ICANN Acronyms and Terms
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Internet Assigned Numbers Authority stewardship transition(IANA stewardship transition)
The final step in a nearly two-decade-long process by the U.S. Department of Commerce to transition the coordination and management of the Domain Name System to the private sector. This step involved the transition of the IANA functions from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to the global multistakeholder community.
In 2014, NTIA asked ICANN to convene the global multistakeholder community to formulate proposals to replace NTIA’s stewardship role and enhance ICANN’s accountability mechanisms.
After 800 hours in meetings, more than 32,000 emails, and numerous public comments, a package of proposals developed by the global community was submitted to NTIA. By 30 September 2016, all implementation tasks required for the transition were complete. When ICANN’s contract with NTIA expired on 1 October 2016, the coordination and management of the Internet’s unique identifiers officially transitioned to the global multistakeholder community.