Board Activities and Meetings
Regular Meeting of the ICANN Board in Stockholm Preliminary Report 4 June 2001
At its meeting on 4 June 2001, in Stockholm, the ICANN Board of Directors approved the following resolutions.
Whereas, ICANN's bylaws require that the President shall prepare and submit to the Board a proposed annual budget of the Corporation for the next fiscal year;
Whereas, the President, with the endorsement of the Finance Committee and with the assistance of the Budget Advisory Group, has followed an open and consultative process in developing the budget, including posting of a preliminary budget on 19 February 2001, posting of a proposed budget on 14 May 2001, submission of comments through an on-line comment forum, and a budget presentation and discussion at the ICANN Public Forum in Stockholm on 3 June 2001;
Whereas, the Board has carefully considered the comments received;
Whereas, the President has submitted to the Board a proposed budget prepared through that consultative process for FY01-02, commencing 1 July 2001 (the "Proposed Budget");
Whereas, the Board has reviewed the Proposed Budget and has found that its adoption is in the best interest of the Corporation;
Resolved [01.63] that the Proposed Budget is hereby adopted as the annual budget of the Corporation for the fiscal year beginning 1 July 2001 (as adopted, the "Budget"); and
Further resolved [01.64] that the President is authorized and directed to implement and carry out the Budget and is directed to inform the Board of material variances from the Budget.
Revision of Registrar Application and Accreditation Fees
Whereas, in resolution 99.16 the Board approved the charging of an application of US$1000 fee for those seeking to be accredited as registrars in the .com, .net, and .org top-level domains and a US$ 5000 fixed component of the accreditation fee for those registrars;
Whereas, on 17 April 2001 ICANN posted on its web site a proposal to change those registrar application fees and annual registrar fixed accreditation fees, with a detailed explanation of the nature of the change being proposed and the reasons for it;
Whereas, since then an online public comment forum for comments on the proposal, at which members of the public can see the comments of others and reply to them;
Whereas, on 3 June 2001 a public forum was held in Stockholm at which the proposed fees were discussed;
Whereas, the Board has carefully considered the comments received;
Resolved [01.65] that the fee for making an application to be accredited by ICANN as a registrar shall be US$ 2500, without regard to the number of top-level domains for which accreditation is sought, for applications submitted on or after 1 July 2001; and
Resolved [01.66] that the fixed fee for accreditation for registrars accredited under agreements signed after 17 May 2001 shall be US$4,000 annually for the first top-level domain in which they are accredited to perform registrar services and US$500 for each additional top-level domain.
Emerging Regional Internet Registries
Whereas, the Address Supporting Organization Memorandum of Understanding ASO-MOU provides that ICANN will develop requirements and policies for the approval of additional Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) and provides general guidance for minimum requirements;
Whereas, on 24 April 2001, after extensive public consultation, the Address Council submitted to the Board proposed Criteria for the Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries as a more specific statement of the essential preconditions for the approval of new RIRs, as a statement of the minimum guidelines needed when evaluating applications for recognition of new RIRs;
Whereas, the Address Council has also recommended that the Board authorize the ICANN staff to receive and evaluate applications for the recognition of new RIRs, using the criteria as a statement of minimum requirements;
Whereas, the Address Council proposals have been posted on the ICANN web site and discussed on ICANN's web-based public forum and at the ICANN Public Forum held in Stockholm, Sweden, on 3 June 2001;
It is therefore
Resolved [01.67] that the Board accepts the "Criteria for the Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries" recommended by the Address Council as a statement of essential requirements, in supplementation to section 9 of the ASO-MOU, and acknowledges it as a framework for consideration of applications for recognition of new RIRs;
Further resolved [01.68] that the President is authorized to establish procedures and standards for the receipt of applications for recognition of new RIRs and for the evaluation of those applications, according to section 9 of the ASO-MOU and consistent with the requirements set forth in the Criteria;
Further resolved [01.69] that the President is authorized to devote sufficient resources of the Corporation to the timely evaluation of any applications according to those procedures and standards; and
Further resolved [01.70] that the President is directed to report periodically on any applications received and to present to the Board recommendations on those applications, with final action on applications being subject to Board approval.
Referral of .org Issues to DNSO
Whereas, on 25 May 2001 ICANN entered into a new registry agreement with VeriSign, Inc. for the .org top-level domain;
Whereas, under that agreement VeriSign's operation of the .org top-level domain will terminate on 31 December 2002, at which time the operation will be turned over to an entity designated by ICANN;
Whereas, before the transition to operation of the .org top-level domain by the new entity can occur, it will be necessary to designate or establish an appropriate entity, to fashion its legal relationship with ICANN, to develop any necessary policies for the entity's operation, and to allow the entity to set up its business operations;
Whereas, it is the Board's goal that these activities be completed in an orderly manner and in time to permit transfer of operational responsibilities for .org on the contracted schedule;
Whereas, meeting this goal will require early planning and policy development;
Whereas, the Board considers that the designation of a successor registry for the .org top-level domain involves policy issues concerning the domain-name system that should be referred to the Domain Name Supporting Organization for its consideration and recommendations;
Whereas, under Subsection 5.1.4 of the current .org registry agreement VeriSign must contribute a US$ 5,000,000 endowment to be used to fund future operating costs of a non-profit entity, if one is designated by ICANN as successor operator;
Whereas, the Board notes that the availability of this endowment should be considered in developing policy for the future operation of the .org top-level domain;
Whereas, the Board urges that consideration be given to the positive effects on stability of assuring the ability of present registrants to continue their registrations;
Resolved [01.71] that the Board refers to the Names Council for its consideration the issues raised by the scheduled transition of the operation of the .org top-level domain from VeriSign to a new entity, including at least:
(a) whether to select an existing entity to succeed VeriSign as responsible for operation of the .org TLD, or to establish a new entity;
(b) the characteristics of the entity to be selected or established;
(c) selection criteria for the entity or its organizers;
(d) principles governing its relationship with ICANN (sponsored or unsponsored TLD, term of operation, etc.); and
(e) policies for the entity's operation of the .org top-level domain (to the extent they are not to be established by the entity).
Further resolved [01.72] that the Names Council is requested to provide a report on its progress on the issues referred by resolution 01.71, including any policy recommendations it has developed, no later than 12 October 2001; and
Further resolved [01.73] that the report will then be posted for public comment in advance of ICANN's third annual meeting in November 2001.
Process for Monitoring and Evaluation of New TLD Program
Whereas, in resolution 01.60, the Board directed "the President to prepare and present to the Board at its Stockholm meeting in June 2001 a proposal to form a committee to recommend processes for monitoring the implementation of the new TLDs and evaluating the new TLD program, including any ongoing adjustments of agreements with operators or sponsors of new TLDs;"
Whereas, the President has recommended to the Board the formation of a New TLD Evaluation Process Planning Task Force chaired by the President and consisting of members selected with the advice of the Names and Protocol Councils and the Chairs of the IETF, IAB, and ICANN DNS Root Server System Advisory Committee;
Resolved [01.74], the Board directs the President to form and chair a New TLD Evaluation Process Planning Task Force, for the purpose of recommending to the Board and the broader Internet community, by means of a report to be discussed at ICANN's Montevideo meeting in September 2001:
(a) a plan for monitoring the introduction of new TLDs and for evaluating their performance and their impact on the performance of the DNS. This assessment should focus in technical, business, and legal perspectives and rely on data gathered as part of the contractual arrangements with the new TLDs as well as other data inputs that can be readily secured; and
(b) a schedule on which a plan should be executed.