BRUSSELS (IDG) – Direct democracy is shaping Europe's participation in the new Internet governance system proposed by the U.S. last month as more than 100 representatives of European industry, governments and international associations gathered for a New England-style town meeting.

The purpose of the conference was to set out the basic framework for European industry's participation in the new Internet management system. For this, a new private, nonprofit corporation will be created to take over responsibilities from IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, at the end of September.

Although there were a few dissenters, the vast majority of conference participants backed a two-page position paper which calls for broad and open membership in the future corporation, the creation of new generic top-level domains, the setting up of a dispute settlement procedure in which the World Intellectual Property Organization will have an active role, and open access to all qualified Registrars, among other things.

Between now and the July 21-25 meeting of the Internet Society's INET '98 conference in Geneva, the European Commission wants a panel of yet unnamed European "activists" in this field to flesh out this framework with a view to finalizing it during the Geneva meeting.

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In his closing remarks to the conference, Christopher Wilkinson, the senior Commission official who organized the conference and is responsible for Internet policy, urged participants to come forward to participate in this panel to polish Europe's position over the next two weeks.

"Until now industry has waited for the Commission to send out invitations, but it is now high time for this trend to be reversed," he said.

"Industry has been begging for self-regulation in this field, and now it is our turn to deliver," Douglas Gregory, Public Affairs Executive for IBM Europe told the IDG News Service during a break in the conference.

The conference is part of a process which is intended to lead to a single global industry position which is slowly taking shape. At a July 1-2 meeting U.S. industry discussed the issue in Reston, Va., and from Aug. 12-13, the Asia-Pacific region will prepare its views, Wilkinson said.

Once European industry drafts its common position, considerable work will be necessary to converge it with the positions of the U.S. and Asia Pacific in time for the Sept. 30 deadline when the contracts granting IANA monopoly control over Internet governance expires.

"The simple solution would be to ask for a six-month extension," Wilkinson explained, "but since the current arrangement is less and less acceptable to the private sector, this is not an option."

Although there was a general consensus during today's conference, a vocal minority led by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce insisted to the end that there is no urgent need for an increase in the number of generic top-level domain names.

But the vast majority agreed with Michael Schneider, chairman of the Electronic Commerce Forum representing Germany's Internet service providers, who explained that since top-level domains are overcrowded and since it is impossible to restructure the thousands of second-level domains already created, "we have to supply an alternative."

The main opposition to the creation of top-level domains reflects the concerns that trademark owners will have to register their trademarks in every new domain to protect their trademark rights.

The U.S. White Paper issued on June 5 called for an Interim Board to take over from IANA at the end of September. This Board would be responsible for governing the Internet but would also have the urgent task of launching international consultations for the creation of a legal corporation which would represent definitive solutions.

Elizabeth de Bony writes for the IDG News Service in Brussels.