BRUSSELS – The effective technical coordination and management of the Internet’s domain name and addressing systems, which is ICANN’s core mission, is a crucial element for the stability and growth of the Internet and hence for Europe’s e-communications providers and the global business community. As the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) between ICANN and the US Department of Commerce comes to an end, ETNO, EuroISPA and GSMA Europe - representing Europe’s leading e-communications providers - strongly call on the EU to ensure that the privatesector
led multi-stakeholder model on which ICANN is built is preserved and enforced, as a key factor of Internet’s success.

Significant progress has been achieved as regards the involvement of governments in ICANN’s Policy Development Process. The Government Advisory Committee (GAC) has improved its ability to produce principles and policy advice in a timely and coordinated manner, along with its
interaction with the other ICANN governance entities.

Certainly there is room for more and better governmental involvement, particularly through increased and meaningful participation in the existing mechanisms.

The accountability of ICANN to its entire stakeholder community is the cornerstone of its transition to a fully independent and privatised international organisation in its own right for the benefit of global stakeholders. An oversight function of ICANN by governments only, as implied in the European Commission’s recent communication “Internet Governance: the next steps”1, or an intergovernmental body, would contradict the goal to move ICANN responsibilities to the private sector and would not appropriately take into account all stakeholders.

Considering the significant impact of Internet on the world economy as well as on our everyday lives and businesses, Europe’s e-communications providers strongly believe that the only way forward is for ICANN to be accountable to all its stakeholders and that all stakeholders must equally be involved in the definition and implementation of public policies, as also strongly
expressed by the World Summit on Information Society.