ICANN's Major Agreements and Related Reports (Posted 22 July 2000)

ICANN operates in large part by entering into agreements with various other parties involved in the operation of the Internet. These agreements fall generally into two categories: Transisiton Agreements and Implementation Agreements.

Transition Agreements

In its 5 June 1998 "Statement of Policy, Management of Internet Names and Addresses," 63 Fed. Reg. 31741(1998) (commonly known as the White Paper), the United States Government declared its willingness to recognize a new, not-for-profit corporation formed by private sector Internet stakeholders to administer policy for the Internet name and address system. The White Paper envisioned a transition process during which the not-for-profit corporation would enter various agreements to facilitate ending the United States Government's role in the Internet number and name address system in a manner that ensures the stability of the Internet. These agreements are as follows:

• Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Between ICANN and U.S. Department of Commerce (25 November 1998) (sometimes known as the "Joint Project Agreement").

There have been two amendments to this memorandum:

• Amendment 1 to ICANN/DOC MOU (10 November 1999)
• Amendment 2 to ICANN/DOC MOU (September 2000)

ICANN has submitted two status reports to the Department of Commerce under this memorandum:

• Status Report to the U.S. Department of Commerce (15 June 1999).
• Second Status Report Under ICANN/US Government Memorandum of Understanding (30 June 2000).
  
• USC/ICANN Transition Agreement (December 1998).
• ICANN/U.S. Government Contract for the IANA Function (9 February 2000).
  • Modification 0001 to ICANN/U.S. Government Contract for the IANA Function (6 September 2000)
• Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the United States Government.
  • Amendment 1 to CRADA (September 2000).

Implementation Agreements

Policies adopted through the ICANN process are implemented by agreement of entities involved in the operation of the Internet. In some cases, this agreement occurs after the policy is adopted; in other cases the implementation is pre-arranged through written agreements. Some of those agreements are:

• IETF/ICANN Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Technical Work of the IANA (1 March 2000). Under this memorandum, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has appointed ICANN to perform a set of functions (known as the "IANA functions") involving assignment of protocol parameters used in IETF standards.
• Registrar Accreditation Agreement (between ICANN and .com, .net, and .org registrars). The current version of this agreement has been used since 10 November 1999; over 100 such agreements have been entered.
• Agreements Among ICANN, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Network Solutions, Inc. (November 10, 1999). These agreements concern the operation of the .com, .net, and .org registry and registrars.