[arin-announce] NTIA Announces Intention to Allow the IANA Functions Contract to Expire

[ARIN]

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) 
has announced its intention to allow the IANA functions contract to 
expire; a significant step in the process to transition the Internet's 
domain name system (DNS) to the private sector. The NTIA currently 
contracts with ICANN for ICANN to perform a set of coordination services 
with regards to Internet identifiers; these services are collectively 
referred to as "the IANA functions."

In March 2014, NTIA initiated the final step in the privatization of the 
DNS by asking ICANN to convene Internet stakeholders to develop a plan 
to transition NTIA's IANA stewardship role to the Internet 
multistakeholder community.

On Friday, ICANN reported to NTIA that all the necessary tasks required 
by the IANA Stewardship transition proposal are completed or will be 
complete by the end of the contract term. Based on its review of this 
report and barring any significant impediment, NTIA intends to allow the 
IANA functions contract to expire as of 1 October 2016 – at which time 
ICANN will continue to perform these same functions, only under the 
auspices of the respective communities which rely upon these tasks.

Over the last two years, Internet stakeholder groups from around the 
world have come together to formulate a comprehensive IANA Stewardship 
transition plan. ARIN community representatives and staff, together with 
the other four Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), worked in 
conjunction with the Numbers community to contribute to the IANA 
stewardship transition plan to ensure that the Internet remains open, 
stable, resilient and secure. To read about the work of the Consolidated 
RIR IANA Stewardship Proposal Team's (CRISP) work, visit:
https://www.nro.net/nro-and-internet-governance/iana-oversight/consolidated-rir-iana-stewardship-proposal-team-crisp-team

ARIN fully supports the IANA Stewardship Transition and would like to 
thank all of those who have contributed their time over the last two 
years to making it a success.

Read the NTIA's full announcement at:
https://www.ntia.doc.gov/blog/2016/update-iana-transition

To learn more about the IANA Stewardship Transition, visit:
https://www.icann.org/stewardship-accountability

Regards,

John Curran
President & CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)