Communiqué of the Governmental Advisory Committee
(26 June 2002)

Communiqué of the Governmental Advisory Committee
26 June 2002
Bucharest, Romania

The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) met on 24, 25 and 26 June 2002, in Bucharest, Romania. The attending GAC Members, which included representatives from 36 national governments, distinct economies as recognised in international fora and multinational governmental and treaty organisations had useful discussions concerning ICANN and related DNS issues.

Building on its inter-sessional meetings in Brussels and Canberra, and extensive online dialogue, the GAC dedicated much of this meeting to the development of a formal statement on ICANN reform. This conforms with the process communicated to the ICANN Board and community at the Accra meeting. The GAC statement on ICANN reform is attached as an appendix to this communique.

Dialogue with ICANN and the ccTLD Community

The GAC welcomed its participation in the productive joint meeting held with the ccTLD Constituency of 25 June. In alignment with the call from the Evolution and Reform Committee of ICANN for the GAC to participate in a dialogue with ICANN and the ccTLD community, the GAC notes that in this meeting, the GAC and ccTLD community agreed to establish a small group to define segments of the globally diverse family of ccTLDs, including ccTLDs where the administrative contact is based off-shore, with a mind to establishing a number of joint working groups to reflect on what steps might be taken to improve the interactions between ICANN, local governments or public authorities and the ccTLDs.

Process for Release of .INFO Country Names

The GAC discussed implementation aspects of the Board’s resolution regarding .INFO country names. The GAC considers it appropriate that the time limit for the receipt by the GAC of requests from governments and public authorities for the release of their respective country name(s) in .INFO is December 31, 2003, with the possibility of the GAC considering the need for extension to this deadline prior to its expiry. Several members have already moved to request the release of their respective country name(s) in .INFO.

IPv6

Considering the strong demands and the growing interests for IPv6, the GAC strongly encourages ICANN to provide a session to share the status and direction of IPv6 with the Internet community at the upcoming Shanghai meeting.

Consultation Process

For the GAC to perform its role as ICANN advisor, GAC needs to be given adequate time for deliberation and reflections. This includes receiving relevant documents in a timely fashion consistent with generally accepted government practices and procedures, which involves consultation with various levels of government and public authorities. Also, for this consultation to remain effective, there is a need for precise terminology to be used because many Internet terms are not well understood and are subject to interpretation.

The GAC warmly thanks the Government of Romania and the sponsors for hosting its meeting.

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