Considerations for the Establishment of the 'New IANA'

v1.0.
24 July 1998


SCOPE

This statement describes some considerations for the 'New Corporation'
proposed by, among others, the US Government 'White Paper' on Internet
governance. In this statement we refer to this entity as the 'New IANA'.

This statement describes the position of the existing three regional
IP address registries (RIRs (APNIC, ARIN, RIPE NCC)) on these issues.
It is intended as input to the discussions about the establishment of
the 'New IANA'. Constructive comments are encouraged.


BACKGROUND

This statement is based on the current situation in the area of
structures and policies related to Internet addressing. It is also
based on our perception of the current state of the discussion about
the establishment of the 'New IANA'. This proposal may have to be
reviewed as the discussion about the new IANA progresses. It will
certainly have to be reviewed as the Internet and the 'New IANA'
develops in the future. We fully intend to participate in the open
and transparent discussion of these issues. In order to clarify our
position we start with a few considerations.



CONSIDERATIONS

Given that ...

distribution and registration of Internet address space and
inter-domain routing identifiers is provided by a hierarchical
registry system including the IANA, regional Internet registries
(RIRs) and the direct and indirect clients of RIRs (which include
Local Internet Registries (LIRs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
and end users);

the IANA allocates address space and delegates responsibility for
further distribution of the address space to RIRs, which operate
internationally in large geographical regions of approximately
continental size;

there are currently three RIRs established (APNIC, ARIN, RIPE NCC);

RIRs allocate address space and delegate responsibility for efficient
management of the address space to their direct clients in their
geographical region;

there are currently more than 2500 direct clients of the three
existing RIRs;

the direct clients of RIRs may further distribute address space to
their clients;

RIRs operate neutrally and impartially with respect to their clients;

the RIRs are stable and representative legal entities governed by well
established structures ensuring bottom-up industry self regulation;

the RIRs derive their funding from their clients and operate
not-for-profit;

the IANA sets global policies in close consultation with the RIRs;

RIRs have appropriate mechanisms in place to define local policies
within the framework of the global policies;

a 'New IANA' is proposed to be incorporated for the purpose of
formalising the activities of the current IANA;

the RIRs wish to formalise the global decision making processes in a
transparent and representative way;

it has been proposed and widely accepted that the 'New IANA' shall
establish 'councils' which define policies;

it has been proposed that the 'New IANA' shall establish a
board with the authority to approve said policies;

the current RIRs expect to support the process of establishing
additional RIRs and to provide both training and initial operational
support;

the number of additional RIRs in the foreseeable future
is expected to be low because of their large geographic scope;

the RIRs wish to express their position on the establishment of the
governing body or 'board' for the 'New IANA'.


GENERAL

The RIRs wish to see the 'New IANA' be incorporated as soon as feasible,
preferably not later than the termination of the existing IANA funding.

The RIRs consider it essential that the 'New IANA' be based on the
experience and expertise of the current IANA.

In particular the RIRs support a 'New IANA' that includes the current
IANA staff in a role closely involved with the development of policies
in the area of the address council.


PURPOSE OF THE BOARD

The board shall be the governing body of the 'New IANA'.

The board shall have the authority to approve policies proposed by the
councils.

In particular the board shall have the authority to approve the
policies defined by the address council, described elsewhere. Should
the board not approve the policy documents submitted by the address
council, it will refer them back to the address council with specific
comments. The board shall not change the policies submitted or define
new policies.

The RIRs are concerned about policies being changed or introduced at
the board level outside of the process of bottom-up representation
established through the address council. Therefor we suggest that the
above restrictions be codified.

In particular the board of the 'New IANA' shall have the authority to
establish additional regional (address) registries, after due
consultation of the address council. Requirements for the
establishment of new RIRs include transparent representative
structure, true regional scope and broad support of the communities
concerned.

The board of the 'New IANA' may request consideration of new policies
by the address council from time to time.



CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE BOARD STRUCTURE

The RIRs wish to see appropriate representation on the board.
Currently this means that approximately one quarter of the board
members should be designated by the addressing stakeholders
through the RIRs.

Board members shall be independent and serve on personal title.

Initially we expect each RIR to designate one board member.
Should the number of RIRs increase this needs to be reviewed.



INITIAL BOARD

An initial board of widely respected individuals should be designated
quickly in order to formally establish the 'New IANA'.

This initial board should have authority to formally establish the
corporation, to continue day-to-day operations and to ensure that a
duly designated permanent board is established as quickly as possible.

The initial board members shall withdraw as the properly designated
board is established.