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ICANN operates in large part by entering into agreements with various other parties involved in the operation of the Internet. These agreements fall generally into two categories: Transition Agreements and Implementation Agreements.

Transition Agreements

In its 5 June 1998 "Statement of Policy, Management of Internet Names and Addresses," 63 Fed. Reg. 31741(1998) (commonly known as the White Paper), the United States Government declared its willingness to recognize a new, not-for-profit corporation formed by private sector Internet stakeholders to administer policy for the Internet name and address system. The White Paper envisioned a transition process during which the not-for-profit corporation would enter various agreements to facilitate ending the United States Government's role in the Internet number and name address system in a manner that ensures the stability of the Internet. These agreements are as follows:

• Memorandum of Understanding/Joint Project Agreement with U.S. Department of Commerce (sometimes known as the "Joint Project Agreement").
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Between ICANN and U.S. Department of Commerce (25 November 1998)
  • Amendment 1 to ICANN/DOC MOU (10 November 1999)
  • Amendment 2 to ICANN/DOC MOU (7 September 2000)
  • Amendment 3 to ICANN/DOC MOU (25 May 2001)
  • Amendment 4 to ICANN/DOC MOU (24 September 2001)
  • Amendment 5 to ICANN/DOC MOU (19 September 2002)
  • Amendment 6 to ICANN/DOC MOU (17 September 2003)
  • Modifications to JPA; Affirmation of Responsibilities for ICANN Private Sector Management [PDF, 220 KB] (29 September 2006)

  ICANN has submitted thirteen status reports to the Department of Commerce under this memorandum of understanding:

  • Status Report to the U.S. Department of Commerce (15 June 1999)
  • Second Status Report to the Department of Commerce (30 June 2000)
  • Third Status Report to the Department of Commerce (3 July 2001)
  • Fourth Status Report to the Department of Commerce (15 August 2002)
  • Fifth Status Report to the Department of Commerce (8 January 2003)
  • Sixth Status Report to the Department of Commerce (31 March 2003)
  • Seventh Status Report to the Department of Commerce (30 June 2003)
  • Eighth Status Report to the Department of Commerce (1 August 2003)
  • Ninth Status Report to the Department of Commerce (7 April 2004)
  • Tenth Status Report to the Department of Commerce (7 October 2004)
  • Eleventh Status Report to the Department of Commerce (7 April 2005)
  • Twelfth Status Report to the Department of Commerce (7 October 2005)
  • Thirteenth Status Report to the Department of Commerce (7 April 2006)
• Agreement with the University of Southern California
  • Transition Agreement (December 1998).
• IANA Function Contracts
  • ICANN/U.S. Government Contract for the IANA Function (9 February 2000).
    • Modification 0001 to ICANN/U.S. Government Contract for the IANA Function (6 September 2000).
  • ICANN/U.S. Government Contract for the IANA Function (21 March 2001).
  • ICANN/U.S. Government Contract for Performance of the IANA Function (17 March 2003)
  • Amendment/Modification to Extend the U.S./ICANN Contract for Performance of the IANA Function (2 September 2003)
  • Preliminary Notification of the Governments intent to Extend the Term of Contract No.: DG1335-03-SE-0336 (8 August 2003)
  • ICANN/U.S. Government Contract for Performance of the IANA Function (14 August 2006)
    • Amendment/Modification to Extend Term of Contract (14 June 2011)
• Root-Nameserver Agreements
  • Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the United States Government.
    • Amendment 1 to CRADA (September 2000).
    • Amendment 2 to CRADA (28 September 2001).
    • Public Summary of Reports Provided Under CRADA (14 March 2003).
• InterNIC Agreement®
  • License Agreement Concerning InterNIC® (8 January 2001).
  • Amendment to License Agreement Concerning InterNIC® (29 September 2009).

Implementation Agreements

Policies adopted through the ICANN process are implemented by agreement of entities involved in the operation of the Internet. In some cases, this agreement occurs after the policy is adopted; in other cases the implementation is pre-arranged through written agreements. Some of those agreements are:

• IETF/ICANN Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Technical Work of the IANA (1 March 2000). Under this memorandum, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has appointed ICANN to perform a set of functions (known as the "IANA functions") involving assignment of protocol parameters used in IETF standards.

Note: The documents listed below supplement the 1 March 2000 IETF/ICANN Memorandum of Understanding concerning the Technical Work of the IANA.

• ICANN/IANA - IETF Memorandum of Understanding Supplement Agreement (effective 1 January 2007).
• ICANN/IANA – IETF Memorandum of Understanding Supplement Agreement (effective 1 January 2008) [PDF, 308 KB]
• ICANN/IANA – IETF Memorandum of Understanding Supplement Agreement (effective 1 January 2009) [PDF, 307 KB]
• ICANN/IANA – IETF Memorandum of Understanding Supplement Agreement (effective 1 January 2010) [PDF, 248 KB]
• ICANN/IANA – IETF Memorandum of Understanding Supplement Agreement (effective 1 January 2011) [PDF, 115 KB]