On 17 August, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Lawrence Strickling announced that the US government would be extending the IANA contract with ICANN through 30 September 2016. This long anticipated extension reflects the community’s need for additional time to accomplish a number of important tasks, in order to bring about the IANA stewardship transition. The extension does not mean that the community is not delivering on its commitments, but rather that the process of ensuring appropriate consultation, refining proposals, securing endorsement from the ICANN community, undergoing interagency review, etc., is going to take more time.

The extension is a welcome, practical, and necessary step that provides the community with a realistic timeframe going forward while ensuring the stability and continuity of the DNS. The extension reflects a “best case” timeline set out by the community in which it suggested that the accountability-related requirements for the transition would only likely be accomplished by July 2016 and that an extension to September 2016 would be prudent. The work that needs to be accomplished between now and then is considerable, as is shown in this timeline.

The extension is a welcome, practical, and necessary step that provides the community with a realistic timeframe going forward while ensuring the stability and continuity of the DNS.

By the time of the ICANN meeting in Dublin in mid-October, the transition and accountability proposals that are currently out for public comment need to be finalized. Any substantive issues raised in the consultations will need to be addressed by the community prior to the Dublin meeting. Assuming that these and other issues can be resolved, the names community will (hopefully) endorse the accountability proposal at the ICANN meeting and the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) will produce the final version of its transition proposal. Once the two proposals are ready, it is expected that the ICANN Board will forward them to NTIA, at the end of October or early November.

While the proposal package – both transition and accountability enhancements – undergoes scrutiny in the interagency and Congressional review processes, the community cannot afford to rest. The Cross Community Working Group (CCWG) Accountability proposal section on implementation and timing outlines the work that needs to be done and highlights the process that has been initiated for drafting the bylaws that will be required to be in place for the transition. Beyond this, however, there are no specific implementation plans in place. Given the limited timeframe within which to accomplish the work, a determination needs to be made quickly as to whether the existing transition and accountability working groups will be addressing implementation issues or if other working groups or mechanisms will need to be established.

Work will also have to start addressing those accountability enhancements that do not necessarily have to be in place for the transition, but that are important to the increased accountability of the ICANN post-transition. These issues – also outlined towards the end of the CCWG Accountability proposal – include refining operational aspects of the proposals that need to be in place for the transition, looking at government participation in ICANN and jurisdiction, as well as community accountability, transparency, diversity, and human rights, among others. Issues such as government participation and jurisdiction are complex and politically charged, and will no doubt engender considerable debate. The resulting proposal will also go through an iterative drafting process as well as rounds of public comment.

Thoughts Heading into Los Angeles

Author: Steve Crocker

24 Sep 2015

Original Link: https://www.icann.org/news/blog/thoughts-heading-into-los-angeles

The CCWG-Accountability chairs recently observed in a blog post how critical it is that we all keep up our energy and momentum going into the next CCWG-Accountability face-to-face meeting in Los Angeles on 25 and 26 September. I could not agree more. The CCWG-Accountability deserves much applause for its tremendous and impressive work leading to the 2nd Draft Proposal, this most recent public comment period and for its commitment to bring this process to a successful conclusion. It hasn't always been easy. The Board has tried to act in good faith throughout this process, weighing the most appropriate and helpful times to contribute, and in what manner in this unprecedented community effort.

The CCWG meeting in Los Angeles comes at a critical time. While it's easy to analyze the areas where consensus still needs to be reached, it is important to also recognize the many elements of the accountability proposal that have reached broad support. In studying the public comments, we agree with the CCWG that there are many areas of agreement and we look forward to contributing as a part of the community to refine and build upon the 2nd Draft Proposal to create the necessary enhancements toICANN's accountability.

It is more important to get this work done right than it is to get it done quickly. However, should the group not focus on the core accountability requirements to fill the backstop role of the U.S. Government, I fear that it will drive the transition towards delay or even possible failure after being so close to completion. A lot of work has been done by our community, in the CCWG and at the ICG, and the crafting of these two dynamic proposals has been a testament to the capability of the multistakeholder community – we must not let this moment pass.

I am personally looking forward to using this time in Los Angeles to contribute constructively to the work of the CCWG and remain confident we will continue to enhance what we have built together

Throughout the next year the community will need a lot of resolve and stamina. The extension does not mean that there can be a let-up in effort – there is still much to be accomplished for the transition to occur by 30 September 2016

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