European Commission OKs Domain Proposal

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July 29, 1998 (1:51 PM EDT)

By Andrew Craig,

The European Commission said Wednesday the United States government has answered its concerns about proposals for the future of Internet domain-name management.

The European Commission, Europe's governing body, said Wednesday that it welcomes the U.S. government's latest proposals, set out in its white paper published in June. The commission was strongly critical of the first set of proposals -- the green paper -- when it was published in January.

"The U.S. government has acknowledged many of the concerns and criticisms voiced in the [European Union] reply," to the green paper, the commission said in a statement.

The commission said it will now continue to encourage the private sector in Europe to work quickly to define the membership and role of the new nonprofit corporation proposed in the white paper to take over the management of Internet domain names from the U.S. government Sept. 30.

"The question of the membership and structure of the new corporation should be addressed with the utmost urgency," the commission said.

However, while the commission said the timetable for creating the new corporation appears extremely tight, it said it wants to help the Internet community to find consensus to create new top-level domain names -- to take the pressure off the heavily subscribed .com domain -- as soon as possible.

Internet-community members met in the United States earlier this month and in Geneva last week to find consensus on the role of the new corporation.

A third meeting will be held in Singapore in August. The commission said an additional meeting will be held to discuss the relationship between those responsible for the development of the use of the Internet in each European Union country and the new corporation.

The commission formally voted to oppose the green paper in February, saying the proposals "appear not to recognize the need to implement an international approach." But the commission said Wednesday it welcomed the white paper's proposal that the new corporation should have a "balanced internationally constituted membership and board."

Although the commission and the 15 European Union member countries won't play a regulatory role in the private-sector corporation, they should recognize the growing importance of their roles as Internet users, the commission said.

"The main official input from the publicat authorities to the long-term Internet-management structures will be in their capacities as major users of the Internet and providers of information and services to the public," it said.