Chehadé 'Confident' ICANN Will Approve IANA Transition, Accountability Plans in Marrakech

ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé said he’s “confident that we will be able to provide” NTIA with final proposed plans for both the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition and a related set of recommended changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms by the conclusion of the nonprofit corporation’s meeting this week in Marrakech, Morocco. The ICANN board is to vote Thursday on both the IANA transition plan and the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability’s (CCWG-Accountability) proposed recommendations. ICANN’s chartering organizations already have unanimously cleared the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group’s IANA transition plan but are still evaluating the CCWG-Accountability’s proposal, which has become intertwined with the IANA transition plan.

ICANN’s approval of the IANA transition documents this week is crucial because failure to send the proposals on to NTIA and Congress would have “repercussions on the global stage,” Chehadé said during a news conference Monday. Many governments have “made it amply clear” they approve of the IANA transition as currently structured, so failure to clear both the CCWG-Accountability and ICG proposals could cause “some recalculations and rethinking” among those governments, Chehadé said. ICANN has been expected to clear the ICG’s IANA transition plan, but until recently the path forward on the CCWG-Accountability’s related proposal was tenuous (see 1603040065).

Three of ICANN’s six chartering organizations approved the CCWG-Accountability proposal before our deadline Monday, while a domain name industry executive told us the Governmental Advisory Committee’s expected Tuesday decision on the proposal remains in doubt. The At-Large Advisory Committee unanimously cleared the CCWG-Accountability proposal Sunday, and the Address Supporting Organization and the Security and Stability Advisory Committee cleared the proposal before ICANN convened in Marrakech. The Country Code Names Supporting Organization and Generic Names Supporting Organization are expected to vote on the CCWG-Accountability proposal Wednesday. The IANA transition and implementation of CCWG-Accountability’s recommendations could still occur without support from all six chartering organizations, but it would be “a real shame” if the proposals move forward without participation of the GAC, Chehadé said Monday. “What we all would like is for the community” to move ahead on the proposals through a full consensus.

The continuing lack of clarity on whether GAC will achieve consensus on the CCWG-Accountability proposal was heightened during a high-level meeting Monday of government representatives, during which representatives from Argentina, Brazil and France were among those raising continued concerns about the status GAC would have if ICANN approves the accountability proposal. Representatives from Canada, Denmark and Sweden strongly defended the CCWG-Accountability proposal. NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling told government representatives at the meeting that a “successful outcome” on the CCWG-Accountability proposal and the IANA transition plan “will serve as a powerful example to the world of the power and capability of the multistakeholder model to solve difficult issues regarding the Internet.” Strickling said CCWG-Accountability has repeatedly “responded to concerns raised in public comments and made adjustments without ever losing sight of the overall goal to provide the community with meaningful governance protections.”

Argentina continues to believe “the role of governments is relevant in the participatory ICANN structure and there should be no limitations for its participation within the ICANN framework," said GAC Vice Chairwoman Olga Cavalli, one of Argentina’s GAC representatives. Argentina was one of the countries that jointly submitted a statement opposing the CCWG-Accountability proposal’s GAC-related recommendations. France is concerned that “states are marginalized” within ICANN under the CCWG-Accountability proposal because it “imposes upon them their rules for decision making, and I believe that this should be improved upon,” said Ambassador-Internet and the Information Society David Martinon, one of France’s GAC representatives. States are also “not recognized at the same level of other stakeholders within the new appeal mechanisms that are available for the community when there are decisions made by the board that states do not agree with.” Brazil supports France’s position and can’t support the CCWG-Accountability proposal “as a whole,” said Ministry of External Relations Department of Scientific and Technological Themes Director Benedicto Fonseca Filho, one of Brazil’s GAC representatives. “To do otherwise would be the equivalent of contradicting positions the Brazilian government has held consistently not only in the context of the transition itself but also in other Internet governance-related international fora and processes.”

Canada believes the CCWG-Accountability proposal “preserves GAC’s prominent role at ICANN to provide high-level public policy advice” to the ICANN board “and recognizes the value” the board “attributes to receiving this consensus-based GAC advice,” said Associate Deputy Minister-Innovation, Science and Economic Development Kelly Gillis. Denmark believes governments “should not participate” in operational decisions at private corporations like ICANN, said Danish Business Authority Director-International ICT Relations Finn Petersen, one of Denmark’s GAC representatives. “As such, the GAC should continue to be an advisory committee. There are now new and significant ways by which the GAC will be able to carry out its influence in the future, and it’s up to us to agree upon the most effective procedures for engaging and giving our advice.” Sweden believes the CCWG-Accountability proposal balances all stakeholder interests, so “no single group has increased their role or can gain more influence at the expense of any other,” said Conny Wahlstrom, state secretary to the Minister for Housing, Urban Development and IT.

Chehadé and ICANN Board Chairman Steve Crocker downplayed the ongoing standoff between ICANN and GOP presidential contender Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, but a domain name industry executive said some discussions during the early part of the Marrakech meeting referenced the controversy. “There’s much less” to the reality of ICANN’s relationship with the Chinese government “than people are making an issue of,” Crocker told reporters Monday. "There are several degrees of separation between matters at ICANN and involvement with the Chinese government." The WIC advisory committee is “not controlled by the Chinese government and it’s intended to facilitate bringing in people from all over the world,” Crocker said. Cruz and two other GOP senators are seeking further information by Friday on ICANN’s ties to China. They began raising concerns in February over Chehadé’s plan to become co-chairman of a high-level advisory committee to the Chinese government-led World Internet Conference (see 1602040061 and 1603030067).

There’s “no problem from our point of view” in Chehadé continuing his involvement with WIC after his retirement from ICANN because there’s “no money involved” in co-chairing the WIC advisory committee, Crocker said. Cruz’s latest letter to ICANN also raised concerns about ICANN’s decision to collocate its Beijing office with the Chinese government’s China Internet Network Information Center registry, which Chehadé said ICANN had always been transparent about. “We do this in many countries” where ICANN has satellite engagement offices to save on costs, though ICANN always pays for its share of rent, Chehadé said. China has “no involvement in our affairs” due to the arrangement, he said.