IP: EU meeting on the future of IANA/DNS

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 19:37:24 +0900
From: ajp () glocom ac jp (Adam Peake)


Information on the EU's July 7 meeting on the future of IANA/DNS
is available at URL <http://www.ispo.cec.be/eif/dns/wpmeet.html>


Conclusions from the meeting follow:


Internet: the Future


The future organisation and management of Internet naming and
addressing.


Conclusions of the European consultative meeting, Brussels, 7 July
1998.


Representatives of the European private sector and other Internet
participants met in Brussels, Tuesday this week. Several Member States
and representatives of non-EU Governments were present as well as the
international organisations together with a wide range of associations
of industrial and service provider organisations.


The meeting was hosted by the European Commission. Welcoming more than
140 participants to the meeting in the Brussels Palais des Congr$B=T(J,
Christopher Wilkinson (DG XIII) said that he had never before seen such
a broad and representative cross section of European Internet
stakeholders meeting together.


Background:


This meeting follows the publication of a US Green Paper in February of
this year, an official response to the US Government on behalf of the
European Union by the Presidency of the Council and the European
Commission. The US Government then published a policy statement (the
"White Paper") on 5 June 1998.


The EU has welcomed the US White Paper because the US Government has
acknowledged many of the concerns and criticisms voiced by the EU and
the position has been rectified. The European Commission is
consequently recommending to the European private sector to participate
actively in the implementation phase.


The US White Paper calls for the creation of a new private not-for-
profit corporation, which will assume the responsibilities of the
existing IANA organisation and become the self-regulatory body
responsible for the Internet naming and addressing system. The new
corporation would also manage IP addresses, IP protocols and the Root
Server system.


The US White Paper envisages that the new organisation should be in
place by the end of September 1998, at least on an interim basis.


The European Meeting:


The meeting in Brussels today addressed most of the critical issues
that arise from the implementation of the White Paper. Sessions had
been organised to deal with the future structure and organisation of
the new Corporation, the policies for Registries and Registrars, the
preconditions of stability, reliability and growth of the Internet, and
policies for the Domain Name System.


Reorganisation of IANA: The meeting agreed with the outline of the
future structure of the IANA Corporation and emphasised the following
points:


* the importance of a broad and open Membership of the future
Corporation, including business and consumer representatives;


* significant participation and representation of existing
organisations responsible for IP addressing (e.g. RIPE, ARIN and AP-
NIC) and the Internet DNS including the national ccTLD Registries and
the Internet Service providers (ISPs);


* The need for fair and transparent financial mechanisms to fund the
new Corporation and its future activities.


* Continued open, bottom-up standardisation processes in the context of
the IETF and the IAB.


Registries and Registrars: The meeting reached a consensus on the
following principles:


* Competition in the registration market. Early opening of the InterNIC
registries to access by all qualified Registrars.


* early consideration by the new Corporation of the creation of
appropriately structured new generic Top Level Domains, linked to the
needs of the business and user community;


* All gTLDs to be operated by shared not-for-profit Registries on a
cost recovery basis. Restoration of the InterNIC Registries to a not-
for-profit operation on the basis of the announced agreement between
the US Government and NSI.


* Development of flexible and market oriented registration policies
which take full account of the requirement for transparency and
reliability of DNS registration data, and ensure the portability of
names and the long-term scaleability of the generic TLDs.


* Access to the name space has to be open on a non-discriminatory
basis.


Stability and reliability: The meeting agreed that:


* The master Root Server should be transferred to the new Corporation
at an early date and steps should be taken to guarantee the neutral,
independent and reliable operation of the Root Server system.


* Current policies and practices regarding Internet protocols and
standards should be maintained. Global stability and interoperability
of all Internet services is a critical long-term requirement.


* Policies for the allocation and use of the IP addresses should be
transparent and non-discriminatory and should take full account of the
future growth in demand for Internet addresses, evolving from the
current system.


The Domain Name system is currently implemented globally by both
national ccTLD Registries and the generic TLDs. Both systems have an
important role to play in the European DNS market.


* Users$B%f(J requirements include transparency and predictability of the
DNS, and automatic and reliable access to all other users through the
Root Server system.


* The new Corporation should promote the early development of global
Internet directories.


* Industry requirements include consistent, flexible and market
oriented registration policies, including dispute resolution.


* The meeting concluded that the new Corporation should expand the
current generic TLD name space progressively so as to accommodate
future global growth in the Internet.


* The meeting welcomed the proposed reorganisation of the .US domain
and drew attention to the possible creation of a .EU domain.


* Participants endorsed the general principle that existing trademark
rights should be protected in the context of the Domain Name System.
Registries and Registrars should maintain registration data such that
trademark owners might readily identify possible infringement of their
rights; trademark owners should also be able to refer possible disputes
to the Courts in the relevant trademark jurisdictions.


* In order to ensure consumer confidence, an effective legal and
commercial framework. including dispute resolution, needs to be in
place prior to the introduction of new gTLDs.


* The autonomy of national ccTLDs should be preserved although it is
recognised that some harmonisation of practices is desirable.


Conclusions - The International Process:


The participants in the meeting in Brussels decided to participate in
the international process and to represent the legitimate interests of
European industry and users in all phases of the current reorganisation
of the Internet. This includes especially the designation of an
internationally representative Interim Board of Directors, and the
preparation of the Articles of Association for the new Corporation.
These should provide for participation and representation of Internet
interests world-wide on the basis of a broad and open membership within
the structure of the proposed Corporation.


The meeting noted that the IFWP organisation had encouraged the
European private sector to participate in their work.


An open Panel of Participants will be constituted to meet with their
homologues in the United States and in the Asia-Pacific Region during
the coming weeks.


Full European participation in an appropriately constituted
international meeting following the INET$B%f(J98 in Geneva will be assured.
The European Commission is encouraging the private sector in the EU to
take up the global implementation of Internet management policies and
structures, within the broad policy framework provided by the EU Reply
and the US White Paper.


The meeting also welcomed the proposal to establish a web page and an
electronic mailing list to facilitate exchange of information and open
policy discussion among the participants in the meeting and other
interested parties.


The Panel of participants should meet in a few days$B%f(J time to follow up
on these results and to prepare their work.


The Panel of participants will also invite Internet participants in the
Asia-Pacific Region, and elsewhere in the world to communicate their
interest in co-operating with the European and North American groups
which are coming together in this area.


Participants welcomed the fact that there was significant international
participation from all parts of the world in the Brussels meeting
today.


________________________


Brussels, 7 July 1998.










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