ICANN Announcements – 12 March 2009

A public comment period opens today on the draft Implementation Plan for Improving Institutional Confidence [PDF, 332K] produced by the President’s Strategy Committee and submitted to the Board of Directors.

To allow for comprehensive community analysis, this comment period will run for 60 days, finishing on 11 May, 2009.

The draft report recommendations include:

– To maintain ICANN’s headquarters in the United States
– To review whether an additional legal presence outside the United States would be advantageous to the organization
– To strengthen government involvement in ICANN and work with the Governmental Advisory Committee to facilitate effective consideration of its advice
– To improve the summary and analysis of public comments
– To set up a committee of independent experts to propose further Board accountability mechanisms

The report includes an appendix of detailed legal analysis on the implications of establishing additional legal presences.