Council Resolution

of 3 October 2000

on the organisation and management of the Internet

(2000/C 293/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. RECALLING:

- the final declaration of the European Ministerial Conference held in Bonn (6 to 8 July 1997) referring in praticular to the creation of an "internationally recognised and transparent system of management of the domain name system" comprising "adequate European representation",

- the EU-US joint statement on electronic commerce (5 December 1997) emphasising in particular that the role of government was to "provide a consistent and predictable legal framework, ... and to ensure adequate protection of public interest objectives such as privacy, intellectual property rights, prevention of fraud, consumer protection and public safety",

- that greater consideration for public policies and the pursuit of globalisation of the management of Internet addresses and domain names are key objectives for the European Union,

- the importance of the development of electronic commerce, which will require efficient and transparent management of the resources represented by domain names and Internet protocol (IP) addresses, in particular through the deployment of the next generation of addresses using the IPv6 standard.

2. WELCOMES:

- the Commission communication of 11 April 2000 on the organisation and management of the Internet,

- the concerted work already done by the Member States and the Commission in that context and the active involvement of Internet professionals and professionals from Europe's private sector in the setting-up of the Internet corporation for assigned names and numbers (ICANN),

- the fact that ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has authorised account to be taken of public policy goals and has defined a clear and balanced system for country code top-level domain names (ccTLD),

- the work undertaken in the relevant international organisations, notably the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

3. NOTES:

- that a number of significant advances have been made on the management of addresses and domain names, such as the global make-up of ICANN's Board of Directors, generating competition at the level of the registrars, setting up dispute resolution machinery for generic top-level domain names (gTLDs),

- that the reform of Internet management is nonetheless still going through a transitional phase, and consequently the objectives which the European Union has set itself on domain name management cannot be regarded as having been achieved,

- that a number of important issues currently remain unresolved, in particular:

- the nature of, and arrangements for, balanced and equal oversight of some of ICANN's activities by public authorities,

- the rules to govern generic domains, notably database ownership and separation of registries' and registrars' activities,

- the redelegation of certain ccTLDs to another manager at the request of the Government concerned,

- regarding the relationships between the registries established in the Community with their public authorities on the one hand and with ICANN on the other hand,

- the transfer of the management of the root server system from the US Department of Commerce to ICANN, under appropriate international supervision by public authorities,

- that those issues need to be addressed with due regard for both the interests of the international community as a whole and the public policy challenges involved, particularly as regards competition, personal data protection and respect for intellectual property rights.

4. ENCOURAGES:

- the implementation of the principles adopted by the GAC,

- WIPO to continue its work on the recognition of rights and the use of names in the domain name system. Furthermore WIPO is encouraged to develop, for the assistance of ccTLD administrators, voluntary guidelines for practices and policies to curb abusive and bad faith registration of protected names, and resolve related disputes,

- the ITU to continue to take an active part in the international discussions and initiatives on the organisation and management of the Internet, especially on issues related to Internet addresses and protocols.

5. RESOLVES TO INVITE THE MEMBER STATES:

- to consult each other with a view to establishing common European positions on the subject in the international bodies concerned and to securing genuine globalisation of Internet management,

- to take due account of the policy objectives listed by the Commission communication in the Community's policies on the information society and on research and development,

- to implement, in accordance with national provisions, the principles adopted by the GAC on domain name management.

6. RESOLVES TO INSTRUCT THE COMMISSION:

- to encourage the coordination of policies on Internet management, in particular by defining an appropriate framework to organise and structure activities in this area,

- to continue its efforts, in consultation with the Member States, to achieve genuine globalisation of Internet management with due regard for the imperatives of both public policies and international agreements,

- to set up a European network bringing together the scientific, technical and legal skills that currently exist in the Member States with regard to domain name, address and Internet protocol management.