NTIA Issues IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal Report

The transition of stewardship of the IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community has reached a significant milestone.

On 9 June 2016, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued its assessment report on the IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal. The proposal was submitted to the NTIA in March 2016 following the ICANN 55 Meeting.

From its first announcement, the NTIA has set down a number of requirements that any proposal for transition would need to meet. The proposal must:

1. Support and enhance the multistakeholder model;
2. Maintain the security, stability and resiliency of the Internet DNS;
3. Meet the needs and expectations of the global customers and partners of the IANA services; and
4. Maintain the openness of the Internet.

The NTIA further stipulated that it "would not accept a proposal that replaces its role with a government-led or intergovernmental organization solution."

After thorough review the NTIA reports that it finds that "the IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal meets the criteria necessary to complete the long-promised privatization of the IANA functions."

The NTIA also looked at the recommendations developed by the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability, and found that "the accountability recommendations are consistent with sound principles of good governance that reflect the unique and important mission of ICANN within the Internet ecosystem."

The NTIA is now engaging with members of the United States Congress, and has asked ICANN to provide an implementation planning status report to gauge whether this work is likely to be completed prior to the expiration of the IANA functions contract on 30 September 2016.

A fact sheet and link to the full report is available on the NTIA website.

Further information on the IANA stewardship transition is available on ripe.net.