Nominet is running a consultation that is giving those interested in the future of .UK the opportunity to have their say about potential changes to the self-regulation model of the domain name industry in the UK.
Nominet wants to hear opinions about the recommendations made by Professor Garratt and Mutuo on their recent independent governance review. Nominet says now is the time to act to ensure that self-regulation continues and to avoid the potential increased costs, slower pace of change and possible fines for non-compliance that could become a part of everyday life if the industry were to be regulated.
Comments can also be given on the recommendations from Professor Garrattâs report on the specific issues about Nominetâs governance that caused the approach from BERR in the first place.
In his independent corporate governance review of Nominet, Professor Bob Garratt concludes that Nominet’s membership needs to self-regulate effectively in a number of key areas, and that if that does not happen, it could result in government intervention in their affairs and external regulation being imposed.
So now it is up to the Nominet membership to resolve these issues and the board believes it is in everyone’s interests to do so. Government regulates industries, rather than companies and therefore regulation of Nominet means regulation of the UK domain name industry as a whole. This would have serious consequences for every business in the UK internet sector and result in fundamental changes to the ways in which we work.
The Government has not indicated exactly what form regulation would take if it felt the need to intervene. Therefore the consequences of not updating the self-regulation model are not entirely known but here are a few possible consequences:
- the costs involved in working in the industry may rise, to meet the demands of compliance and reporting
- fines could be imposed for registrars failing to comply with agreed standards of customer service as a result of accreditation
- the industry could lose influence in the setting of policy that may result in more costly implementations in serving your customers
- there may be a more restrictive environment for companies in terms of expanding services, entering new markets, adopting and developing new technologies
- the pace of change within the whole industry, the development of new tools and systems may slow considerably as decision-making process becomes more complex and laborious.
However, Nominet believes if they can show that they are addressing the concerns, moving forward, and demonstrating a healthy self-regulation model, then the UK domain name industry will be better placed to continue without Government intervention.
Nominet has a questionnaire that they ask for âfull and frank answersâ to the questions asked either directly by email to governancereview@nominet.org.uk, by completing their online questionnaire. There are also four open meetings being held in Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and London as well as a discussion at the Nominet AGM on July 8.
To register for one of the four open meetings, go to:
www.nominet.org.uk/about/events/governanceconsultation2009.
For more information on the governance review including the Professor Bob Garrett governance review and the Mutuo report, go to:
www.nominet.org.uk/governance/review.
The online questionnaire is available at:
www.nominet.org.uk/about/consultations/shapethefuture.
To register your .UK domain name, check out Europe Registry here.