The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was established in 1998. It forms part and is charged with the oversight, of a network of bodies, entities and organisations (some of which predate ICANN) that are involved, or play a role, in the management of arrangements designed to allow the global internet system of unique identifiers to function properly. ICANN is a not-for-profit corporation under the laws of California. At the time of the study in 2002 ICANN was undergoing reform with radical and fast changes.

Organisation and Methodology

The study was subject to a service contract (n° IS 02/70377) with the DG Information Society of the European Commission to elaborate a study analysing the role, competence and structure of ICANN, its possible evolution and the international framework related to the present and future management of the Internet. The report on the research findings has been delivered to the contracting DG and is property of the European Commission.

The College of Europe contracted a team of junior and senior experts, all closely involved in the development of Internet and its international co-ordination. They focussed on defining the interests of Europe’s Internet community in the future system of international governance of the Internet. The time frame for the project was 32 weeks.

The Study

The study consists of 3 research paths and common conclusions. Three chapters describe the political situation, provide an economic and technical analysis of the governance system and assess the procedures from a legal perspective.

Part 1: Main political research questions

• Perceived weaknesses and reasons for reform

• Views of the stakeholders on the processes, decision taking etc

• Changes in the structure and processes since reform began

• Stakeholders views on ICANN after the reform

On the basis of publicly available material (such as the ICANN web site, commission papers and the reform proposal) and through interviews with key parties, a description was made of the “as is” situation of ICANN and its direct environment (main bodies, entities and organisations that are involved and play a role in the management of the global Internet system of unique identifiers), followed by analysis of ICANN’s status, its mission, functioning and decision-making process.

Part 2: Economic and technical analysis of the various components

A presentation of the system of backbones and its relationship with the domain name system is presented together with a description of some of the attempts to map the Internet. Special attention is focused on the economics of the backbone market, on the reasons for the existence of “peering” contracts and on the risk of monopolisation of that market. Most of the research consisted of an analysis of the existing literature on the infrastructure of the Internet. Interviews were conducted to validate the conclusions that were reached.

Part 3: Legal aspects of ICANN

The objectives were three-fold:

• Analysis the contractual relationship between ICANN and the US Agencies on the one hand, and ICANN and key stakeholders on the other hand
• Assessment of ICANN public policy functions, including the standardization function
• Analysis of ICANN practices in light of principles of existing international codes and EC policies

In its conclusions the study addresses the question of how representative, accountable and transparent ICANN is after the reform process and how its relations in these respects with key stakeholders are organised to come to conclusions and policy recommendations.