About the IANA stewardship transition

This document is historical and no longer maintained. It is preserved for reference purposes but should not be relied upon for up-to-date information, and should not be considered active.

As of 1 October 2016, the IANA functions are performed by Public Technical Identifiers (PTI). This organization is an affiliate of ICANN, and is staffed by the same people who performed the IANA functions prior directly under ICANN.

The creation of PTI is the result of requirements set by our community, and performance of all of the IANA functions were transitioned to PTI effective 1 October 2016.

In practice, this means for our customers:

  • You continue to come to our website at www.iana.org to perform changes as before. This website is now operated by PTI.

  • The same staff who processed your requests will continue to do so post-transition.

  • The mandatory step of having the US Government approve root zone change requests is being phased out. This should make root zone changes quicker.

  • Some of the oversight mechanisms and reporting of the IANA functions has been migrated to new bodies and reports.

  • Usage of the terminology has been updated to reflect new contractual requirements.

  • A new website has been established for PTI governance information at http://pti.icann.org. This includes the PTI Board of Directors, its committees, bylaws and other documentation.

More information on the development of the transition proposal is at https://www.icann.org/stewardship-accountability

History

ICANN has performed the IANA functions since 1999, and between 2000 and 2016, how they were performed was governed by a contract with he US Government’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

In 2013, the US Government indicated it was interested in ending its contractual oversight role, if it could be replaced with oversight by the broader Internet community. This announcement triggered a multi-year collaboration across the spectrum of community stakeholders that produced a stewardship transition proposal. The proposal contained new approaches for how the IANA functions are to be performed and overseen. The US Government approved this approach and the final IANA functions contract with the US Government lapsed on 30 September 2016.

Published 2016-09-30, last revised 2016-09-30.