120 DAYS NOTICE and other Limitations to ICANN’s Power

Abstract. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers [ICANN] has been established to assume responsibility for the Internet Protocol [IP] address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system [DNS] management and root server system [RSS] management functions. The paper deals with the legal nature of ICANN, the questions of ICANN’s legitimacy and international public law aspects of Internet Governance. Further, the paper discusses certain contractual and de facto limitations to ICANN’s power. The paper particularly tries to point out, that ICANN’s decisions go far beyond the sole technical coordination of the core Internet functions. The paper stresses the fact, that the nucleus of Internet Governance – the administration of the root-file – still lies under full control of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Hence, as long as ICANN (and the Internet community) is still fully dependent on the good will of the U.S. administration, ICANN’s rulemaking can only be classified as self-regulation under the control of the U.S. government. The planned structural reform should focus on the next steps to self-regulation. More initiatives may be taken by the EU and its member states