Regular Meeting of the Board Minutes 10 September 2001

INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS

A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (the "Corporation") was held on 10 September 2001 at the Radisson Victoria Plaza Hotel in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The following Directors of the Corporation were present: Vint Cerf (chairman), Amadeu Abril i Abril, Robert Blokzijl, Ivan Moura Campos, Jonathan Cohen, Philip Davidson, Frank Fitzsimmons, Ken Fockler, Masanobu Katoh, Hans Kraaijenbrink, Stuart Lynn, Andy Mueller-Maguhn, Jun Murai, Alejandro Pisanty, Nii Quaynor, Helmut Schink and Linda S. Wilson. Karl Auerbach joined the meeting telephonically while it was in progress.

Also present at the meeting were Louis Touton, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of the Corporation, and Andrew McLaughlin, Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation. The meeting was open to the public.

The Chairman, Vint Cerf, called the meeting to order at 13:48 UTC (10:48 am local time), following a session of the ICANN Public Forum.

Schedule for IRP NomCom

Dr. Cerf introduced a request by the Independent Review Panel Nominating Committee for an extension of time to provide its nominations for the initial members of the Panel. Mr. Fockler moved, with Mr. Cohen's second, that the Board adopt the following motion:

Whereas, the IRP Nominating Committee was formally notified on 22 May 2001 that the initial nine vacancies on the Independent Review Panel should be filled;

Whereas, the IRP Nominating Committee has since organized itself and conducted an open call to the Internet community for potential nominees, and has undertaken search and recruitment for appropriate candidates;

Whereas, in resolution 01.51 the Board requested that the IRP NomCom provide its nominations by 20 August 2001; and

Whereas, the IRP NomCom has indicated to the Board that it has made significant progress, but requires additional time to complete its work on the initial nine vacancies on the Independent Review Panel;

Resolved [01.78] that the IRP NomCom is given until 15 October 2001 to forward to the Board its nominations for the nine initial members of the Independent Review Panel.

The Board adopted the resolution by a 17-0-0 vote.

Recommendations of Reconsideration Committee

Dr. Cerf asked Mr. Kraaijenbrink to present recommendations of the Reconsideration Committee. Mr. Kraaijenbrink described two recommendations of the Reconsideration Committee, concerning requests RC 00-15 (ICM Registry) and RC01-3 (Monsoon Assets Limited). The first matter, RC 00-15 was originally discussed at the Board's 7 May 2001 meeting. However, because of concerns raised at that meeting the matter was sent back to the Reconsideration Committee for further work. The revised recommendation now presented has been revised to address the concerns expressed. It was noted that Mr. Abril i Abril had recused himself from the Reconsideration Committee's consideration of both matters.

Mr. Kraaijenbrink moved, with Mr. Katoh's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution concerning Recommendation RC 00-15 (ICM Registry):

Resolved [01.79] that the Reconsideration Committee's Recommendation RC 00-15, as revised, is adopted for the reasons stated in that recommendation.

The Board adopted this resolution by a 14-0-3 vote, with Mr. Abril i Abril, Dr. Blokzijl, and Mr. Mueller-Maguhn abstaining.

Mr. Kraaijenbrink moved, with Dr. Schink's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution concerning Recommendation RC 01-3 (Monsoon Assets Limited):

Resolved [01.80] that the Reconsideration Committee's Recommendation RC 01-3 is adopted for the reasons stated in that recommendation.

The Board adopted this resolution by a 16-0-1 vote, with Mr. Abril i Abril abstaining.

Mr. Kraaijenbrink noted that the Reconsideration Committee had benefited greatly from the wisdom of Mr. Fockler, who has served with great diligence on the committee but will be departing from the Board after this meeting. His contributions have improved greatly the quality of the Reconsideration Committee's recommendations.

Continued Recognition of gTLD Registries Constituency

Dr. Cerf introduced a resolution to recognize the newly-restructured gTLD Registries Constituency. With the addition of new TLDs, the gTLD Registries Constituency will grow from its original single member (originally NSI, later VeriSign) to eight members. The constituency has adopted new Articles of Operation to reflect its admission of new members.

A concern was raised about the weighted voting process provided for in the rules. Dr. Pisanty stated that after some analysis he had concluded that the process, which all present and incoming constituency members endorsed, was fair and effective. Other Board members concurred.

Dr. Lynn moved, with Dr. Campos' second, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

Whereas, the Board in resolution 99.98 recognized the gTLD Registries Constituency of the DNSO, with the proviso that, "within 30 days of a request of any other ICANN-recognized gTLD Registry that seeks to join it, the Constituency must submit to the Board for its approval a formal consensus proposal for continued recognition";

Whereas, ICANN last fall selected seven new gTLD registries for negotiation of registry agreements, and has so far completed and executed agreements recognizing the operators of the .biz, .info, and .name top-level domains, and has agreements for the four other gTLDs in negotiation awaiting approval;

Whereas, the gTLD Registries Constituency has submitted a proposal for continued recognition, including gTLD Registry Constituency Articles of Operation;

Whereas, the proposal for continued recognition and Articles of Operation have been developed and approved by all eight recognized and presently-anticipated gTLDs;

Resolved [01.81] that the gTLD Registries Constituency of the DNSO is recognized for all purposes under Article VI-B, Sec. 3 of the ICANN Bylaws to operate in accordance with the letter and Articles of Operation submitted to the Secretary and ordered attached to these minutes as Exhibit 1.

The resolution was adopted by a 17-0-0 vote.

Sponsored TLD Agreements

At this point Mr. Auerbach joined the meeting by telephone.

Dr. Cerf asked Mr. Touton to report on a proposed resolution authorizing Dr. Lynn to execute contracts on behalf of ICANN for the .aero, .coop and .museum sponsored top-level domains. Mr. Touton reported on the stage of negotiation of each agreement. The .museum agreement was completely negotiated and the .aero and .coop agreements were completed except for a few attachments. All completed elements have been posted and subject to public comment. Mr. Touton proposed that authority be given to enter the .museum agreement and that a seven-day last call procedure be established for the .aero and .coop agreements.

Mr. Fockler moved, with a second by Mr. Cohen, that the Board adopt the following resolutions:

Whereas, in resolution 00.89 the Board selected seven proposals to operate or sponsor top-level domains, including the sponsored top-level domains .aero, .coop, .museum, for negotiations toward appropriate agreements;

Whereas, in resolution 00.90 the Board authorized the President and General Counsel to conduct those negotiations on behalf of ICANN and, subject to further Board approval or ratification, to enter into appropriate agreements;

Whereas, a common base agreement has been negotiated with the three selected sponsored top-level domain sponsors (SITA, NCBA, MuseDoma);

Whereas, the base agreement and all associated attachments, as completed and agreed by negotiators for MuseDoma and ICANN, have been posted for .museum;

Whereas, the base agreement and many of the associated attachments have been completed also for .aero and .coop;

Whereas, the Board has received a presentation from the General Counsel on the progress and results of the negotiations;

Whereas, comments from the public have been received on a web-based public comment forum and at a Public Forum held on 09 September 2001;

Whereas, the Board has considered the posted materials, the presentation, and public comments and finds that approval of the agreements is necessary and appropriate to further ICANN's purposes;

It is therefore

Resolved [01.82] that the President is authorized to enter on behalf of ICANN the agreement for .museum as posted on the ICANN website, along with any minor corrections or adjustments as appropriate;

Resolved [01.83] that the President and General Counsel are authorized and requested to complete negotiation of the .aero and .coop agreements (including attachments) as soon as feasible and to post the attachments on the ICANN web site;

Resolved [01.84] that the Board shall be notified of the complete posting of the agreement and appendices for each of .aero and .coop and after that notification seven days shall be allowed for Board members to make any additional comments to the President and General Counsel;

Resolved [01.85] that in the absence of the request of any Board member to the contrary based on policy considerations, the President is authorized to sign the posted agreements for .aero and .coop after the conclusion of those seven days; and

Resolved [01.86] that, upon signature of the agreements for .aero, .coop, and .museum, the President is authorized to take such actions as appropriate to implement the agreements, including causing reports to be made to the United States Department of Commerce and accrediting registrars for those top-level domains (in that regard, registrars already accredited and in good standing for .biz, .com, .info, .net, or .org may be accredited for .aero, .coop, and .museum without additional qualifying procedures upon entering an accreditation agreement that the President determines is consistent with the existing accreditation agreement for .biz, .com, .info, .name, .net, and .org).

Mr. Abril i Abril noted that he would recuse himself from consideration of these resolutions in view of his role as advisor to Nominalia, a member of CORE, which will provide certain back-end services for .aero.

A discussion followed about whether the resolution should be modified to allow for a deviation with regard to the .museum proposal that would exempt it from using competitive registrars as long as the number of registrations stays under 10,000 names. Mr. Fockler queried as to whether the current resolutions would allow for making appropriate modifications to future agreements as they arise during the proof-of-concept phase. Mr. Kraaijenbrink expressed his view that the current resolution would allow for minor modifications but not significant modifications without the express approval of the Board.

Dr. Cerf commented that any registry would benefit from having multiple competitive registrars thus the proposed exemption was ill considered.

In response to a question from Mr. Auerbach, Mr. Touton explained that the reports to the United States Department of Commerce referred to in resolution 01.86 were IANA Reports under ICANN's contract for provision of IANA services. Mr. Touton also gave an explanation of the CEDRP mechanism in the sponsored TLD agreements, and particularly why transfer was not a remedy in a case where a name was challenged under the CEDRP as being outside the scope of the charter.

The Board adopted resolutions 01.82 through 01.86 by a 17-0-1 vote, with Mr. Abril i Abril abstaining.

Mr. Touton solicited guidance from the Board with regard to delays in finalizing the .pro agreement. The informal sense of the Board was that the deadline for completion of the agreement should be the time of the Board meeting in Marina del Rey in November 2001.

ccTLD Agreement with auDA

Mr. McLaughlin gave a report on a proposed ccTLD sponsorship with .au Domain Administration Limited (auDA) for the sponsorship of the .au ccTLD. The agreement had been posted on the ICANN web site and a presentation was given at the ICANN Public Forum held 9 September 2001. Mr. McLaughlin described the history of .au, which was delegated to Robert Elz soon after the deployment of the DNS in 1986. Mr. Elz has compiled an extraordinary record of service to the community in operating .au since then. In 1997, the Internet community in Australia, with Mr. Elz's participation, began a process of creating an institutional framework for the operation of .au, which eventually led to auDA. In 1999, auDA began assuming responsibility for .com.au (the largest second-level domain in .au) and pursued discussions with Mr. Elz to assume responsibility for .au itself.

After obtaining the endorsement of the Australian Government, auDA requested that ICANN redelegate .au to it. Mr. Elz took the position that the delegation of the .au ccTLD should be transferred from him to a suitable organization, but expressed some concerns about the suitability of auDA. Melbourne IT, currently the sole registrar for .com.au domain names, has also expressed reservations, suggesting that the delegation should be made to the Australian Government rather than auDA. The Australian Government has responded that it believes that the delegation should rest with auDA, subject to the Australian Government's supervision of whether auDA is appropriately serving the needs of the Australian Internet community.

The IANA has prepared and posted (on 31 August 2001) a report on the auDA request for redelegation of .au. That report concluded that redelegation to auDA is appropriate, pending the completion of a mutually agreeable contractual arrangement. That arrangement has been negotiated; it is a "triangular agreement" under which auDA will be the delegee and will be supervised by the Australian Government (as to local matters) and ICANN (as to global matters). Mr. McLaughlin emphasized that this "triangular" approach is one way to structure the framework of responsibilities and accountability for ccTLDs, but not the only way. He stated his view that, where the parties agree on such a framework, ICANN should be willing to join in such an agreement, in view of its responsibilities for promoting global interoperability.

Mr. Abril i Abril took note of the IANA Report's use of the Governmental Advisory Committee Principles concerning ccTLDs. He also noted that RFC 1591 and ICP-1 can be read to require that any transfer be mutually agreed. While Mr. Elz agreed that a transfer should occur, he (and Melbourne IT) expressed concerns about auDA and suggested that the Australian Government might be a more appropriate delegee. In this case, the Australian Government endorses auDA as the delegee, but a similar situation might arise in the future where there is agreement that a delegation should be changed but sharp conflict about who should become the delegee. Mr. Abril i Abril indicated that it might be an appropriate time to analyze the proper response in that situation.

In response to a question from Mr. Auerbach, Mr. McLaughlin stated that specific redelegation matters are not within the proper scope of the DNSO. The DNSO's role is to recommend policies; the IANA's role is to execute the policies that are adopted and in place.

Mr. Auerbach asked about the possibility of delaying action on the resolutions until the next meeting. Other Board members indicated they desired to proceed with action on the resolutions.

Dr. Lynn moved, with Dr. Wilson's second, that the Board adopt the following resolutions:

Whereas, on 10 March 2000, in resolution 00.13, the Board authorized the President and staff to work with the ccTLD managers, Governmental Advisory Committee, and other interested parties to prepare draft language for ccTLD contracts, policy statements, and/or communications, including appropriate funding arrangements, to be presented to the Board and posted for public comment as soon as practicable;

Whereas, on 13 March 2001, in resolution 01.37, the Board directed ICANN management to press forward with continued vigor toward the completion of draft legacy agreements, and to pursue, as needed, acceptable ccTLD agreements in triangular situations;

Whereas, negotiators for .au Domain Administration Limited and ICANN have reached agreement, subject to the ICANN Board's approval, on the terms of a ccTLD Sponsorship Agreement for the .au top-level domain;

Whereas, the agreement has been posted on the ICANN web site and a presentation was given at the ICANN Public Forum held 9 September 2001 in Montevideo, Uruguay;

Whereas, opportunities were given for public comment on the agreement;

Resolved [01.87] that the President is authorized to enter on behalf of ICANN the ccTLD Sponsorship Agreement for .au as posted on the ICANN website, along with any minor corrections or adjustments as appropriate;

Resolved [01.88] that, upon signature of the agreement, the President is authorized to take such actions as appropriate to implement the agreement.

The Board adopted the resolutions by a 15-1-2 vote, with Mr. Auerbach voting against and Mr. Mueller-Maguhn and Dr. Quaynor abstaining.

Thanks to Robert Elz

Mr. Lynn proposed the following proposed resolution:

Whereas Robert Elz has devoted over 15 years of selfless and dedicated service to the global Internet community as the registry founder and operator of .au.

Resolved [01.89] that the ICANN Board on behalf of the global Internet community extends its deepest thanks to Robert Elz for his profound countributions to the evolution and stable performance of the global Internet.

Dr. Wilson seconded the resolution. The resolution was adopted by a 17-0-1 vote, with Mr. Auerbach abstaining.

MoU with U.S. Department of Commerce and Root-Server CRADA

Mr. Touton gave a report on the extension of ICANN's various agreements with the United States Department of Commerce. He proposed that the President be authorized to enter extensions of the Memorandum of Understanding originally entered on 25 November 1998 and the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) concerning the root server system entered in 1999.

Dr. Blokzijl moved, with Mr. Fockler's second, that the Board adopt the following resolutions:

Whereas, on 25 November 1998 the United States Government entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ICANN, recognizing it as the private-sector, not-for-profit corporation to which various technical coordination tasks for the Internet would be transitioned;

Whereas, the MOU called for ICANN to develop and test various mechanisms to allow stable, private-sector technical coordination during a transition period in which the effectiveness and stability of these mechanisms would be demonstrated;

Whereas, the U.S. Government and ICANN have subsequently entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) concerning root-server system improvements;

Whereas, on 3 July 2001 ICANN submitted its third status report to the US Government under the MOU describing the progress ICANN has made on completing the development and testing tasks identified in the MOU;

Whereas, while the MoU was in September 2000 amended to expire on 31 September 2001, the transition tasks will not be completed on that date;

Whereas, the U.S. Government has indicated that it is willing to extend the time for ICANN, ccTLD managers and affected governments, the RIRs, the root-server operators, and other stakeholders to complete the tasks for one more year;

Whereas, although the CRADA was extended in September 2000 until September 2001, it is estimated that nine additional months will be required to complete the root-server system improvement project.

Whereas, the U.S. Government has proposed an amendment to the MOU that provides an extension to complete the remaining tasks until 30 September 2002 or sooner if the parties agree that the tasks have been completed and an amendment to the CRADA that provides an extension until 30 June 2002;

Whereas, the language of these proposed amendments has been presented to the Board;

Resolved [01.90] that the President is authorized to enter an Amendment 4 to the MOU, in substantially the form presented to the Board;

Resolved [01.91] that the President is authorized to enter an Amendment 2 to the CRADA, in substantially the form presented to the Board.

A discussion followed. Dr. Schink expressed his concerns about extending the MOU from year to year and he inquired about the major outstanding issues. Dr. Lynn and Mr. Touton explained that six tasks of the ten listed in the original MOU have been only partially completed. Mr. Mueller-Maguhn expressed his desire to establish a concrete timeline for completing the remaining tasks so that an additional extension will not be necessary. Dr. Cerf noted that completion of some of the remaining tasks required actions of entities other than ICANN. Mr. Abril i Abril expressed his hope that ICANN will complete the tasks diligently and that the United States Government will relinquish oversight.

Upon Mr. Auerbach's suggestion, the Board voted separately on the two resolutions. Resolution 01.90 was adopted by a 17-0-1 vote, with Mr. Mueller-Maguhn abstaining. Resolution 01.91 was adopted by a 18-0-0 vote.

Geographic and Geopolitical Names in .info

Dr. Cerf introduced an issue concerning the use of country names or geopolitical names in the .info TLD. The issue is the subject of advice received from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). Some countries have expressed concern that other parties have registered the names of their countries as second-level domains under the .info top-level domain. The concern is that Internet users will assume that a site registered under a country name in .info will provide information about that country provided by that country. This concern, Dr. Cerf said, prompted the GAC to ask the Board to consider freezing registration of second-level names within .info that match names of countries and distinct economies contained in the ISO 3166-1 list, pending further analysis and consideration.

Dr. Cerf read a draft resolution that would effectively freeze registration of the names on the country list until such time as the Board can evaluate whether any technical measures or restrictions are determined to be useful and effective with regard to this issue.

A discussion followed. Dr. Blokzijl indicated that the proposal was imprecise as to what names would be frozen. He suggested that it would also be necessary to account for foreign-language differences in country names and he suggested the need for a more consistent policy regarding the use of country codes in all the new gTLDs. Dr. Pisanty expressed his view that the current resolution will not solve the problem. Mr. Cohen expressed concern that it may be too late to fix the problem and he signaled to the GAC to communicate with ICANN as to other possible solutions. Dr. Cerf noted that the GAC first raised the issue in November 2000. Mr. Mueller-Maguhn was in agreement about freezing the two-letter country code abbreviations but not the extended country names because there are too many variations. Dr. Campos agreed with Mr. Cohen's remarks and supported a temporary freeze to allow the situation to be examined. Mr. Katoh stated that issues concerning country names were very controversial, but that temporary measures to allow deeper examination were appropriate. He also noted that the GAC recommendations were carefully limited in terms of the number of names affected. Mr. Kraaijenbrink noted that the GAC recommendation was limited to .info, and that ICANN should take temporary measures to allow examination of the GAC's recommendation. Mr. Abril i Abril commented that voting at the moment of implementation makes it more permanent than temporary, but he was sensitive to the need to explain to countries advocating reservation of country names the technical difficulties involved. Mr. Cohen suggested that the resolution be amended to include a time limit.

Mr. Touton noted that, at a meeting the previous night among Names Council members, it was agreed that the GAC's recommendations on country names in .info should be given high priority for the DNSO's consideration. He also stated that he believed it possible to convert the country names appearing in the ISO 3166-1 list into domain names using neutral algorithms (dealing with punctuation, etc.), and that he had some information that the local-language equivalents of country names could be derived from the ISO 3166-2 list.

Mr. Auerbach asked whether ICANN had the authority to restrict the names. Dr. Cerf responded that under contract ICANN may ask a registry operator to reserve as many as 5,000 names and not assign them and this provision could be exercised to restrict the names.

Dr. Cerf suggested that the resolution be amended to: (1) include a deadline of the March 2002 meeting in Accra; (2) provide for immediate documentation to the GAC regarding the inherent difficulties in reservation of country names; and (3) provide for documentation drawing attention to the inconsistencies that might be created. He noted that the Board would seek input from the DNSO Names Council and from others who are interested in this matter. He summarized that the Board recognizes that this is a troublesome and complex area to impose restrictions but ICANN believes the resolution is warranted.

Mr. Fockler then moved, with Dr. Lynn's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

Whereas ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has concluded that "the issue of geographical and geopolitical names is very complex, and the subject of ongoing international discussion," and has stated its belief that these issues are particularly important in the context of the new Top Level Domain .info considering its "special nature";

Whereas, the GAC has therefore suggested that "interim ad hoc measures should be taken by ICANN and the Registries to prevent avoidable conflicts in .info";

Whereas, the Board has serious questions about the technical feasibility and practicality of responding to this concern through reservations of specific domain names, but it also appreciates that without some action to maintain the status quo ante, the "ongoing international discussion" referenced in the GAC communication could be preempted by developments in the registration of .info names;

Whereas, under all these circumstances the Board has determined that it is appropriate to take temporary steps to prevent the registration of such names in order to allow it and the community the time to consider carefully this issue and determine what if any policy should be adopted with respect to it;

Whereas, the registry operator for .info has informed ICANN staff that it plans to timely challenge any facially unqualified registrations, including registrations of the names of countries and distinct economies contained in the ISO 3166-1 list;

Whereas, the contract between ICANN and Afilias, the registry operator for .info, provides in Section 3.6.3, that ICANN may instruct the Registry Operator "to maintain the registration of up to 5000 domain names within the domain of the Registry TLD for use by ICANN . . .";

Whereas, the invocation of this contractual power with respect to (1) the names of countries and distinct economies contained in the ISO 3166-1 list that have not yet been registered during the .info Sunrise Period, and (2), following a successful challenge by the registry operator for .info, any such names returned to the database prior to any further attempt to register those names would have the practical effect of preserving the status quo until the completion of further consideration within ICANN and elsewhere over appropriate treatment of these names;

Resolved [01.92], the General Counsel is directed to take appropriate action to preserve the Board's ability to take action with respect to the registration in .info of names of countries and distinct economies contained in the ISO 3166-1 list , including exercising ICANN's contractual power to instruct the Registry Operator for .info to maintain the registration of such names that have not yet been registered during the Sunrise Period, and any other such names that are returned to the database following a successful challenge by the Registry Operator, for a period to extend through ICANN's March 2002 meeting, unless that period is shortened or extended by further Board action;

Further resolved [01.93] that the President is directed to propose to the Board, within the next 30 days, an action plan for rapid analysis of the technical and other issues related to the concerns raised by the GAC.

The resolution was adopted by an 11-7-0 vote, with Mr. Abril i Abril, Mr. Auerbach, Dr. Blokzijl, Mr. Mueller-Maguhn, Dr. Murai, Dr. Pisanty, and Dr. Quaynor voting in opposition.

IDN Committee

Dr. Cerf then introduced the topic of internationalized domain names and summarized a proposal to create an Internationalized Domain Name Committee to work on policy analysis and development of the use of internationalized domain names. The proposed committee would include members of the ICANN Board and other organizations associated with ICANN and it would be free to draw upon outside resources. Mr. Katoh would chair the committee.

Dr. Cerf presented a draft resolution. A discussion followed. Dr. Lynn stressed the importance of this issue to the global Internet community and how critical it is for the Board to take the appropriate actions in this area to show its commitment to the issue. There was a discussion about the desirability of providing for presentation of a work plan to the Board for approval at the Marina del Rey meeting and the draft resolution was modified accordingly.

Dr. Blokzijl moved, with Mr. Abril i Abril's second, that the Board adopt the following resolutions:

Whereas, in resolution 01.39 the Board established an internal working group on Internationalized Domain Names to identify the various internationalization efforts and the issues they raise, to engage in dialogue with technical experts and other participants in these efforts, and to make appropriate recommendations to the Board;

Whereas, the internal working group conducted various information-gathering activities, including the posting of a community survey;

Whereas, the internal working group presented an interim report at the ICANN Public Forum held in Stockholm on 3 June 2001, and that report was discussed at the Public Forum, at the Board Meeting, and on ICANN's Internationalized Domain Names web-based public forum;

Whereas, the internal working group presented its final report at the ICANN Public Forum held in Montevideo on 9 September 2001;

Whereas, the final report identified several policy issues meriting further evaluation and recommended that the examination of these issues proceed in parallel with continuing technical standardization and other preparatory work for the introduction of IDNs;

Whereas, these policy issues cannot be fully resolved until the Internet Engineering Task Force completes work on a deployable IDN standard, but initial work on the policy issues that will arise can and should proceed concurrently;

Whereas, the final report also recommended that the Board establish an IDN Committee to coordinate the work of various ICANN supporting organizations, committees, and other groups on the policy issues and to promote timely development of policy recommendations on them; and

Whereas, the Board has considered public comment on the final report made electronically and at the Montevideo Public Forum;

Resolved [01.94] that IDN Committee is hereby established under Article VII, Section 1(c), of the ICANN bylaws to serve as a general coordination body for the work on policy issues identified in the IDN Working Group Report and such other policy issues that the IDN Committee shall identify;

Further resolved [01.95] that the IDN Committee shall be responsible for promoting the coordination of the work of the ICANN supporting organizations, committees, and other groups on the policy issues arising from IDNs, as documented in the final report, and to promote timely development of policy recommendations on those issues for consideration by the community and the ICANN Board;

Further resolved [01.96] that in its policy-coordination activities, the IDN Committee should seek to ensure that any recommendations are achieved through a bottom-up process, and that those recommendations reflect a wide range of expertise on the different aspects relevant to the issues;

Further resolved [01.97] that the IDN Committee shall be chaired by Director Masanobu Katoh;

Further resolved [01.98] that the President, in consultation with the IDN Committee Chair, shall propose, for approval by the Board, representatives to serve on the IDN Committee from the ICANN Board, the Supporting Organizations, the Governmental Advisory Committee, and such other individuals who in his judgment could meaningfully contribute to this effort;

Further resolved [01.99] that the IDN Committee is encouraged to commission panels of volunteer experts from different countries with practical experience in the policy issues identified in the Final Report, and linguistic experts (including experts in non-ASCII character sets and languages not spoken by persons active in current discussions); and

Further resolved [01.100] that the IDN Committee is requested to present its initial work plan, schedule, and proposed budget for approval by the ICANN Board at the third ICANN annual meeting, to be held in Marina del Rey in November 2001.

The resolutions were adopted by a 18-0-0 vote.

Appointment of President to Executive Committee

Dr. Cerf presented a resolution regarding the appointment of the President to the Executive Committee. The resolution is intended to repair a previous oversight that specifically named Michael Roberts, rather than "the President", to the Executive Committee. With the adoption of the resolution, Dr. Lynn will be a member of the Executive Committee, and Mr. Roberts will not.

Mr. Cohen moved, with Mr. Abril i Abril's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

Resolved [01.101] that the President of ICANN by reason of his or her office is appointed as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board. The provisions of resolution 00.95 shall otherwise continue to apply.

The resolution was adopted by a 16-1-1 vote, with Mr. Auerbach voting against and Dr. Lynn abstaining.

Arrangements for Future Meetings

Mr. Cohen presented a brief report from the Meetings Committee regarding arrangements for future meetings. Mr. Cohen said there would be three meetings in 2002, and probably three meetings in 2003. Dr. Lynn announced that the Board reviewed plans for meeting in Accra, Ghana, from 10-14 March 2002, and by consensus, expressed its support of those plans. Dr. Lynn also noted appreciation for the proposal that was submitted by South Africa and said he hoped that a meeting would be held there in the future.

Thanks to Ken Fockler

Dr. Cerf noted that Ken Fockler would end his term of service to ICANN after this meeting. Dr. Cerf moved, with Dr. Pisanty's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution thanking Mr. Fockler for his service:

Whereas, Ken Fockler has served on the ICANN board for two years, since October 1999, as one of the initial directors selected by the Address Supporting Organization;

Whereas, his service has been dedicated, productive and conducive to the development of consensus upon which the ICANN process depends;

Whereas, he has served with distinction, bringing a long history of experience with Internet matters, technical, political, economic and cultural;

Now therefore [01.102], the ICANN Board does express its appreciation, the appreciation of the ICANN staff, and the gratitude of the Internet community to Ken Fockler for the services he has rendered, and express its wish that the future will bring him productive joy and satisfaction in all matters.

No doubt about it!

The resolution was adopted by a 18-0-0 vote.

Thanks to Hosts, Sponsors, and Staff

Dr. Cerf noted that those responsible for the Montevideo meeting deserved the Board's deep thanks. He moved, with Mr. Fockler's second, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

Whereas, the preparation for and execution of the ICANN Uruguay meeting has been conducted in an exemplary fashion;

Whereas, the hospitality, facilities, attention to the needs of the participants and extraordinary efforts to provide support have been without peer;

Now therefore [01.103], the ICANN Board expresses its deep appreciation and thanks, on its own behalf and on behalf of all participants to:

President Jorge Batlle, President of the Republic of Uruguay; Vice President Luis Hierro, Vice President of the Republic of Uruguay; Hector Nilo Perez of the Office of the President of the Republic of Uruguay; Prof. Ida Holz Bard and the University of the Republic; Raul Echeberría and INIA;

The sponsors, including the leading sponsor, Rodolfo Fariello and ANTEL; Hartmut Richard Glaser and Comite Gestor de Internet Brasil; Laurie Bell and Neulevel corporation; Katie Green and RealNames Corporation; Brad Copeland and New.Net; Gerardo Grack, SoftNet Logical; Gemma Hernandez, Nominalia; and Jaime Jerusalmi, Interfase; and

The Latin American members of the ICANN community who came together to support the Montevideo meeting: Patricio Poblete and Margarita Valdes of NIC Chile; Oscar Robles of NIC Mexico; Ivan Campos, Hartmut Glaser, Demi Getschko and their colleagues of NIC Brazil.

The Board especially appreciates the efforts of the Organizing Committee, most particularly the work of Raul Echeberría, who has been a participant in the ICANN process from its beginning and without whose work this meeting would not have been possible, and Prof. Ida Holz, who pioneered Internet in Uruguay and who worked tremendously hard to make the Montevideo meetings a success.

In addition, the Board expresses its great appreciation to Diane Schroeder, Ben Edelman, John Crain, Sara Hathaway, Rebecca Nesson, John Palfrey, Mary Hewitt, Dan Halloran, Margaret Nyambura Ndungu, and the rest of the ICANN staff for their continued extraordinary service to ICANN and the ICANN community.

The resolution was adopted by a 18-0-0 vote.

No other business was brought before the Board. Dr. Cerf adjourned the meeting at 15:40 UTC (12:40 pm local time).


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Louis Touton
Secretary