Preliminary Report

Regular Meeting of the ICANN Board in Montevideo
10 September 2001

At its meeting on 10 September 2001, in Montevideo, the ICANN Board of Directors approved the following resolutions.

Schedule for IRP NomCom

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.

Recommendations of Reconsideration Committee

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

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

Continued Recognition of gTLD Registries Constituency

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.

Sponsored TLD Agreements

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).

ccTLD Agreement with auDA

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.

Thanks to Robert Elz

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.

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

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.

Geographic and Geopolitical Names in .info

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.

IDN Committee

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.

Appointment of President to Executive Committee

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.

Arrangements for Future Meetings
(by consensus—not a resolution)

The Board reviewed plans for meeting in Accra, Ghana, from 10-14 March 2002. By consensus, the Board gave approval to those plans.

Thanks to Ken Fockler

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!

Thanks to Hosts, Sponsors, and Staff

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 Ndung’u, and the rest of the ICANN staff for their continued extraordinary service to ICANN and the ICANN community.

Page Updated 02-Jun-2003
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