Brussels, 24/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and all of the member states, in particular France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, are extremely concerned at the lack of progress on the dossier for the allocation of the domain names “.vin” and “.wine” and have called for the allocation procedure to be suspended by Icann, the organisation tasked with allocating internet domain names. They have also spoken out against the pro-American attitude of the organisation, even though the US announced a few months ago that it no longer wishes to play a central role in the activities of the body, but preferred the notion of global governance in the future.
At the last meeting of Icann, which opened in London on Monday 23 June, the commissioner for the digital strategy, Neelie Kroes, and representatives of the French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese governments, jointly made a public statement in favour of suspending the process or seeking a compromise between the parties (European wine producers and candidates for the domain names “.wine” and “.vin”), as the period of three months granted to the parties by Icann to negotiate has expired. In a letter to Icann on 17 June, ahead of the London meeting and with wine producers speaking out against pressure and a process with little transparency (see EUROPE 11103), Commissioner Kroes said that the safeguard measures adopted at the most recent meeting of the governmental consultative committee of Icann in Beijing in April were not sufficient, “because they would still allow persons who are not legitimate rights holders to register second-level domain names under '.wine' and '.vin' and open the door for the potential violations of rights provided for under EU legislation to protect such GIs”. The commissioner also stressed that the interested parties should have enough time to negotiate and find the best solution “without unreasonable deadlines or interference”, with Icann having rejected, in early June, the appeals brought by the governments of the EU and the wine producers. Kroes also argues that Icann's failure to take full account of wider public interest “will undermine confidence in your organisation and in our attempts to preserve and strengthen the current model of Internet governance”. Adding that “the lack of adequate redress mechanisms and, above all, the lack of accountability demonstrate the need for significant reform of Icann”.
France, for its part, is particularly incensed and has spoken out against Icann's blatant bias in favour of the American parties. The French secretary of state for digital affairs, Axelle Lemaire, who represented France in London, has called upon Icann to suspend the procedure until the dispute has been settled at the level of the competent global authorities and has asked for a uniform arbitration dispute process to be set in place, giving wine right holders the right to defend their interests if a third party should hold a domain name in violation of the laws on protecting GIs. If it fails to do so, France “will not hesitate to enter into a phase of disputes to have French and European law upheld”, Lemaire added. Furthermore, if Icann refuses to suspend the procedure, “France will no longer see any point in engaging in the process of reform” of its own governments, “if it (Ed: Icann) shows itself to be unable to reform itself”, she warned. Speaking on behalf of the wine-making sector, which feels somewhat let down by the member states and the European Commission, the Director of Cnaoc (the French national confederation of producers of appellations of controlled origin wines and spirits), Pascal Bobillier Monnot, welcomed France's determination. “French diplomacy is mobilising and we hope that it will succeed in winning over Icann and the United States before the end of the meeting in London and the publication of the final press release”. (IL)