Pallone Welcomes Oversight of the IANA Transition and Accountability Proposal Under DOTCOM Act Framework

Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) issued the following statement today as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved its IANA transition and accountability proposal for submission to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Under the proposal, the Internet's multistakeholder community would become the new steward of the IANA functions that are central to the Internet's Domain Name System. The proposal also reconfigures the structure of the ICANN to address ICANN's accountability to the multistakeholder community. The proposal will now go to the NTIA for further review:

“I applaud the efforts of the multistakeholder‎ community in reaching this consensus proposal. I look forward to closely reviewing the proposal and the NTIA's forthcoming report to Congress. Fortunately, the bipartisan DOTCOM Act we negotiated last year and passed through the House already set out the framework for ongoing congressional oversight, and I hope to follow that outline as this process continues.”