# IAHC

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{{short description|Internet domain name assignment committee}}
{{for|the fortune 500 company|International Assets Holding Corporation}}

{{Multiple issues|
{{Sources exist|date=November 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2026}} 
}}
Prior to the globalization of the Internet, its assignment of domain names was administered within the research and academic communities through the [Internet Assigned Numbers Authority](/source/Internet_Assigned_Numbers_Authority) ('''IANA''').  As the Internet grew to a global service, in the 1990s, there was increasing pressure to add more "generic" top-level domain names, beyond the initial set, such as .com and .org and the two-letter country codes.  Extensive debate within the Internet operational community did not resolve this.

In late 1996, the '''International Ad Hoc Committee''' ('''IAHC''') was formed, composed of members named by a variety of Internet and International sponsoring organizations. The committee was a temporary, international, multi-organization effort tasked with specifying administrative and management policies for generic top-level domains (gTLDs).<ref>{{cite ietf
|author = International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC)
|title = Draft Specifications for Administration and Management of gTLDs
|draft = draft-iahc-gtldspec-00
|date = December 1996
|url = https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-iahc-gtldspec-00
|publisher = [Internet Engineering Task Force](/source/Internet_Engineering_Task_Force)
}}</ref>

== Sponsoring Organizations ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=24em|
*[Internet Society](/source/Internet_Society) (ISOC)
*[Internet Assigned Numbers Authority](/source/Internet_Assigned_Numbers_Authority) (IANA)
*[Internet Architecture Board](/source/Internet_Architecture_Board) (IAB)
*[Federal Networking Council](/source/Federal_Networking_Council) (FNC)
*[International Telecommunication Union](/source/International_Telecommunication_Union) (ITU)
*[International Trademark Association](/source/International_Trademark_Association) (INTA)
*[World Intellectual Property Organization](/source/World_Intellectual_Property_Organization) (WIPO)
}}

Members of IAHC:
{{columns-list|colwidth=16em|
*Sally Abel
*Dave Crocker
*Perry E. Metzger
*Jun Murai
*Hank Nussbacher
*Robert Shaw
*Donald M. Heath
*Geoff Huston
*George Strawn
*David W. Maher
*Albert Tramposch
*Committee outside counsel was Stuart Levi
}}

== Results ==
The IAHC produced a draft proposal with a number of administrative recommendations, beyond the set of candidate gTLD names.  These included:

* Use of the term generic topic-level domain (gTLD), rather than "international" TLD
* A registrary/registrar model, as currently employed under [ICANN](/source/ICANN)
* A policy for resolution of trademark-related domain name disputes that became the basis for the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) that is currently part of [ICANN](/source/ICANN) policies.
* Notification of name assignments prior to issuance, in case of trademark concerns

The group's work culminated in a "[Memorandum of Understanding](/source/Memorandum_of_understanding)". It describes a procedure of allocation and administration for domain names, specifically [top-level domains](/source/top-level_domains). The "Generic Top Level Domain Memorandum of Understanding" ('''gTLD-MoU''') was open to signature by any organization, with approximately 226 groups doing so.

The organization was dissolved on 1 May 1997. Its effort was subsumed under the authority of [ICANN](/source/ICANN).
When the U.S. government's activities concerning Internet Domain Name administration issued its preliminary "[https://www.ntia.gov/federal-register-notice/improvement-technical-management-internet-names-and-addresses-proposed-rule Green Paper]" in 1998, the efforts of the
IAHC were not referenced.<ref>{{cite web
 |title = Improvement of Technical Management of Internet Names and Addresses; Proposed Rule
 |url = https://www.ntia.gov/federal-register-notice/improvement-technical-management-internet-names-and-addresses-proposed-rule
 |publisher = [National Telecommunications and Information Administration](/source/National_Telecommunications_and_Information_Administration)
 |date = February 20, 1998
 |format = Federal Register
}}</ref>
However, the final "[https://www.ntia.gov/federal-register-notice/statement-policy-management-internet-names-and-addresses White Paper]" gave credit to the IAHC efforts: "The IAHC issued a draft plan in December 1996 that introduced unique and thoughtful concepts for the evolution of DNS administration."<ref>{{cite web
 |title = Statement of Policy on the Management of Internet Names and Addresses
 |url = https://www.ntia.gov/federal-register-notice/statement-policy-management-internet-names-and-addresses
 |publisher = [National Telecommunications and Information Administration](/source/National_Telecommunications_and_Information_Administration)
 |date = June 5, 1998
 |format = Federal Register
}}</ref>
The structure of ICANN, including the UDRP and the registrar/registry construct, was ultimately based on the substance of the proposals in the IAHC gTLD-MoU.

== Proposed TLDs ==
The IAHC proposed seven new top-level domains:

{| align="center" 
|-
||<code>.arts</code>||culture and entertainment
|-
||<code>.firm</code>||businesses
|-
||<code>.info</code>||information services
|-
||<code>.nom</code>||personal nomenclature
|-
||<code>.rec</code>||recreation and entertainment
|-
||<code>.store</code>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||businesses selling goods
|-
||<code>.web</code>||World Wide Web related
|}
The gTLD-MoU interim Policy Oversight Committee replaced <code>.store</code> with <code>.shop</code>.

The IAHC and gTLD-MOU effort did not produce implementation of these names. (The <code>[.info](/source/.info)</code> that now exists came from a later proposal under ICANN.)

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/19971211190034/http://www.gtld-mou.org/ Generic Top Level Domain Memorandum of Understanding] (archive.org cache)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/19980415072030/http://www.gtld-mou.org/docs/iahc-charter.html IAHC Charter] (archive.org cache)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/19980415071855/http://www.gtld-mou.org/draft-iahc-gTLDspec-00.html Draft IAHC Proposal] (archive.org cache)
*[https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-iahc-gtldspec-00.txt Draft IAHC Proposal] (IETF site)
*[https://icannwiki.org/IAHC ICANN IAHC page] (ICANN Wiki site)

Category:Domain Name System
Category:Ad hoc committees
Category:Supraorganizations

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [IAHC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAHC) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAHC?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.