Final Proposal for the IANA Stewardship Transition

31/03/2016

After nearly two years of work and valuable contributions by the three Internet operational communities, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (IANA) submitted to the U.S. government a proposal that, if approved, will lead to global leadership of the IANA functions.

According to the proposal finally agreed in Marrakech during the ICANN 55 meeting, the U.S. government would no longer  be responsible for stewardship of a set of key administrative functions related to the Internet —including management of the global Internet number resource reserves (IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and Autonomous System Numbers)— and replace them with community-based stewardship mechanisms.

Developed by the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG), the new structure is based on the contributions made during almost 24 months by the three operational communities, including the Internet numbers community (those with an interest in global Internet number resource management).

Input from the numbers community was integrated by CRISP (Consolidated RIR IANA Stewardship Proposal Team), a group consisting of members from each of the regions  corresponding to the five Regional Internet Registries (LACNIC, ARIN, AFRINIC, APNIC, RIPE).

Negotiations allowed developing a final proposal to replace the IANA functions stewardship with a multistakeholder, community-based, non-government entity, managed independently and transparently.

The proposal includes stewardship mechanisms for the IANA functions related to Internet number resources as developed by the numbers community.

These mechanisms include a Service Level Agreement between the RIRs (as custodians of these functions) and ICANN (as the entity responsible for their management).

The plan has now been sent to the U.S. government for review. Assuming it meets the necessary criteria, Internet Governance will have reached a historic moment.

Izumi Okutani, Chair of the CRISP Team, stressed that the discussions held over the past two years “have highlighted the type of bottom-up, community driven processes that are a central feature of the Internet numbers community. This approach has been instrumental in making the Internet a truly global resource.”

Oscar Robles, Chairman of the Number Resource Organization (NRO) and LACNIC CEO, noted that, while the process has not concluded —the U.S. government has yet to decide—, “at this time we must recognize the achievement that this proposal represents: a huge global community of people from different backgrounds and interest groups has agreed on a complex plan to achieve something of great importance.”

Robkes added that the work carried out during these 24 months “is something we should be proud of as a community, a testament to the effectiveness of the multistakeholder model.”