ICANN|ARCHIVES

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Communiqué of the
Country Code Top Level Domain Managers
meeting in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Introduction

A meeting was held of organisations and persons responsible for administration of 54 country-code top level domains (ccTLDs) in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil between the 23rd and 25th of March, 2003.

The group expresses its appreciation for the co-ordination conducted by the local organisers and WWTLD secretariat, and recognises the invaluable support offered by the meeting's sponsors.

Country Code Name Supporting Organisation

The primary topic of discussion was the formation of a formal constituency, the "ccNSO", within the ICANN framework. This organisation would be designed as a forum to agree views of ccTLD managers and to act as the central vehicle for developing policy and best practice that is applicable on a global level.

During the discussion, the group received insightful and informed comment from members of the ccNSO Assistance Group, tasked with assisting the ICANN's Evolution and Reform Committee in implementing the ICANN reform blueprint, as well as from the ERC – the body responsible for the organisational restructuring of ICANN.

The view of the ccTLDs was positive toward the formation of the ccNSO. It was agreed that it would be the only appropriate forum in which to develop policies concerning ccTLD administration. There was a broad range of opinions on some of the implementation details of the proposal, such as the organisation's narrow scope, voting procedures, and problems of binding policy. However there is a strong will to resolve these outstanding issues.

ccTLDs reiterated their view that any global policy role for the ccNSO or ICANN is very limited in scope, and the majority of policies are matters of local concern. Also, it was considered that when policy is developed and proposed to the board, the policy may only be approved or returned to ccNSO for further revision. The ccTLDs are encouraged that these fundamental principles are now widely acknowledged by those involved in the process.

The meeting agreed principles for a response to the ICANN Evolution and Reform Committee on the view of the country code managers in attendance. The resolutions are attached and are published on the WWTLD website, www.wwtld.org.

Much work on the ccNSO has been performed by the members of the ccNSO Assistance Group, which was tasked with balancing the desires of ccTLDs and other interest groups in defining the role of the organisation. The Assistance Group has worked to develop suitable solutions, and the ccTLDs recognise and commend their effort.

Update on ccTLD management discussions outside ICANN

A forum was held in March 2003 to discuss global ccTLD governance issues in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting took time to reflect on the matters that were discussed in that forum, with reports on experiences by both ccTLDs present, and from the ITU.

Informative insight was also presented on this topic, as well as the upcoming World Summit for the Information Society, by members of the GAC, the business constituency and the ISP constituency that the ccTLDs found very helpful. It was believed important that discussion with parties involved in the WSIS was important, and that they be encouraged to engage with the ICANN arena on DNS related matter.

Liaison with the Governmental Advisory Committee

The group continued a tradition of dialogue with the GAC by holding a brief session of discussion. ccTLDs illustrated some of the key defining issues that concern them regarding the interrelationships between domain name management and government.

The GAC advised that as part of its work programme, a dedicated ccTLD Work Group was to be constructed to analyse pertinent issues. ccTLDs welcome this positive step and continues to express its desire to work more closely with the GAC in exploring issues of common concern.

Appraising the GAC Principles

As a group, a session was held to analyse the GAC principles with a view to identifying their impact on ccTLD management. We look forward to working with the GAC in reappraising these principles in the future.

Internationalised Domain Names

An informative session was held within the group, with useful summaries from JET, CDNC, NORID and the ICANN IDN Committee on their work on implementing the recently standardised IDN specification. The ccTLD IDN taskforce summarised the current state of IDN deployment and encouraged further work on this area by the community.

As the Internet is becoming increasingly internationalised, many ccTLDs are ever more required to consider IDNs in the interest of serving the needs of the respective local Internet communities. However, we recognise that the implementation of IDNs require some coordination in order to ensure interoperability.

ccTLDs strongly feel that IDN related issues represent an ideal opportunity to work on best practice within the ccTLD community, and to obtain the necessary consensus on this matter. We note there is a discussion paper on this subject, and we feel that binding policy is not appropriate for any ccTLDs. We are willing to continue with hard work already done in the ccTLD community, that will lead to appropriate best practices.

The IANA function

The group spent time considering the questions and challenges in defining the IANA function. The IANA function, as it pertains to ccTLDs, should be a neutral technical function that accepts changes from recognised ccTLD managers, and reflects those changes in the official database of ccTLDs and communicates them to the DNS root zone.

The group decided to assist in the development of technical specifications for the operation of the IANA service, from wherever that service may come.

A draft operating policy formulated by an ad-hoc committee addressing IANA's zone transfer requirement, and consequently ccTLD name server change procedures, was received by the group. Concerns were expressed that the proposed policy was incomplete, and left areas open to interpretation. The ccTLDs agreed to formulate a response to the draft.

Other points of interest

The ccTLDs once again had a useful liaison with the At-Large Advisory Committee, and thank that group for taking the time to share their perspective with us.

A presentation by Bill Manning encouraged ccTLDs be involved in an operational test-bed on deployment new technologies like IPv6 and DNSSEC, and the group considered this a positive step that many would like to be involved in.

The Polish registry gave a presentation on their experiences deploying an ENUM test-bed within their country, which complemented the first ICANN public forum on ENUM.

Acknowledgement and Thanks

The group extends its thanks to the outgoing secretariat who for almost two years have provided an essential service in organising the meeting of the ccTLDs at ICANN, as well as coordinating training and other auxiliary meetings. Specifically, sincere thanks are expressed to Dr Byung-Kyu Kim, Dr Abhisak Chulya, Eric Akumiah, Albert Wang, and Seung Yeon Yoo.

The meeting was very informative, with constructive and thoughtful presentations throughout the three days. The group thanks all presenters and speakers for their contribution toward this.

The meeting finally thanked the sponsors of the meeting, and those involved drafting documents and chairing sessions within the group.

ccTLDs recorded in attendance

ac, au, bf, br, bv, bz, ca, cc, ch, cl, cn, cu, cx, cz, de, es, fr, gg, gr, hn, io, je, jp, ke, kr, kt, ly, ml, mu, mv, mw, my, na, nl, no, nz, pa, pe, pl, pm, py, re, se, sg, sh, sj, tg, tn, tv, tw, uk, us, uy, vi, wf, yt, za.