[arin-announce] IANA Stewardship Transition Moves to Final Phase

[ARIN]

The following message is brought to you on behalf of the Number Resource
Organization (NRO):

11 March 2016, Marrakech, Morocco – An historic proposal for the global
community to assume stewardship of the IANA functions, produced after
nearly two years of work by the global Internet community, has been
delivered to the U.S. Government for its consideration. The proposal
would remove U.S. Government oversight over a set of fundamental
Internet administrative functions, including management of the global
pool of Internet number resources (IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and
Autonomous System Numbers), and replace it with a set of arrangements
for community-based oversight.

The proposal, developed by the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination
Group (ICG), is based on input from three operational communities,
including the Internet Number Community (those with an interest in the
global management of Internet number resources). The contributions of
the Internet Number Community were coordinated via a Consolidated RIR
IANA Stewardship Proposal (CRISP) Team made up of community members
drawn from each of the five RIR regions. CRISP Team Chair Izumi Okutani
said:

“The discussions that have taken place over the last two years have been
a showcase for the kind of bottom-up, community-driven processes that
are a central feature of the Internet Number Community. This approach
has been fundamental in making the Internet a truly global resource. It
is very satisfying to see the input of so many stakeholders explicitly
reflected in the ICG’s proposal, and I believe that the solution
presented here successfully meets the needs of the Internet Number
Community, and of all IANA stakeholders.”

The ICG proposal includes mechanisms for stewardship of the
number-related IANA functions, as developed by the Internet Number
Community. These mechanisms include a contractual Service Level
Agreement signed by the RIRs (as stewards of these functions) and ICANN
(as the entity responsible for management of the functions). More
information on this aspect of the proposal is available here.

While the ICG published the final draft of its proposal in October 2015,
elements of the proposal relied upon the adoption of a set of
recommendations regarding the accountability of ICANN to its community.
These recommendations were developed separately by a Cross Community
Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG) and were adopted
by the ICANN Board at its meeting this week in Marrakech, Morocco. The
Board was at that point able to pass on both the ICG and CCWG documents
to the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA),
an agency of the U.S. Government.

“The events of this week, here at ICANN 55 in Marrakech, represent
another significant step in the long process to better operationalize
the global community’s shared stewardship of the IANA functions,” said
Number Resource Organization Chair and LACNIC CEO Oscar Robles. “We have
not reached the end of this process yet, and we respect the attention
that the U.S. Government must give to this proposal before making what
will be a historic decision.

At this point though, we recognize the achievement that this proposal
represents: a huge, global community of people from different sectors
and stakeholder groups has achieved agreement on a complex plan to
achieve something of huge importance. It is something about which we, as
a community, should feel justifiably proud, and it is a testament to the
effectiveness of the multistakeholder model.

The Regional Internet Registries have publicly supported the progressive
steps taken by the U.S. Government over the years to reduce its
oversight of global Internet administrative functions. Since the NTIA’s
announcement in 2014, we have been pleased to help facilitate our
communities’ contributions to this important IANA stewardship transition
process. We now stand ready to work with ICANN and all of the IANA
stakeholders towards full implementation of the ICG and CCWG proposals.”

The U.S. Government will now review the proposal to ensure that it meets
the criteria set out by the NTIA when they first announced their
intention, in March 2014, to pass stewardship of the IANA functions to
the global community. If approved, the RIRs and ICANN will continue
their work towards implementation of the proposal, which will be
completed prior to the expiration of ICANN’s current contract with NTIA
in September 2016.

Regards,

Communications and Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)