1999-03-04 - REGISTRAR ACCREDITATION POLICY

WHEREAS, the Corporation was formed to serve as that not-for-profit corporation;

WHEREAS, on October 6, 1998 the U.S. Government and Network Solutions, Inc. ("NSI"), entered into Amendment 11 to their Cooperative Agreement No. NCR-921874, attached as Exhibit C hereto, which provides means to introduce robust competition in the provision of registrar services within the .com, .net, and .org top-level DNS domains, for which NSI now acts as the registry administrator;

WHEREAS, Amendment 11 ascribed to the not-for-profit corporation (which it referred to as "NewCo") the responsibility for accrediting registrars for the .com, .net, and .org top-level DNS domains;

WHEREAS, on November 25, 1998, the U.S. Government and the Corporation entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, attached as Exhibit D hereto, by which they are collaboratively designing, developing, and testing the mechanisms, methods, and procedures that should be in place and the steps necessary to transition DNS management functions to the private sector;

WHEREAS, on February 26, 1999, the U.S. Government formally recognized ICANN as the "NewCo" identified in Amendment 11 of the Cooperative Agreement for the purposes of carrying out the functions and activities ascribed to "NewCo" in that Amendment;

WHEREAS, on February 8, 1999, proposals for registrar-accreditation policies ("Draft Guidelines for Accreditation of Internet Domain Name Registrars"), attached hereto as Exhibit E, were posted on the Corporation's website, providing public notice explaining what policies are being considered for adoption and why;

WHEREAS, through the Corporation's website and otherwise, parties have been provided a reasonable opportunity to comment on the adoption of the proposed policies, to see the comments of others, and to reply to those comments;

WHEREAS, on March 3, 1999, the Corporation held a public forum at which the proposed policies were discussed; and

WHEREAS, over fifty written and oral comments on the registrar-accreditation proposals have been presented to and considered by the Board;

THEREFORE IT IS NOW RESOLVED [resolution 99.15] that the Corporation accepts the U.S. Government's recognition of the Corporation as "NewCo" under Amendment 11 to Cooperative Agreement No. NCR-9218742 and the responsibility for carrying out the functions and activities ascribed to "NewCo" under that Amendment, including the responsibility for accrediting registrars for the .com, .net, and .org top-level domains;

FURTHER RESOLVED [resolution 99.16] that the Corporation adopts the policies stated in the attached Statement of Registrar Accreditation Policy, which policies shall apply to the Corporation's accreditation of registrars for .com, .net, and .org top-level domains;

FURTHER RESOLVED [resolution 99.17] that the Corporation's Interim President and CEO is authorized and directed to take measures he determines are appropriate to implement a program for accreditation of registrars for .com, .net, and .org top-level domains, provided such measures are consistent with the Statement of Registrar Accreditation Policy; and

FURTHER RESOLVED [resolution 99.18] that, without limiting the authority of the Interim President and CEO to implement the Statement of Registrar Accreditation Policy in a manner he determines appropriate, the Board approves the Registrar Accreditation Agreement and Supplemental Testbed Participation Agreement presented to the Board at its March 4, 1999 meeting, as consistent with the Statement of Registrar Accreditation Policy.