Nominet members vote in favour of all proposed changes at Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). Public purpose formalised in registry's constitution.

25/02/2010

Members of Nominet, the national registry for .uk domain names, have voted to change the organisation's constitution in a defining moment for the UK domain market and the UK Internet industry.  Each of the proposed changes was supported by over 90% of the member votes cast.  Full details of how the votes were cast can be read here. The announcement of these results follows voting at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), held in London yesterday.

The amended constitution encapsulates Nominet's public purpose, ensuring that the board takes all stakeholders' views into account when developing policy and making business decisions.  This will ensure that:

• Nominet conducts its business for the public benefit
• Nominet has a well balanced board that is able to make good business decisions for the public purpose
• The Nominet board has the ability to set prices for registrations and renewals
• Nominet will work with its members to find a way for other stakeholders to have a voice in business decisions and policy development.  

The proposals were developed following an independent governance review in 2009.

The vote was cast against the backdrop of the Government's Digital Economy Bill, which includes reserve powers to regulate the UK domain name industry. In advance of the EGM, the Government made it clear that if members voted in favour of the proposals then there would be no need for Government intervention and Nominet would remain a beacon of self-regulation.

Of the results, Lesley Cowley, Nominet's Chief Executive states: "We believe that Nominet's members have now proven their commitment to considering the needs of all stakeholders by reaffirming our public purpose, and ensuring that we are governed according to best practices. By implementing in full all of the measures that respond to the Government's concerns, we hope to be able to demonstrate that the reserve powers will not be necessary."

"This vote is a defining moment for the UK domain market, the UK Internet landscape and for Nominet. Our members have demonstrated that we are committed to a self regulated .uk domain space that takes into account the views of all stakeholders."

"Today's outcome is the result of over 18 month's work to engage with our members and we would like to thank them for their participation in shaping the final set of proposals and for achieving the strongest ever voting turnout we have seen."

History of the Governance Review Process

You can read the background to Nominet's governance review at http://www.nominet.org.uk/governance/review

Notes to Editors

About Nominet

Nominet operates at the heart of e-commerce in the UK, running one of the world’s largest Internet registries and managing over eight  million domain names. Nominet maintains the register of .uk domain names and runs the DNS infrastructure that keeps .uk working.

It runs the technology that locates a computer in the Internet hosting the web site or email system you’re looking for when you type in a web address or send an email to an address that ends in .uk.

Nominet is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee that has members not shareholders, pays no dividends and its charges only cover its running costs. Anyone with an interest in the Internet may become a member. Nominet has over 2,800 members representing all areas of the Internet industry.

Nominet also runs the Tier 1 registry for UK ENUM, a service that combines telephone numbers and the Domain Name System to simplify the way telephone calls over the Internet work.  ENUM lets callers know that you have the capability to receive VoIP calls, so allowing them to take advantage of free calls over the Internet.

For further information please contact:
Gemma Griffiths / Blaise Hammond / Lucie Smith at Racepoint Group UK

Tel: 020 8752 3205 / 3203 / 2271
Email: nominetuk@racepointgroup.co.uk     

An archive of press releases is available for 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.