Council of European National Top level domain Registries

Internet Governance

and the CENTR Organisation

TERENA Networking Conference 2000

“Pioneering Tomorrows Internet”

Lisbon 22-25 May 2000

Council of European National Top level domain Registries

Dennis Jennings, Chairman, CENTR

Dennis.Jennings@ucd.ie

About CENTR

• An Association of ccTLD Registry Managers• Started as a project of RIPE NCC in 3/98• Members decided to establish CENTR

separately as a company in the UK.• European focus but no geographical limits• 30 members – registering over 3m domain

names (+ associate members, JAPAN, NSI)• Representatives of member Registry

Managers make up the CENTR General Assembly

MEMBERSANDORRA .ad ITALY .itASCENSION ISLAND .ac LITHUANIA .ltAUSTRIA .at LUXEMBURG .lu BELGIUM .be MALTA .mtCANADA .ca NETHERLANDS .nlCROATIA .hr NORWAY .no DENMARK .dk POLAND .plFINLAND .fi PORTUGAL .ptFRANCE .fr ROMANIA .roGERMANY .de RUSSIA .ruGREECE .gr SLOVENIA .siGUERNSEY .gg SPAIN .esHUNGARY .hu SWEDEN .seIRELAND .ie SWITZERLAND .chISRAEL .il UNITED KINGDOM .uk

Associate members: JAPAN .jpNSI Registry

Functions: Policy and Political

• Provides a forum to discuss matters of policy affecting ccTLD Registry Managers

• Acts as a channel of communication to Internet governing bodies and other organisations.

• Promotes the interests of not-for-profit ccTLD Registry Managers and lobbies on their behalf.

• Does not speak or act for individual Registry Managers

Functions: Exchange of Information

• Provides a focal point for enquiries on ccTLD Registry Manager practices to the wider community

• Collects information on, and document the practices of, ccTLD registries

• Encourages the harmonisation of practices and provision of better service for users

Differences in ccTLD Practices

• Automation of registration• Contracts with registrants or registrars• Domain Name dispute policy• Fees for registration (one-off, annual etc.)• Naming Rules (open to all-v-restricted to

national businesses; any name-v-prohibited words and categories)

• Registration forms/information collected on name holder

Activities: Technical

• Technical Working Group for member Registry Managers (Mailing lists and web pages)

• Technical Work plan for collaborative projects– Secondary servers, Whois, security etc

• Workshops for technical staff to review work plan and share ideas.

Activities: Legal

• Legal Working Group for legal advisers of member Registry Managers.

• Physical meetings to work on legal issues such as data protection, trademark issues and contracts.

• Work plan agreed for 2000 including:– Contracts with registrants/registrars– Data Protection implications– Domain Name dispute resolution

• Advice on Relationship with ICANN and Governments

Activities: .eu

• .EU Working Group on CEC proposal for creation of .eu.

• European Commission published a working paper on the creation of .EU TLD http://www.ispo.cec.be/eif/InternetPoliciesSite/DotEU/WorkDocEN.html

• CENTR Issues press release 15/2/2000:– Welcomes e-Europe Initiative– Specific proposal for .EU requires detailed

analysis

Activities: .eu

• CENTR .eu Working Group meeting in Brussels - Issues report - 28/3/2000:– Welcomes e-Europe Initiative– Proposal for .EU requires detailed analysis:

Merits of .EU to end users Legal implications Appropriate policies for a TLD which is neither

national nor global generic Role of national internet communities in the process

• CENTR WG represented on CEC Consultation Group on .eu

ICANN

DNSO

PSOASO

Activities: ICANN

Namescouncil

councilcouncil

gTLDs

TradeMark

Non commercial

ccTLDs Commercial

Registrars

ISP/connectivity

GACRSAC

ccTLD Constituency

Regional• AFRICA: AFTLD • Asia/Pacific: APTLD• Europe+: CENTR• Latin America: LACTLD • North America: NATLD

Other groups• IATLD:

Government Advisory Committee (GAC)

• An Advisory Body to ICANN• Several Governments Represented (+CEC)• Lead by Australia, US, France• Focuses on ccTLDs and National

Sovereignty• Laying down rules for ccTLDs (Best

Practice)• Laying down rules for designation of ccTLD

Managers• Wishes to interject Governments between

ccTLD Managers and ICANN

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• Relationship between ccTLDs and ICANN• Currently under discussion in CENTR• Some CENTR Members dissatisfied with the

DNSO / Names Council / ccTLD Constituency structures and activities

• Some CENTR Members dissatisfied with ICANN - the budget, the focus on gTLDs, the authoritarian approach, the apparent reliance on the GAC in relation to ccTLDs, etc.

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• CENTR Members Seeking• Recognition of existing Registry Managers• Contract for Services by ICANN

(IANA Functions and Root)• Agreement on Best Practice• Agreement on Designations and Re-

Designations• Agreement on ICANN Budget and Funding• Agreement on Representation in ICANN

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• CENTR Members Offering• Recognition of ICANN• Industry self-regulation

• Best Practice• Procedures for Designation and Re-

Designation• Funding• NOT offering authority over ccTLDs

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• CENTR Key Concepts

• Industry self-regulation• Local Internet Community (inc. Government) is

the source of authority• Operation of a ccTLD Registry is a “monopoly”

and Manager must behave appropriately

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• Recognition of Registry Managers

• Nothing agreed• GAC wants Government Licensing and

Control of ccTLD Registry Managers

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• Contract for Services by ICANN (IANA Functions and Root)

• ICANN CEO declares that it is a “Policy Formation” not a “Services” Organisation

• Contract with ICANN (or through ICANN) does not seem possible

• How to proceed ?• Need to protect authoritative root server system

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• Agreement on Best Practice

• CENTR has drafted Best Practice Guidelines• CENTR Members likely to sign up to these Best Practice

Guidelines at the General Assembly meeting in Trondheim in June

• Process for amending and updating CENTR Best Practice Guidelines to be agreed in Trondheim

• CENTR then ready to participate in other ccTLD Best Practice discussions

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• Agreement Designations/Re-Designations

• CENTR Chairman has drafted a “Principles” document for discussion in Trondheim

• Document envisages the “Local Internet Community” as the authority

• Document outlines a Designations dispute resolution procedure based on “Expert Determination”

• Document envisages industry self regulation• ICANN appears to see itself as the Re-Designation

authority ?

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• Agreement on ICANN Budget and Funding

• Most CENTR Members do not accept the ICANN approach to setting the ICANN budget or allocating funding responsibilities to ccTLDs.

• ICANN envisages a domain name tax which most CENTR Members reject

• CENTR Members envisage a system based on a number of contribution bands

• CENTR ExCom offered donations for 1999/2000 in response to ICANN invoices

• ICANN 2000/2001 budget / funding NOT agreed

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• Agreement on Representation in ICANN

• Not under discussion• Possibility that CENTR Members will want to be

independent of ICANN• Possibility that CENTR Members will want to replace the

DNSO with a TLD Support Organisation with 3+ Bard members

• Note that that the full recognition of ICANN by the US DoC requires that ICANN establish its relationship with ccTLD Registry Managers

CENTR - ICANN ISSUES

• Many issues to be resolved…..

Council of European National Top level domain Registries

Thank You