SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR NTIA RELINQUISHMENT OF 
DNS RESPONSIBILITIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Unless the Assistant Secretary 
submits the certification described in subsection (b) to the 
appropriate congressional committees at least 60 days be-
fore the date described in subsection (c)— 
(1) the Assistant Secretary may not relinquish 
the responsibilities of the NTIA with respect to 
Internet domain name functions, including responsi-
bility with respect to the authoritative root zone file, 
the IANA functions, or the related root zone man-
agement functions; 
(2) if there exists on such date an option to ex-
tend the IANA functions contract, the Assistant 
Secretary shall exercise such option; and 
(3) if there does not exist on such date an op-
tion to extend the IANA functions contract, the As-
sistant Secretary shall seek to enter into a new con-
tract for the performance of the IANA functions 
that meets the requirements of subsection (d). 
(b) CERTIFICATION DESCRIBED.—The certification 
described in this subsection is a written certification that 
the Assistant Secretary has received a proposal for relin-
quishing the responsibilities of the NTIA with respect to 
Internet domain name functions that ensures the fol-
lowing: 
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(1) Control over the management of the Inter-
net domain name system will not be exercised by a 
governmental or intergovernmental body. 
(2) The bylaws of ICANN will be amended to 
provide for the following: 
(A) No director or officer of ICANN will 
be selected by or represent a governmental or 
intergovernmental body. 
(B) ICANN is prohibited from receiving 
advice from the Governmental Advisory Com-
mittee unless such Committee reaches con-
sensus regarding such advice. For purposes of 
the preceding sentence, the term ‘‘consensus’’ 
means general agreement in the absence of any 
formal objection. 
(C) ICANN is committed to upholding 
freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free-
dom of assembly, and freedom of association, 
applying a standard that is at least as protec-
tive of such freedoms as is the First Amend-
ment to the Constitution. 
(D) The term ‘‘supermajority’’ is defined 
for purposes of the bylaws of ICANN to mean, 
with respect to a vote of the board of directors, 
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an affirmative vote by at least four-fifths of all 
directors. 
(E) A change in the bylaws of ICANN will 
require a vote of a supermajority of the board 
of directors. 
(F) A change in the fees that ICANN 
charges for its services will require a vote of a 
supermajority of the board of directors. 
(G) The directors, president, secretary, 
and chief financial officer of ICANN will be 
subject to removal in a vote of confidence by 
the board of directors at least once every 3 
years and will serve no longer than 9 years in 
a single position. 
(H) ICANN will have a simplified, trans-
parent process for selecting its directors under 
which such selections are linked with key stake-
holders in the Internet community. 
(I) ICANN will have an independent proc-
ess (such as the process between ICANN and 
the International Centre for Dispute Resolution 
for independent review of contested actions of 
the board of directors of ICANN and under 
which the Centre serves as a dispute resolution 
service provider for objections to new generic 
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top-level domain expansions) for resolving dis-
putes between ICANN and external parties in 
all matters related to the operations of ICANN. 
(3) ICANN has adopted, if necessary through 
amendment to its bylaws, measures recommended by 
the multistakeholder community to increase the 
transparency of ICANN deliberations and decisions, 
such as providing public access on the Internet to 
meetings of the board of directors and associated 
materials. 
(4) ICANN will adopt policies and procedures 
for disclosing to the public records and other infor-
mation that are at least as protective of public ac-
cess as the policies and procedures required by sec-
tion 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly 
known as the Freedom of Information Act). The 
policies and procedures adopted will include a means 
by which the denial of a request for access to 
records or other information may be appealed 
through the independent dispute resolution process 
described in paragraph (2)(I). 
(5) There will be established a private, non-
profit corporation, to be known as the IANA Consor-
tium, that is financed and managed by the top-level 
domain registries and not by ICANN. 
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(6) The IANA Consortium, and not ICANN, 
will— 
(A) manage the content of the root zones; 
(B) select an entity to carry out the edit-
ing of the root zone files that— 
(i) is separate from the IANA Consor-
tium; and 
(ii) the IANA Consortium is satisfied 
demonstrates technical competence that is 
at least equal to that of VeriSign; and 
(C) oversee the performance of such entity 
in the editing of the root zone files. 
(7) There will be established within ICANN a 
body to be known as the Internet Freedom Panel, 
which shall be composed of representatives of the 
Internet community, including registrars, technology 
groups, and civil society. No member of the Panel 
will be selected by or represent a governmental or 
intergovernmental body. 
(8) The bylaws of ICANN will provide that the 
Internet Freedom Panel will have the power to re-
view and to veto changes to the domain name system 
proposed by ICANN that the Panel considers to 
threaten freedom of expression, the openness, sta-
bility, resiliency, or security of the Internet, respon-
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