
IANA Oversight
On 14 March 2014, the US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the intention to transition the oversight of key Internet functions, including the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to the global Internet multi-stakeholder community.
The NTIA currently contracts with ICANN to carry out the IANA functions and has a Cooperative Agreement with Verisign under which it performs related root zone management functions. Transitioning NTIA out of its role marks the final phase of the privatisation of the DNS as outlined by the U.S. Government in 1997.
On 15 January 2015 the Consolidated RIR IANA Stewardship Proposal (CRISP) Team submitted the Internet number community’s proposal to the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG). You can find the proposal here.
You can also read the proposal in French here.
The Transition Process
The NTIA has asked ICANN to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal to transition the current role played by NTIA in the coordination of the Internet’s domain name system (DNS). The NTIA expects that, in the development of the proposal, ICANN will work collaboratively with all directly affected parties, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Society (ISOC), the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), top level domain name operators, Verisign, and other interested global stakeholders.
Proposal
The NTIA has also stipulated that the proposal should reflect the following principles:
- Support and enhance the multi-stakeholder model
- Maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS
- Meet the needs and expectation of the global customers and partners of the IANA services
- Maintain the openness of the Internet
Further, the NTIA will not accept a proposal that replaces the NTIA role with a government-led or an inter-governmental organisation solution.
For more information on the transition process, please click here .
Consultation Process
AFRINIC will work with AFRINIC Members, the African community, governments and other industry stakeholders throughout Africa and the Indian Ocean to facilitate discussion and formulate effective input into the oversight transition proposal to ensure that the region’s unique needs are taken into consideration. Discussion held at local and regional level will be fed into global consultations. AFRINIC, together with the other RIRs, will publish a global overview of all RIR community input in January 2015 and issue a call for comment.
Further, AFRINIC will inform the community of all developments and necessary actions in a timely fashion via this website, through its various mailing lists and in person at local, regional and global industry events.
Find out more about how you can have your say and stay up to date with the latest developments.
The Consolidated RIR IANA Stewardship Proposal (CRISP) Team
The members of the CRISP Team, chosen to represent the AFRINIC region community, are:
1.Janvier Ngnoulaye***
2.Mwenda Kivuva
3. Ernest Byaruhanga (RIR staff)
The CRISP team will be responsible for developing a consolidated proposal on behalf of the Internet numbering community. This proposal will include the outcome of discussions that took place in the five RIR communities and will be submitted to the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) by 15 January 2015.
***(16 April 2015 - AFRINIC Board has appointed Janvier Ngnoulaye to replace Alan Barrett on the CRISP team, consequent to Alan Barrett's appointment as the AFRINIC Chief Executive Officer)
More information about the CRISP Team.
Survey
AFRNIC is seeking community input on the IANA Stewardship Transition to assist in the development of a proposal from the AFRINIC region that will be consolidated into the joint Number community’s contribution. We encourage you to complete this short survey, which will take you less than five minutes of your time.
Please click here to complete the survey |English|French|
Please click here to see the results of the survey.
Important dates
14 March 2014: NTIA announces intention to transition IANA oversight
23-24 April 2014: NETmundial Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance held; multistakeholder document published.
8 May 2014: Deadline for community feedback regarding NTIA’s oversight transition intentions.
25 May – 6 June 2014: AIS’14/AFRINIC 20 Public Policy Meeting; IANA Oversight Transition Workshop held to inform the community and to gather input on a way forward
22-26 June 2014: ICANN 50, London. Community consultations.
26 June 2014: Deadline for submission of names to serve on the IANA Oversight Transition Coordination Group; the five RIRs will select two representatives and the Address Supporting Organization (ASO) will select one representative to serve in this group.
10-12 July 2014: African Internet Governance Forum (AfIGF), Nigeria; community consultations.
6-8 August 2014: West African Internet Governance Forum (WAIGF), The Gambia; community consultations.
1-5 September 2014: Global IGF, Istanbul; community consultations.
12-16 October 2014: ICANN 51, L.A. USA; community consultations.
22-28 November 2014: AFRINIC-21, Mauritius; community consultations
15 January 2015: Proposal compiled from all five RIR proposals to be submitted. Read the proposal.
8-12 February 2015: ICANN 52, Singapore.
24 May - 5 June 2015: AFRINIC-22/AIS’15
21-25 June 2015: ICANN 53 in Buenos Aires, Argentina
30 September 2015: NTIA-ICANN contract expires.
Timeline of events and deadlines:
Click to enlarge.
Read background information about the IANA Oversight Transition here.