NTIA’s Seventh Quarterly Report on the Transition of the Stewardship of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Functions

On March 10, 2016, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) delivered to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration the Internet multistakeholder community’s proposal to transition the U.S. Government’s stewardship role for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Upon receiving the proposal, NTIA worked with U.S. Government agencies to review the proposal and ensure that it met the criteria outlined by NTIA in March 2014. On June 9, 2016, NTIA announced that the proposal met its criteria. Specifically, NTIA found that the proposal has broad community support and:

• Supports and enhances the multistakeholder model;
• Maintains the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet Domain Name System (DNS);
• Meets the needs and expectations of the global customers;
• Maintains the openness of the Internet; and
• Does not replace NTIA’s role with a government-led or intergovernmental organization solution.

NTIA also evaluated the proposal against relevant portions of an internal control framework, as recommended by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 4 and found that the proposal adheres to internal control principles. In addition, a panel of corporate governance experts reviewed the ICANN accountability enhancements and concluded that the plan is consistent with sound principles of good governance.