Many people don't have access to facilities to translate non-standard
formats into those suitable for reading, quoting and discussing on a
mailing list, so I have converted the minutes of 5th November into text
as below.  I would propose to the ADNA board that text should be the
standard format for posted Board minutes, or at least should be offered
as an alternative format.

Action 17 is one of the items currently under discussion on this list
regarding proposed new second-level domains.  

Kate Lance



Minutes of Third ADNA Board Meeting -  5 November 97 
Held 2.00 to 5.00 pm at offices of Phillips Fox in Sydney 

Present 
Name                       Representing      Email Address 
1. Directors 
Luke Carruthers (Chairman) Intiaa (IIA)      luke§magna.com.au 
Peter Gerrand (Secretary)  Melbourne IT      ceo§MelbourneIT.com.au 
Mark Hughes (Treasurer)    Tradegate         mark.hughes§ccamatil.com 
Kevin Dinn                 AIA (IIA)         kevin§zip.wm.au 
Peter Cooper               WAIA              comrade§obverse.com.au 

Documents Tabled 
3/1	Agenda 
3/2	Minutes of Board Meeting #2 of 18/8/97 
3/3	Mark Hughes: Commercial Domain Names 
3/4	Kate Lance: ISOC-AU Proposal for changes to ADNA's Articles	 

1. Apologies 
 Michael Malone, Leni Mayo, Ron Cameron 

2. Minutes of Meeting #2 on 18 August (doc. 3/2) and Business Arising
 It was agreed to amend the Minutes by adding the following sentence
 after the first sentence on page 3:

 "A not-for-profit sector was discussed but a conclusion was not reached." 

Moved by Mark Hughes: that the Minutes for the previous Board Meeting,
as amended above, be accepted.
                                                       Carried unanimously 

 Action Points from Previous Meeting: 

 A8: The Treasurer reported that NAB account BSB 082080: 69338-6902 has
 been opened in the name of Australian Domain Name Administration.

 A9: A Working Group meeting on ADNA Structure been held with Kate
 Lance of ISOC-AU on Monday 27 October by teleconference. Following
this discussion, Kate had produced doc. 3.4 which was e-mailed to all
Board Members on 4 November.

 A10: Inputs from AVCC on proposed amendments to ADNA M&A: not yet
 received.

 A11. The Commercial Panel has not yet met, but Mark Hughes circulated
 draft proposals on 22 September on the ADNA Board mailing list.

 A12. Changes to draft Code of Conduct : not yet received

 A13. The foreshadowed Committee meeting did not take place. 

3. Treasurer's Report 

The Treasurer reported that no expenses have been incurred apart from
legal fees to date of $10,200.

Action 14: All fee-paying subscribers are asked to send the Treasurer
cheques for their 1997 subscription ($1,000) and if possible also pay
for their 1998 subscription (also $1,000) in advance.

5. Progress since previous Board meeting (18 August) 

It was noted that the momentum achieved at the August Board meeting had
largely become dissipated in the following week because of the dispute
over the draft Minutes, and the publicising of an unauthorised version
of the draft Minutes on the ADNA website.  It was agreed to accept an
offer from the Internet Industries Association to host the ADNA webpage
on their server.  Action 15: Luke Carruthers to arrange.

It was noted that a meeting with ISOC-AU representative and Director
(Kate Lance) had been held, and that Kate had posted a follow-up
proposal on the evening of this meeting. This document (doc.  3.4) was
then read and discussed at length. The meeting concluded that ADNA and
ISOC were definitely converging in their positions on ADNAs structure
and governance objective, and there is considerable hope for achieving
agreement on a sensible compromise before the next ADNA Board meeting
(in January).

Action 16. It was agreed that the Chairman and Secretary should hold
further meetings with representatives of ISOC-AU, to attempt to reach
agreement on amendments to the ADNA M&A likely to be agreed by both
Boards, such that ISOC-AU would then commit to joining ADNA with the
common objective of making ADNA the sole policy body for the domain
name system under .au.

The meeting agreed that it was important that ADNA makes progress in
areas where policy agreement has already been broadly achieved within
the ADNA Board, particularly on the establishment of 2LDs (Second Level
Domains) to meet legitimate end-user needs, such as tm.au (for names
already trademarked in Australia) and pr.au (for products and services
to be traded within Australia).

Action 17. It was agreed that Mark Hughes would convene a meeting of
the Commercial Sector Panel on Tuesday 18 November from 2 to 5 pm in
Melbourne, to finalise the policy documents on tm.au and pr.au.  Peter
Gerrand's offer to host the meeting at Melbourne IT was accepted. The
Trademark Commissioner (Ross Wilson) will be invited to send a
representative.  

It was noted that ADNA will co-host with the Trademark Commissioner a
half-day public seminar on Domain Names and Trademarks from 9 am to
12.30 pm in Melbourne on 27 November (in Theatre 1, Basement 1, 207
Bouverie St Carlton), and in Sydney on 28 November (at the offices of
Phillips Fox, 255 Elizabeth St). It is planned that the draft policy
documents on tm.au and pr.au produced at ADNAs 18 November Commercial
Sector Panel meeting. Will be input for discussion at the 27&28
November seminars, which will be attended by interested Patent
Attorneys and lawyers, as well as holders and prospective holders of
Australian trademarks.

Other proposals for 2LDs: Peter Gerrand reported that one magazine
publisher had requested a 2LD suitable for magazines and other
publications in Australia, such as pub.au, for which prior registration
of an ISSN within Australia should be a sufficient prerequisite.

The meeting noted that an info.au already exists, and might perhaps be
revamped to suit this need, and as a 2LD for other information
sources.

The meeting noted that some ISPs are likely to register a brief "XX" 3LD
under pr.au and then use this as a de facto 2LD to offer 4LDs to their
own clients - with the down-side that these clients would then be
prevented from changing to another ISP.  It was felt that this is a
Trade Practices matter, and that the proposed Code of Practice for
Registrars (DNAs) should alert Registrars to the need to avoid
potentially illegal practices. A generic rule concerning DN Portability
might be included in the Code, such as:

  A condition of lease of a 2LD or 3LD under .au is that if the licensee
  licenses a subdomain to another party (called the sublicensee), the
  licensee is not permitted to restrict any way the sublicensee from
  delegating (ie implementing) that subdomain with other ISPs.

Progress with gTLD Registrars. Peter Gerrand reported that 84
Registrars appear to have been accepted under the IAHC/POC process, and
are eligible to join the Council of Registrars (CORE), which was due to
meet in Tokyo on 7-8 November (Leni Mayo and Dr Trevor Hales are
attending from Australia, amongst others). The CORE Policy Advisory
Board has recently selected the vendor (Emergent Corporation) to
develop the Shared Registry software, at a cost to CORE of US $1.6M.

Selection of new Registrars (ie 2LD Domain Name Administrators). It was
agreed that selection criteria for new Registrars under .au would be
aligned with those for the gTLD Registrars, unless varied by explicit
agreement of the ADNA Board. The sole exception is that the gTLD
requirement for financial liquidity of US$300,000 would be converted to
a requirement to demonstrate financial liquidity of A$300,000.

It was agreed that ADNA's solicitors would be used to check that
applicants meet the objective criteria set.

It was agreed that a period of 60 days would be allowed for potential
applications to apply to be Registrars for particular 2LDs, following
public advertising of a Request for Proposals.

It was agreed that licences granted to 2LD Registrars would be
non-transferable, without special approval by the ADNA Board.

Monitoring of Registrars performance. It was recognised that ADNA needs
to have a capability (possibly outsourced) to receive, examine and
resolve complaints against registrars, such that only unresolved
disputes  or confirmations of violations of Registrars licence
conditions  need be submitted to the ADNA Board for action.

Action 18: Luke Carruthers to investigate options for outsourcing this
capability (to receive, examine and where possible resolve complaints
against registrars) to ACIF or to the IIA.

Public consultation process. 

Action 19: Peter Gerrand to investigate the public consultation
processes used by ACIF and Standards Australia, for possible adoption
by ADNA when seeking public comment to key policies.

6. Any Other Business 
The actions of a business called Australian Domain Name Registration
Services in passing itself off as the Australian authority for Domain
Names was discussed. It was agreed that any member finding any evidence
of dubious practices of this nature should immediately pass this
information on to the ACCC (via Ron Cameron).

7. Timetable - including Next Meeting 

  18 November 1997  2 pm in Melbourne: Commercial Panel Working Group
  on finalising policies for new 2LDs (tm.au and pr.au):

  27 & 28 November 1997  Trademark Commissioner & ADNAs half-day
  seminars in Melbourne and Sydney respectively (9 am)  used to get
  public response to tm.au and pr.au proposals.

  28 January 1998  ADNA Board Meeting in Melbourne (11 am)  to agree on
  final policies and Selection Criteria for tm.au and pr.au, and
  authorise advertising for applications for Registrars of new 2LDs
  (with 60 day period). Phillips Fox as ADNA solicitors to be used to
  provide preliminary vetting of applications. A Board Committee to be
  established to make final recommendations on the successful
  applications to the Board meeting in April 1998.

  April 1998 Board Meeting (date to be decided in January)  decision on
  new Registrars.  Recommendation to Robert Elz for endorsement.

New Action List 

Action 14: All fee-paying subscribers to send the Treasurer cheques for
their 1997 subscription ($1,000) and if possible also pay for their
1998 subscription (also $1,000) in advance.

Action 15: Luke Carruthers to accept an offer from the Internet
Industries Association to host the ADNA webpage on their server.

Action 16. The Chairman and Secretary to hold further meetings with
representatives of ISOC-AU, to attempt to reach agreement on amendments
to the ADNA M&A likely to be agreed by both Boards, such that ISOC-AU
would then commit to joining ADNA with the common objective of making
ADNA the sole policy body for the domain name system under .au.

Action 17. Mark Hughes to convene a meeting of the Commercial Sector
Panel on Tuesday 18 November from 2 to 5 pm in Melbourne (at Melbourne
IT), to finalise the policy documents on tm.au and pr.au. The Trademark
Commissioner (Ross Wilson) to be invited to send a representative.

Action 18: Luke Carruthers to investigate options for outsourcing the
capability to receive, examine and where possible resolve complaints
against registrars, to ACIF or to the IIA.  

Action 19: Peter Gerrand to investigate the public consultation
processes used by ACIF and Standards Australia, for possible adoption
by ADNA when seeking public comment to key policies.

[END]