Fifth Draft Articles and Bylaws

[Roberto Gaetano <Roberto.Gaetano@etsi.fr>]

ETSI, the European Telecommunication Standards Institute, strongly supports
the fifth version of the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

We appreciate the progress made from the previous iteration, for instance in
the definitive exclusion of the "Delaware option" and the better language of
the Article 4, and we noted with satisfaction that most of our comments,
that were not submitted individually but incorporated in the common document
of the EU Panel of Participants, have been retained.

Nevertheless, let us point out two items where we feel necessary to express
a slightly different position.

Articles of Incorporation - Article 1
We are in favour of keeping the name "IANA" for the new Corporation.
While we understand that the adoption of a different name will be a formal
sign of the deep modification process that IANA is undergoing, we believe
that to keep the current name will mark an even more important point, that
is the fact that the current process is rather an evolution that addresses
the need of continuity of operation rather than a revolution that may lead
to abrupt changes in the level of service ensured so far.

Bylaws - Article 5 Section 6
While we understand the difficulties in trying to find good geographic
balance without defining too restrictive conditions on the composition of
the Board, we find that a 1/3 limit in the provenance from a Geographic
Region would ensure a better representation of the interests of all Regions.
Our belief is reinforced by the reading of the Indroduction to the Fifth
Draft, where we understand that the position expressed by one single region
has been adopted, while admittedly comments fom the other four Regions
expressed a different view.

While we hope that there will still the possibility of taking corrective
actions on the two item detailed above, let us reiterate our global
satisfaction for this Fifth Iteration.

We also share the feeling, expressed in the introduction to the Fifth
Iteration, that time and energy should now be dedicated to the next steps,
like the development of Supporting Organizations and Councils.

We, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute and its 600+
members, are ready to take our share of the workload to participate in
building the future shape of the Internet.