[governance] European Commission 'welcomes improvements in new IANA contract'

[Pranesh Prakash]

Neelie Kroes's office has just released a press note with the title
"Digital Agenda: Commission welcomes improvements in new IANA contract;
regrets tender being limited to US companies"

<http://goo.gl/4t2pr>

======

Reference:  IP/11/1345    Date:  14/11/2011

European Commission - Press release

Digital Agenda: Commission welcomes improvements in new IANA contract;
regrets tender being limited to US companies

Brussels 14 November 2011 - The European Commission is pleased that its
initiative to improve Internet Governance resulted in the introduction
of a number of its suggested changes by the US Government for the
post-March 2012 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) contract.

The Commission welcomes the publication by the US Government of tender
documents for the contract to manage the naming and numbering systems
that keep the global Internet running smoothly. The new tender will be
subject to a competitive bidding process and its specifications will
strengthen the transparency, independence and accountability of the next
IANA contractor within the Internet's multi-stakeholder governance
ecosystem.

Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda
said:

"The new IANA tender is a clear step forward for global internet
governance. A more transparent, independent and accountable management
of the Internet domain names and other resources will reinforce the
Internet's role as a global resource."

In particular, the draft contract includes clear and binding provisions
on conflict of interest. The next IANA contractor will have to take
measures to avoid any activity or situation that could compromise, or
give the appearance of compromising, the impartial and objective
performance of the contract. They will also have to maintain a written
and sanctionable conflict of interest policy covering both potential and
actual conflicts based on personal relationships or bias, financial
gain, employment and post-employment activities. Penalties can include
dismissal of the IANA contractor.

The Commission has long maintained that a strict conflict of interest
policy will markedly improve the quality of the decision-making
processes of the next IANA contractor.

Furthermore, following Commission demands, the draft contract states
that when introducing new Top-Level Domains (such as dot.museum or
dot.movie), or modifying existing ones, the next IANA contractor will
have to provide specific documentation demonstrating how the underlying
decision-making process was supportive of the public interest.

The Commission believes greater respect should be given by the IANA
contractor to respecting applicable law (such as EU personal data
protection laws). The Commission will continue to take the initiative
for such provisions in future IANA contracts as part of its efforts to
ensure sustainable multi-stakeholder governance of the Internet, in the
service of public interest, as a matter of both principle and efficient
practice. In that context, it noted with regret that non-US companies
are not allowed to compete for the forthcoming IANA contract.

## Background

IANA is one of the Internet's oldest institutions, with its activities
dating back to the 1970s. IANA's activities focus on three areas:

    Domain Names IANA manages the DNS root, the .int and .arpa domains,
and an IDN practices resource.

    Number Resources: IANA coordinates the global pool of IP and AS
numbers, providing them to Regional Internet Registries.

The so-called "IANA functions" are currently carried out by the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) under an agreement
with the US Government which will expire in March 2012.

The call for tender specifies that the IANA contractor shall be a wholly
U.S. owned and operated firm, with all primary operations and systems
remaining within the Unites States.

## Links

Digital Agenda website: <http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda>
Neelie Kroes' website: <http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/>
Follow Neelie Kroes on Twitter: <http://twitter.com/neeliekroeseu>

Contacts :

Ryan Heath (+32 2 296 17 16)
Linda Cain (+32 2 299 90 19)

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society
W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283

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