BRUSSELS - European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes warmly welcomed the announcement of the United States Government to "transition out of the IANA function", which will allow a more global multi-stakeholder basis for an important element of governance of the Internet.

"This is an historical step in making Internet governance truly global, and marks major progress towards the development of a multi-stakeholder model as advocated in the Commission's recent Communication" Vice-President Kroes said.

According to the Commission, until now the United States has had the final say in changes to globally used data on top-level Internet domain names, such as .com or .de. The Commission has been pushing for such a move since 2009 and, most recently in its Communication on Internet Policy and Governance of February 12, 2014, called for the globalization of the IANA functions.

The Commission's Communication – like the US announcement – stresses the need to safeguard in the globalization process the security and stability of the Internet, and commits to the multi-stakeholder model of governance.

"It is a very timely announcement, ahead of an important multi-stakeholder conference in São Paulo on Internet governance principles and the future evolution of the governance ecosystem" added Vice President Kroes. "The European Commission will work together with the US and with all global stakeholders to implement the globalization of the IANA functions in a process that is accountable and transparent, and in a manner that secures the open Internet and that will underpin human rights."