IAC Report - 4 May 2005

APTLD

The last major activity was the Kyoto meeting, since when the minutes have been posted, the final transition account in Taiwan closed, and the remaining surplus transferred to the account in New Zealand. This means that all secretariat activities have now been successfully transferred to New Zealand.

The APTLD newsletter containing matters of internet interest in the region has been continued by the Secretariat, with an issue being produced in March ( see www.aptld.org )

Nominations for one AP position on the ccNSO council opened, as a result of a bylaw requirement. After consultation with IAC, .nz nominated Hiro Hotta, the previous incumbent who was eventually re-elected.

APTLD welcomed Mongolia ( .mn ) and Macao ( .mo) as new members. Mongolia' s joining was largely encouraged by the sponsorship programme, which brought the .mn manger to the Kyoto meeting.

The next meeting is scheduled to be held in Singapore, hosted by .sg, on July 6 and 7, which is a few days before the ICANN meeting in Luxembourg, on July 11- 14. This represents a change in meeting policy for APTLD, which has for the past few years met approximately one month before ICANN meetings. This was largely due to the need to prepare APTLD positions on ccNSO bylaw and contract matters before ICANN meetings, but it is now apparent that that need has passed. There has been some discussion about the need for 3 meetings a year, but in Kyoto there was no appetite for a reduction. This may change if a General Manager is appointed.

There appears to be no major agenda items looming, and IAC recommends that two InternetNZ representatives (PDT, as APTLD Chair)and Keith Davidson as Internet NZ President ) attend. It was noted both would be en route to attending the ICANN Luxembourg meeting, and that costs were only likely to be hotel and associated costs with staying in Singapore.

CENTR

As reported to the last Council meeting, Jennifer Northover attended meetings in Vienna in February. Her report was not able to be attached to the previous report, and is so now.

Centr has written to ICANN with proposed amendments or issues and questions arising from the ccNSO bylaws. Some Centr members, (particularly .uk and .no) have been attending ccNSO meetings and continued in Mar del Plata to do so. Centr has become a " regional association" under the bylaws, and Centr' s General manager, Giovanni Seppia is serving as a European liaison on the ccnso council. It is expected that the bylaw issues raised will be processed by way of the Policy Development Process (" PDP" ) in the ccNSO bylaws (see www.icann.org/general/bylaws).

Centr members also took part in the Amsterdam meeting on the ICANN strategic plan, and following that, Paul Kane ( Centr chair) and .uk were active in trying to obtain figures from ICANN staff as to the cost of the running of the IANA function. The reason behind this was the level of support Centr members might contribute to the ICANN budget. It was in part stimulated by a request from the new ICANN staff member tasked with working on cctld policy matters, ( Donna Austin ) to cctld managers, asking them for the number of registrations in their registries.

The other major matter affecting Europe in the period was the addition of the new ccTLD for Europe: on March 21 the ICANN board voted to add .eu.

ICANN

In March the staff received a report from consultants ( Telecordia) evaluating the various bids to host .net. By a narrow margin, the incumbent ( Verisign) emerged the winner, and the staff began to negotiate a contract. This has since become controversial, and various complaints from losing bidders and the community are being reviewed.

Keith Davidson, Debbie Monahan and Pete Macaulay represented InternetNZ at the meeting in Argentina from March 4 to 8. Keith Davidson' s report is attached. Recommendations arising appear below.

There were three separate public sessions on the Strategic Plan, and the Amsterdam work, to which Grant Forsyth and Jennifer Northover had contributed so much was the major driver behind this. In summary, the principal recommendation to emerge from Amsterdam - that the process be split into 2 parts, with strategic planning occupying the first half of the process has largely been adopted. Debbie Monahan also presented some comments drafted by Keith and her on the InternetNZ approach.

There was also a half-day seminar on the WSIS, in which presentations from Latin America preceded a panel discussion from governmental and other representatives.

The New Zealand ambassador to Argentina, Mr Carl Worker, attended parts of the meetings, concentrating on the GAC. He was complimentary of the work done by InternetNZ, and appeared to make a useful contribution to the GAC.

IAC recommends that InternetNZ write to the NZ Government, supporting the sending of New Zealand government officials to the GAC meetings in general, and on this occasion in particular.

IAC recommends that continued attention to building and strengthening the ccNSO is required by InternetNZ, in view of the issues surrounding European ccTLD participation, the importance the members have attached to having an independent secretariat, the development of a model for paying fees to ICANN, and the outcome of the precedent-setting Accountability Framework being negotiated between ICANN and .nl.

The next meeting of ICANN will be in Luxembourg from July 11 to 15. Because of the cost of attending meetings in Europe, and the nature of the likely agenda, IAC recommends that 2 representatives of InternetNZ attend the meetings, one of which be from the ICANNZ ‘06 committee, (and from that budget). IAC will select representatives closer to the time, but sufficiently early so as not to be penalized on fares.

IAC recommends that InternetNZ make a donation to ICANN of US$10,000, or approximately NZ$15,000.

This sum was budgeted for and accrued in the financial year just ended, and is available, as the .nz portion of the IAC budget is just below expected expenditure, assuming this payment (i.e. $150.5k spent, against budget of 152.5k).

WSIS/WGIG

The papers contracted for at IAC request, in response to the WGIG papers on names/addresses, and root servers have been received. After any further editing to take in to account Council comments, these should be sent to the WGIG. They represent a useful statement of InternetNZ' s position on these matters, but will be most useful if they are received in Geneva without delay. The WGIG has just completed an open day ( 18 April ) followed by 2 days of closed meetings. An online text for the Report is proposed, with further input able to be made until 15 June. The next meeting of the WGIG is 14-16 June. The Report is due to be made to the WSIS in mid July ( probably 18 July).

Some thought is being given by IAC to whether attendances by InternetNZ representatives might be helpful at the final meeting of the WGIG in June, and or at the PrepCom 3 meeting in September, which may well be attended by officials from the NZ government.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. IAC recommends that two InternetNZ representatives ( Peter Dengate Thrush and Keith Davidson attend the APTLD meeting in Singapore.

2. IAC recommends that InternetNZ write to the NZ Government, supporting the sending of New Zealand government officials to the GAC meetings in general, and on this occasion in particular.

3. IAC recommends that continued attention to building and strengthening the ccNSO is required by InternetNZ, in view of the issues surrounding European ccTLD participation, the importance the members have attached to having an independent secretariat, the development of a model for paying fees to ICANN, and the outcome of the precedent-setting Accountability Framework being negotiated between ICANN and .nl.

4. IAC recommends that Keith Davidson and David Farrar be representatives of InternetNZ at the Luxembourg meeting of Icann in July, one of which is to be from the ICANNZ ' 06 committee.

5. IAC recommends that InternetNZ make a donation to ICANN of US$10,000 for the financial year ending March 2005.

Peter Dengate Thrush
Chair
International Affairs Committee