Message from the CEO
2009 - A Historic Year in the DNS

It's often good as we bring each year to a close to reflect back on our work.

After six months as ICANN's CEO and President, I've been enormously impressed by the huge strides the ICANN community has made, not to mention the years of collaborative work, dedication and professionalism by the ICANN community in preparing the way.

A singular achievement is the signing of the Affirmation of Commitments between ICANN and the US government in September. This Affirmation brings to an end a series of amendments to the original 1998 Memorandum of Understanding between ICANN and the US government, the last of which, the Joint Project Agreement, expired on 30 September. The Affirmation broadens ICANN's reporting commitment to the entire global Internet community, and it cements the ICANN multi-stakeholder bottom-up model. A series of reviews embodied in the Affirmation will help ensure a high degree of public, global accountability throughout the ICANN community.

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The IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process is Open

ICANN is pleased to announce the launch of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process.

For the first time in Internet history, non-English speakers across the globe will see Internet addresses completely in their own language.

Access to the IDN ccTLD Fast Track online application system and all associated materials are available at:

http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/

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The Affirmation of Commitments –
What it Means

The Affirmation of Commitments completes a transition that started 11 years ago ...

When ICANN was created in 1998, with the assistance of the United States Government, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) process was started with the objective of achieving a noble goal: the coordination of the Internet's unique identifiers by the private sector through a not-for-profit organization where policies were developed from the bottom up.

The signing of the Affirmation determines once and for all that this model works.

The JPA was the seventh amendment of the original MOU. Over the years there have been thirteen report cards on performance of responsibilities to the US Department of Commerce alone. So why is the Affirmation of Commitments a further step in progress and internationalization of the ICANN model?

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Public Comment

Every significant piece of work that ICANN produces goes through a period of public comment, typically 30 days, so that the broader Internet community has an opportunity to comment. Often one document will go through several stages of review and revision before being finalised. Below are all the comment periods that are currently open.