RESOLUTION  PLEN/5 (Marrakesh, 2002)

Role of administrations of Member States in the management
of internationalized (multilingual) domain names

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (Marrakesh, 2002),

bearing in mind

Resolution 102 (Rev. Marrakesh, 2002) of this conference regarding the management of Internet domain names and addresses,

aware

a)      of the rapid developments towards the convergence of telecommunications and the Internet;

b)      that Internet users are generally more comfortable reading or browsing through texts in their own language,

c)       that there are challenges of intellectual property associated with the use of internationalized domain names and addresses;

noting

a)      that it is estimated that in the coming years the majority of Internet users will prefer to conduct online activities in their own language;

b)      that the current domain name system mapping does not reflect the growing language needs of all users,

emphasizing

a)      that the future management of the registration and allocation of Internet domain names and addresses must fully reflect the geographical and functional nature of the Internet, taking into account an equitable balance of interests of all stakeholders, in particular of administrations, businesses and consumers;

b)      that Internet domain names and addresses, and more generally the Internet and global information networks, must be widely accessible to all citizens without regard to gender, race, religion or country of residence;

c)       that the methods of allocation of Internet domain names and addresses should not privilege any country or region of the world to the detriment of others;

d)      that the management of the Internet domain names and addresses are a subject of concern for both governments and the private sector;

e)       the need for ITU to assist its Member States to promote the use of their languages for domain names and addresses,

recognizing

a)      the existing role and sovereignty of ITU Member States with respect to allocation and management of their respective country code numbering resources;

b)      the role of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in guarding against misuse of intellectual property rights in the use of Member States' languages for domain names and addresses;

c)       that ITU enjoys close cooperation with WIPO,

resolves to instruct the Secretary-General

1        to take an active part in all international discussions and initiatives on the management of Internet domain names and addresses;

2        to take any necessary action to ensure the sovereignty of ITU Member States with regard to country code numbering plans and addresses will be fully maintained, as enshrined in Recommendation E.164 of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector, in whatever application they are used;

3        to promote effectively the role of Member States in the internationalization of domain names and address of their respective languages;

4        to report annually to the Council on the activities undertaken on this subject;

5        to bring this resolution to the attention of WIPO, stressing the concerns and requests for assistance of Member States with regard to internationalized (multilingual) domain names and addresses,

instructs the Council

to take appropriate measures in order to support the above-mentioned international discussions and initiatives,

invites Member States

1        to participate actively, as far as possible, in the various international discussions on this matter, and to relay their views to the Secretary-General in regard to this work;