Brussels, 02/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has welcomed the American government's decision to grant greater independency to Icann, the company tasked with the management of the Internet, further to the expiry of the memorandum of understanding signed between Icann and the US Department of Commerce on 30 September. Under this memorandum, Icann's decisions were systematically and unilaterally overseen by the US Department of Commerce before they could be approved. Since 1 October, a less binding agreement has taken over. This is known as the "Joint Project Agreement", which will be valid until 2009, with no extension (the previous "memorandum of understanding" had been brought in in 1998 with an extension until 2003). The European Union, which has for years been defending a shared control of the Web and an independent status for the ad hoc body, free from any government interference, is satisfied. At the World Information Society Summit, which was held in November last year in Tunis, the 170 States taking part, led by the European Commission, reached an agreement on Internet control paving the way for more international cooperation. The transfer of the management of the Internet to the private sector had been explicitly defended by the Commission on this occasion (see EUROPE 9069). The new agreement provides for Icann firstly to decide itself on the duties incumbent upon it and how it will manage its activities and, secondly, no longer to have to report to the US Department of Commerce every six months. It will instead provide an annual report for the whole of the international community. Furthermore, the Commission is preparing for the first meeting of the new international forum on Internet governance, which was also set up further to an agreement reached in Tunis last year. This first meeting will take place in Athens from 30 October to 3 November. Its objective will be to create a dialogue between civil society, the industry and non-governmental associations. Commissioner Viviane Reding, who is in charge of the Information Society and the Media, will take part in this meeting.