Following is a message I posted on the GNSO Council list, back in November 2006. It rather stroke me that nobody else seemed to notice this back then. Only Marilyn replied, saying: "I believe the initial agreement was called... Joint partnership agreement, but the staff can verify that." > Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 20:44:40 -0800 (PST) > From: Mawaki Chango > Subject: [council] The Joint Project Agreement... that of > 2006! > To: Council GNSO Bruce, Denise, Dan - or whoever can authoritatively help clarify the following: While reading the document titled "Joint Project Agreement Between the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers" signed by John M.R. Kneuer for NTIA and Dr. Paul Twomey for ICANN on September 29, 2006, and retrieved from http://icann.org/general/JPA-29sep06.pdf, I note: The Preamble starts reading: "The U.S. Department of Commerce (Department) has an agreement (the Joint Project Agreement) with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)..." Subsequently, all the section headers make reference to the JPA in these terms: "To strike the Section [...] from the Joint Project Agreement in its entirety" and to substitute or replace, as in I, II and III, and finally in IV, it states: "Except as specifically modified by this document, the terms and conditions of the Joint Project Agreement remain unchanged." My questions are: 1) Is there any Joint Project Agreement other than "this document" as it seems per all the four section headers in the current document? 2) If such other Agreement, complete and comprehensive of all provisions currently executed, exists between the U.S. Department of Commerce and ICANN, is there anywhere it can be found and accessed by the public, or is it meant to remain private? 3) Otherwise, what is being referred to here as a "Joint Project Agreement" from which sections are striken to make the current Agreement? As far as I know, the previous contractual document between the two parties was a Memorendum of Understanding. And after a check, I have noted that the initial MoU of 1998 does include all the sections required to be striken (V.B, V.C, and VII) and replaced by amendments made in the new document. So my best guess is that it is the 1998 MoU that the current Agreement refers to in its body as "Joint Project Agreement" (please advised.) 4) Then the question that comes to mind is what is objectively the difference, and what difference does it make, for both the U.S. Department of Commerce and ICANN to call their agreement a "Joint Project Agreement" or a "Memorendum of Understanding"? If there is, then was there any prior act that requalified the 1998 MoU as a JPA? Thank you in advance for your assistance. Regards, Mawaki