All rights reserved. ICC has welcomed the publication of the White Paper and now offers the following Supplementary Commentary from the business perspective in the specific context of the US Government's Revised Policy Statement in the White Paper. For convenience, this Supplementary Commentary follows the format of the Revised Policy Statement in the White Paper. A brief summary of each statement in the White Paper is followed by specific commentary including references, where appropriate, to the relevant principles already outlined in the ICC Policy Statement. The European Union, the US and Japan, for example, have all issued statements 2 supporting such an approach.
Government is fundamental to ensuring continuity and a smooth transfer of operations.
Insofar as such access will be essential to open the existing system to effective competition, it is important that every effort should be made to achieve this access by 30 September 1998 when the existing contracts expire. As the White Paper states, stability also comprises security and reliability. Again, these are clearly key to establishing and maintaining business and general user confidence in the system. ICC obviously supports the view that the new corporation should encourage competition wherever possible and should be oriented to the needs of the market. The underlying policy objective should be to improve the functionality and utility of the DNS for businesses and consumers as a whole, rather than just to increase business opportunities for new registries or registrars.