about: [council] Letter from Paul Verhoef to GNSO Council with request for policy work on .net

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[council] Letter from Paul Verhoef to GNSO Council with request for
policy work on .net

* To: <council at xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
* Subject: [council] Letter from Paul Verhoef to GNSO Council with
request for policy work on .net
* From: "Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
* Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 10:02:19 +1000
* Sender: owner-council at xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
* Thread-index: AcQXRP9YruGxjCaFRPmrW5i/ZYVGiwANd74w
* Thread-topic: Letter from Paul Verhoef to GNSO Council with request
for policy work on .net

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Hello All,

Attached in PDF format is a letter from Paul Verhoef, Vice President,
Policy Development Support of ICANN to the GNSO Council with a formal
request for guidance from the GNSO concerning the criteria for
designating a successor operator for .net.

There is also a request for a timeline for completing this work.  I
have requested that ICANN staff be available for answering any
questions in relation to this letter during our call in 20 hours time.

See below for plain text version of the letter.

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin



Bruce Tonkin, Chair
ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organization Council

Re: Policy Advice Concerning the Designation of a Successor Operator for .net


Dear Bruce,

At its meeting in Rome, Italy, on 6 March 2004, ICANN's Board of
Directors adopted the following resolution numbered 04.18:

".net Registry Agreement Expiration Date and Initial Procedure for
Designating Successor Registry Operator

Whereas, Section 5.1 of the .net Registry Agreement entered into
between ICANN and VeriSign on 25 May 2001 provides that the agreement
will expire no later than 30 June 2005
<http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/verisign/registry-agmt-net-25may01.htm>;

Whereas, Section 5.2 of the .net Registry Agreement obligates ICANN
to adopt an open, transparent procedure for designating a successor
Registry Operator by no later than one year prior to the end of the
agreement, which would be 30 June 2004;

Resolved, [04.18] that in order to prepare for the designation of a
transparent procedure by 30 June 2004, the Board authorizes the
President to take steps to initiate the process as specified in
Section 5.2 of the .net Registry Agreement for designating a
successor operator for the .net registry, including referrals and
requests for advice to the GNSO and other relevant committees and
organizations as appropriate."

As indicated in the text of the resolution, ICANN is taking steps to
initiate the process for designating a successor operator for the
.net registry.  This letter is a formal request for guidance from the
GNSO concerning the criteria for designating a successor operator for
.net.  Specifically, §5.2.4 of the .net Registry Agreement (below)
identifies certain criteria to be taken into account in the selection
of a successor. That paragraph also calls for the establishment of a
consensus policy regarding the identification and definition of these
criteria.  Accordingly, the GNSO Council is requested to issue a
consensus statement defining criteria and conditions to be applied in
the selection of a successor registry operator.  In developing the
scope of its recommendations, the GNSO should be guided by the
example criteria listed in para. 5.2.4, below, e.g. a balancing of:
stability of the Internet, promotion of competition, consumer choice,
functional capabilities, performance specifications, commercial
terms, relevant experience, and the demonstrated capability to manage
similar databases at the required scale.

For your reference, the following is the complete text of §5.2 of the
current .net Registry Agreement, which specifies the "procedure for
subsequent agreement":


"5.2 Procedure for Subsequent Agreement.

5.2.1 Not later than one year prior to the end of the term of this
Agreement, ICANN shall, in accordance with Section 2.1, adopt an
open, transparent procedure for designating a successor Registry
Operator. The requirement that this procedure be opened one year
prior to the end of the Agreement shall be waived in the event that
the Agreement is terminated prior to its expiration.

5.2.2 Registry Operator or its assignee shall be eligible to serve as
the successor Registry Operator and neither the procedure established
in accordance with subsection 5.2.1 nor the fact that Registry
Operator is the incumbent shall disadvantage Registry Operator in
comparison to other entities seeking to serve as the successor
Registry.

5.2.3 If Registry Operator or its assignee is not designated as the
successor Registry Operator, Registry Operator or its assignee shall
cooperate with ICANN and with the successor Registry Operator in
order to facilitate the smooth transition of operation of the
registry to successor Registry Operator. Such cooperation shall
include the timely transfer to the successor Registry Operator of an
electronic copy of the Registry Database and of a full specification
of the format of the data.

5.2.4 ICANN shall select as the successor Registry Operator the
eligible party that it reasonably determines is best qualified to
perform the registry function under terms and conditions developed
pursuant to Subsection 4.3 of this Agreement, taking into account all
factors relevant to the stability of the Internet, promotion of
competition, and maximization of consumer choice, including without
limitation: functional capabilities and performance specifications
proposed by the eligible party for its operation of the registry, the
price at which registry services are proposed to be provided by the
party, the relevant experience of the party, and the demonstrated
ability of the party to manage domain name or similar databases at
the required scale.

5.2.5 In the event that a party other than Registry Operator or its
assignee is designated as the successor Registry Operator, Registry
Operator shall have the right to challenge the reasonableness of
ICANN's failure to designate Registry Operator or its assignee as the
successor Registry Operator pursuant to Section 5.9 below. Any such
challenge must be filed within 10 business days following any such
designation, and shall be decided on a schedule that will produce a
final decision no later than 60 days following any such challenge."


As an additional reference point, the GNSO may want to consider the
work of the DNSO with respect to the reassignment of the .org
registry. On 4 June 2001, at its meeting in Stockholm, Sweden,
ICANN's Board referred 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.  The DNSO
Council responded by forming a task force to study the issue and
prepare a report.  On 17 January 2002, the DNSO Council adopted the
"Report of the Dot Org Task Force", which ICANN used as the basis for
the procedure for designating a successor operator for .org adopted
at the 14 March 2002 Board meeting in Accra, Ghana
<http://www.icann.org/accra/org-topic.htm>.  Additional background on
the .org reassignment (to Public Interest Registry) is available at
<http://www.icann.org/tlds/org/>.

I have noted that the Council has already taken the proactive step of
placing this issue on its agenda for its next meeting (1 April 2004).
In order to facilitate further planning for the procedure for
designating the successor operator, I would very much appreciate
hearing from you at your earliest convenience regarding your
tentative timeline for the completion of your policy process on this
issue.

Thank you very much for your anticipated further cooperation in this matter.

Best regards,

Paul Verhoef
Vice President, Policy Development Support
ICANN


Attachment: L-Twomey re net Successor _24-Mar-04_.pdf
Description: L-Twomey re net Successor _24-Mar-04_.pdf
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