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ICANN Signs New Agreement with U.S. Department of Commerce


October 2, 2006; 03:02 AM

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has signed a new agreement with the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) that is a dramatic step forward for full management of the Internet's system of centrally coordinated identifiers through the multi-stakeholder model of consultation that ICANN represents.

"ICANN has secured an agreement that recognizes it as being responsible for the management of the Internet's system of unique identifiers on an ongoing basis. It means ICANN is more autonomous," Dr Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN said.

Previous to this agreement there was a Memorandum of Understanding between the DOC and ICANN that was highly prescriptive. The MOU expires on 30 September 2006.

"The United States Department of Commerce has clearly signaled that multi-stakeholder management of the Internet's system of unique identifiers is the way ahead and ICANN is the obvious organization to take that responsibility," Dr Twomey stated.

The major gains in this new agreement are:

- ICANN will no longer have its work prescribed for it. How it works and what it works on is up to ICANN and its community to devise;

- ICANN is not required to report every 6 months as it has been under the MOU. It will now provide an annual report that will be targeted to the whole Internet community;

- There is no requirement to report regularly to the DOC. The DOC will simply meet with senior ICANN staff from time to time.

"The ICANN model of multi-stakeholder consultation is working and this agreement endorses it. Our community makes it work and we are constantly evolving and improving through their advice and support," Dr Twomey said. "This is a great achievement for the ICANN community. Our community is made up of very committed, highly skilled individuals most of whom are volunteers and take their responsibilities very seriously. This result is a tribute to their efforts," he added.

Documents Describing the Agreement and Background Information

  • Joint Project Agreement - The executed agreement between the U.S. Department of Commerce and ICANN
  • Affirmation of Responsibilities (Board Resolution) - Adopted by the ICANN Board of Directors, the description of ICANN duties under the new agreement
  • Preliminary Report - Special Meeting of the Board (25 September 2006)
  • Related Documents and Community Comments - A draft table linking ICANN's duties under the new agreement to ICANN foundational documents and recent community input into negotiations between the Department of Commerce and ICANN

About ICANN:

ICANN is a non-profit organization responsible for coordinating the Internet's systems of unique identifiers, including the systems of domain names and numeric addresses that are used to reach computers on the Internet*. ICANN's mission is to ensure the stable and secure operation of these unique identifier systems, which are vital to the Internet's operation. In addition, ICANN coordinates policy development related to these technical functions through its effective bottom-up consensus model.

(* This includes responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management, and root zone management for the root server system).


Media contacts:
International: Andrew Robertson, Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770, E: [email protected]
Tanzanica King, ICANN (USA)
Ph: +1 310 301 5804, E: [email protected]


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