[council] Affirmation of commitments between USA Dept of Commerce and ICANN

["Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: 

http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-30sep09-en.htm#affirm
ation


AFFIRMATION OF COMMITMENTS BY THE UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND THE INTERNET CORPORATION FOR
ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS 

1. This document constitutes an Affirmation of Commitments (Affirmation)
by the United States Department of Commerce ("DOC") and the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"), a not-for-profit
corporation. In recognition of the conclusion of the Joint Project
Agreement and to institutionalize and memorialize the technical
coordination of the Internet's domain name and addressing system (DNS)1,
globally by a private sector led organization, the parties agree as
follows: 

2. The Internet is a transformative technology that will continue to
empower people around the globe, spur innovation, facilitate trade and
commerce, and enable the free and unfettered flow of information. One of
the elements of the Internet's success is a highly decentralized network
that enables and encourages decision-making at a local level.
Notwithstanding this decentralization, global technical coordination of
the Internet's underlying infrastructure - the DNS - is required to
ensure interoperability. 

3. This document affirms key commitments by DOC and ICANN, including
commitments to: (a) ensure that decisions made related to the global
technical coordination of the DNS are made in the public interest and
are accountable and transparent; (b) preserve the security, stability
and resiliency of the DNS; (c) promote competition, consumer trust, and
consumer choice in the DNS marketplace; and (d) facilitate international
participation in DNS technical coordination. 

4. DOC affirms its commitment to a multi-stakeholder, private sector
led, bottom-up policy development model for DNS technical coordination
that acts for the benefit of global Internet users. A private
coordinating process, the outcomes of which reflect the public interest,
is best able to flexibly meet the changing needs of the Internet and of
Internet users. ICANN and DOC recognize that there is a group of
participants that engage in ICANN's processes to a greater extent than
Internet users generally. To ensure that its decisions are in the public
interest, and not just the interests of a particular set of
stakeholders, ICANN commits to perform and publish analyses of the
positive and negative effects of its decisions on the public, including
any financial impact on the public, and the positive or negative impact
(if any) on the systemic security, stability and resiliency of the DNS. 

5. DOC recognizes the importance of global Internet users being able to
use the Internet in their local languages and character sets, and
endorses the rapid introduction of internationalized country code top
level domain names (ccTLDs), provided related security, stability and
resiliency issues are first addressed. Nothing in this document is an
expression of support by DOC of any specific plan or proposal for the
implementation of new generic top level domain names (gTLDs) or is an
expression by DOC of a view that the potential consumer benefits of new
gTLDs outweigh the potential costs. 

6. DOC also affirms the United States Government's commitment to ongoing
participation in ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). DOC
recognizes the important role of the GAC with respect to ICANN
decision-making and execution of tasks and of the effective
consideration by ICANN of GAC input on the public policy aspects of the
technical coordination of the Internet DNS. 

7. ICANN commits to adhere to transparent and accountable budgeting
processes, fact-based policy development, cross-community deliberations,
and responsive consultation procedures that provide detailed
explanations of the basis for decisions, including how comments have
influenced the development of policy consideration, and to publish each
year an annual report that sets out ICANN's progress against ICANN's
bylaws, responsibilities, and strategic and operating plans. In
addition, ICANN commits to provide a thorough and reasoned explanation
of decisions taken, the rationale thereof and the sources of data and
information on which ICANN relied. 

8. ICANN affirms its commitments to: (a) maintain the capacity and
ability to coordinate the Internet DNS at the overall level and to work
for the maintenance of a single, interoperable Internet; (b) remain a
not for profit corporation, headquartered in the United States of
America with offices around the world to meet the needs of a global
community; and (c) to operate as a multi-stakeholder, private sector led
organization with input from the public, for whose benefit ICANN shall
in all events act. ICANN is a private organization and nothing in this
Affirmation should be construed as control by any one entity. 

9. Recognizing that ICANN will evolve and adapt to fulfill its limited,
but important technical mission of coordinating the DNS, ICANN further
commits to take the following specific actions together with ongoing
commitment reviews specified below: 

9.1 Ensuring accountability, transparency and the interests of global
Internet users: ICANN commits to maintain and improve robust mechanisms
for public input, accountability, and transparency so as to ensure that
the outcomes of its decision-making will reflect the public interest and
be accountable to all stakeholders by: (a) continually assessing and
improving ICANN Board of Directors (Board) governance which shall
include an ongoing evaluation of Board performance, the Board selection
process, the extent to which Board composition meets ICANN's present and
future needs, and the consideration of an appeal mechanism for Board
decisions; (b) assessing the role and effectiveness of the GAC and its
interaction with the Board and making recommendations for improvement to
ensure effective consideration by ICANN of GAC input on the public
policy aspects of the technical coordination of the DNS; (c) continually
assessing and improving the processes by which ICANN receives public
input (including adequate explanation of decisions taken and the
rationale thereof); (d) continually assessing the extent to which
ICANN's decisions are embraced, supported and accepted by the public and
the Internet community; and (e) assessing the policy development process
to facilitate enhanced cross community deliberations, and effective and
timely policy development. ICANN will organize a review of its execution
of the above commitments no less frequently than every three years, with
the first such review concluding no later than December 31, 2010. The
review will be performed by volunteer community members and the review
team will be constituted and published for public comment, and will
include the following (or their designated nominees): the Chair of the
GAC, the Chair of the Board of ICANN, the Assistant Secretary for
Communications and Information of the DOC, representatives of the
relevant ICANN Advisory Committees and Supporting Organizations and
independent experts. Composition of the review team will be agreed
jointly by the Chair of the GAC (in consultation with GAC members) and
the Chair of the Board of ICANN. Resulting recommendations of the
reviews will be provided to the Board and posted for public comment. The
Board will take action within six months of receipt of the
recommendations. Each of the foregoing reviews shall consider the extent
to which the assessments and actions undertaken by ICANN have been
successful in ensuring that ICANN is acting transparently, is
accountable for its decision-making, and acts in the public interest.
Integral to the foregoing reviews will be assessments of the extent to
which the Board and staff have implemented the recommendations arising
out of the other commitment reviews enumerated below. 

9.2 Preserving security, stability and resiliency: ICANN has developed a
plan to enhance the operational stability, reliability, resiliency,
security, and global interoperability of the DNS, which will be
regularly updated by ICANN to reflect emerging threats to the DNS. ICANN
will organize a review of its execution of the above commitments no less
frequently than every three years. The first such review shall commence
one year from the effective date of this Affirmation. Particular
attention will be paid to: (a) security, stability and resiliency
matters, both physical and network, relating to the secure and stable
coordination of the Internet DNS; (b) ensuring appropriate contingency
planning; and (c) maintaining clear processes. Each of the reviews
conducted under this section will assess the extent to which ICANN has
successfully implemented the security plan, the effectiveness of the
plan to deal with actual and potential challenges and threats, and the
extent to which the security plan is sufficiently robust to meet future
challenges and threats to the security, stability and resiliency of the
Internet DNS, consistent with ICANN's limited technical mission. The
review will be performed by volunteer community members and the review
team will be constituted and published for public comment, and will
include the following (or their designated nominees): the Chair of the
GAC, the CEO of ICANN, representatives of the relevant Advisory
Committees and Supporting Organizations, and independent experts.
Composition of the review team will be agreed jointly by the Chair of
the GAC (in consultation with GAC members) and the CEO of ICANN.
Resulting recommendations of the reviews will be provided to the Board
and posted for public comment. The Board will take action within six
months of receipt of the recommendations. 

9.3 Promoting competition, consumer trust, and consumer choice: ICANN
will ensure that as it contemplates expanding the top-level domain
space, the various issues that are involved (including competition,
consumer protection, security, stability and resiliency, malicious abuse
issues, sovereignty concerns, and rights protection) will be adequately
addressed prior to implementation. If and when new gTLDs (whether in
ASCII or other language character sets) have been in operation for one
year, ICANN will organize a review that will examine the extent to which
the introduction or expansion of gTLDs has promoted competition,
consumer trust and consumer choice, as well as effectiveness of (a) the
application and evaluation process, and (b) safeguards put in place to
mitigate issues involved in the introduction or expansion. ICANN will
organize a further review of its execution of the above commitments two
years after the first review, and then no less frequently than every
four years. The reviews will be performed by volunteer community members
and the review team will be constituted and published for public
comment, and will include the following (or their designated nominees):
the Chair of the GAC, the CEO of ICANN, representatives of the relevant
Advisory Committees and Supporting Organizations, and independent
experts. Composition of the review team will be agreed jointly by the
Chair of the GAC (in consultation with GAC members) and the CEO of
ICANN. Resulting recommendations of the reviews will be provided to the
Board and posted for public comment. The Board will take action within
six months of receipt of the recommendations. 

9.3.1 ICANN additionally commits to enforcing its existing policy
relating to WHOIS, subject to applicable laws. Such existing policy
requires that ICANN implement measures to maintain timely, unrestricted
and public access to accurate and complete WHOIS information, including
registrant, technical, billing, and administrative contact information.
One year from the effective date of this document and then no less
frequently than every three years thereafter, ICANN will organize a
review of WHOIS policy and its implementation to assess the extent to
which WHOIS policy is effective and its implementation meets the
legitimate needs of law enforcement and promotes consumer trust. The
review will be performed by volunteer community members and the review
team will be constituted and published for public comment, and will
include the following (or their designated nominees): the Chair of the
GAC, the CEO of ICANN, representatives of the relevant Advisory
Committees and Supporting Organizations, as well as experts, and
representatives of the global law enforcement community, and global
privacy experts. Composition of the review team will be agreed jointly
by the Chair of the GAC (in consultation with GAC members) and the CEO
of ICANN. Resulting recommendations of the reviews will be provided to
the Board and posted for public comment. The Board will take action
within six months of receipt of the recommendations. 

10. To facilitate transparency and openness in ICANN's deliberations and
operations, the terms and output of each of the reviews will be
published for public comment. Each review team will consider such public
comment and amend the review as it deems appropriate before it issues
its final report to the Board. 

11. The DOC enters into this Affirmation of Commitments pursuant to its
authority under 15 U.S.C. 1512 and 47 U.S.C. 902. ICANN commits to this
Affirmation according to its Articles of Incorporation and its Bylaws.
This agreement will become effective October 1, 2009. The agreement is
intended to be long-standing, but may be amended at any time by mutual
consent of the parties. Any party may terminate this Affirmation of
Commitments by providing 120 days written notice to the other party.
This Affirmation contemplates no transfer of funds between the parties.
In the event this Affirmation of Commitments is terminated, each party
shall be solely responsible for the payment of any expenses it has
incurred. All obligations of the DOC under this Affirmation of
Commitments are subject to the availability of funds.