portuguese (see links below). To date, nine public comments have been received. One of the submissions, from theICANN Board, notes that the Board will develop its own set of comprehensive comments and suggestions on the proposal based on:
A subset of ICANN Board members met with ICANN staff members during the week of 24 August to discuss the CCWG-Accountability proposal. Following this, two teleconferences were organized for the CCWG-Accountability and the ICANN Board to discuss the proposal in more detail. The first teleconference will be held on 31 August, where the CCWG-Accountability will brief the Board on the 2nd draft proposal. The second teleconference, to be held 2 September, will be an opportunity for the Board to share its feedback on the proposal. Observers can listen in to the teleconference via Adobe Connect.
The Board will submit additional comments based on the above inputs to the public comment forum before the comment period ends. Meanwhile, the CCWG-Accountability's legal counsel, Sidley Austin and Adler & Colvin, are conducting a preliminary review of the Jones Day briefing, and hope to submit the preliminary review to the CCWG-Accountability on 1 September.
On 17 August, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that it had informed the U.S. Congress that it planned to extend the IANA Functions Contract with ICANN for one year until September 30, 2016. In the announcement, NTIA explains that:
"Beyond 2016, we have options to extend the contract for up to three additional years if needed. This one-year extension will provide the community with the time it needs to finish its work."
An area of ongoing discussion related to the ICG's Consolidated IANA Stewardship Proposal has to do with the future of where the IANA-related trademarks and domain names will be held – referred to in the discussions as the IANA IPR. Of the three operational community proposals, only the numbering resources community, in its proposal developed by the Consolidated RIR IANA Stewardship Proposal Team (CRISP Team), documented a concrete suggestion for keeping the holder of IANA's IPR separate from the operator of IANA functions. The CRISP Team proposal states:
"It is the preference of the Internet Number Community that the IANA trademark and theIANA.ORG domain name be transferred to an entity independent of the IANA Numbering Services Operator, in order to ensure that these assets are used in a non-discriminatory manner for the benefit of the entire community. From the Internet Number Community's perspective, the IETFTrust would be an acceptable candidate for this role."
The protocol parameters community, via the IANAPLAN working group, found this an acceptable way forward and the IETF Trust confirmed it was willing to take on the task, if requested. The names community proposal, developed by the Cross Community Working Group Develop an IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal on Naming Related Functions (CWG-Stewardship), did not contain any specific proposal about how to handle the IPR. On 15 August, the ICANN Board announced that ICANN is:
"…Prepared to transfer full ownership of the IANA-related trademarks to a neutral third party mutually agreed among the operational communities with the understanding that ICANN, as the current IANA Functions Operator, will be granted license to those trademarks and ICANN will maintain operational control of the IANA.ORG domain for as long as ICANN remains the IANAFunctions Operator."
On their 20 August call, the CWG-Stewardship agreed that the IANA IPR can be held a by neutral third party. The CWG-Stewardship sees its position on the IANA IPR as consistent with the other two proposals. Requirements for the neutral third party can be coordinated with the other communities in implementation. The CWG-Stewardship committed to issuing a statement before the close of the ICGpublic comment.
Both the proposals of the CWG-Stewardship and the CCWG-Accountability include changes to ICANN's Bylaws. Below is a summary of the most recent developments:
27 Aug 2015 | The IANA Transition: The Work Ahead, Centre for Democracy & Technology [EN] |
| 19 Aug 2015 | U.S. Maintains Control Over Internet Governance for a Bit Longer, Buzzfeed [EN] |
18 Aug 2015 | Fim da supervisão da IANA pelos EUA é adiada para 2016, IDGNOW [PT] |
| США сохранят за собой контроль над интернетом еще на три года, Интерфакс [RU] |
| Les États-Unis prolongent d'une année leur tutelle sur l'Icann, Le Monde Informatique [FR] |
12 Aug 2015 | Erste Vorschläge vorgestellt, Domain Recht [DE] |
1 Sep 2015 | CCWG-Accountability teleconference #51, 12:00 UTC |
2 Sep 2015 | CCWG-Accountability dialogue with ICANN Board, 22:00-1:00 UTC |
3 Sep 2015 | CWG-Stewardship Teleconference #64, 11:00-13:00 UTC |
8 Sep 2015 | CCWG-Accountability teleconference #52, 19:00 UTC |
| Public Comment Period on ICG's IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal closes |
10 Sep 2015 | ICG teleconference #22, 5:00-06:30 UTC |
12 Sep 2015 | |
15 Sep 2015 | CCWG-Accountability teleconference #53, 6:00 UTC |
17 Sep 2015 | CWG-Stewardship teleconference #65, 17:00-19:00 UTC |
18-19 Sep 2015 | ICG Face-to-Face Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
23 Sep 2015 | ICG teleconference #23, 11:00-12:30 UTC |
30 Sep-15 Oct 2015 | CCWG-Accountability's 2nd and final proposal (Work Stream 1) presented toALAC, ASO, ccNSO, GAC and GNSO for their approval. |
7 Oct 2015 | ICG teleconference #24, 19:00-20:30 UTC |
18-22 Oct 2015 | ICANN 54 including: ICG Face-to-Face meeting and presentation of proposals forIANA stewardship and ICANN accountability enhancements (Work Stream 1) to theICANN Board for subsequent transmission to the NTIA |
Week 1, Nov 2015 | ICANN Board transmits IANA stewardship transition and ICANN accountability (Work Stream 1) proposals to NTIA |