A new agreement between the Commerce Department and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers creates panels to review the work of ICANN in key areas, a move designed to bring greater accountability to the body.

The review panels will include representatives of governments other than the United States, a reform that should help satisfy calls to make the low profile but powerful organization a more global body.

A California-based non-profit corporation, ICANN manages the Domain Name System (DNS) that forms the technical backbone of the Web and allows website addresses, for example, to be typed as words instead of a series of numbers.

Since 1998, ICANN has operated under an agreement with the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

That agreement expired on Wednesday and was replaced with a new document called an "Affirmation of Commitments."

The new agreement comes at an important time with ICANN poised to expand the number of generic top-level domains such as .com and .org, a controversial move that would greatly increase the number of available addresses.

For the moment, Internet addresses can only be entered in Roman characters and ICANN has also been under pressure to allow the use of other languages.

ICANN chief executive Rod Beckstrom said the agreement represents "an exciting new stage in ICANN's development as a truly international entity."

He stressed that the periodic reviews of its performance would no longer be submitted only to the US government. "All the reporting is to the world; that's the real change," Beckstrom said.

European Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding, who has called for ICANN to become "fully independent," welcomed the new agreement.

"Internet users worldwide can now anticipate that ICANN's decisions on domain names and addresses will be more independent and more accountable, taking into account everyone's interests," she said in a statement.

"If effectively and transparently implemented, this reform can find broad acceptance among civil society, businesses and governments alike," she said.

The European Union welcomed what it called "a significant positive move towards a new and more open 'working environment' for ICANN."

"A global, resilient and open Internet is a common responsibility," said Swedish Infrastructure Minister Asa Torstensson, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

The review panels will examine such issues as accountability, transparency and promoting competition, consumer trust and consumer choice.

Their members will be chosen by ICANN and its own Government Advisory Committee and the United States will retain a permanent seat on only the accountability panel.

Lawrence Strickling, the US assistant secretary for communications and information, made it clear that while ICANN may have been granted greater independence, the United States will remain involved.

"This framework puts the public interest front and center and it establishes processes for stakeholders around the world to review ICANN's performance," he said. "The (Commerce) Department looks forward to playing an active role along with other stakeholders in ensuring that ICANN is successful, accountable and transparent."

Business leaders and others welcomed the agreement.

"Google and its users depend every day on a vibrant and expanding Internet; we endorse this affirmation and applaud the maturing of ICANN's role in the provision of Internet stability," said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.

"The Commerce Department has crafted an arrangement here that delivers what the global Internet community has clamored for: permanent accountability mechanisms to guide ICANN in the post-transition world," said Steve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice, a coalition of trade associations and e-commerce companies.

Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology, said "the entire Internet community has been looking forward to a more independent and international ICANN.

"This agreement is the US loosening the reins without necessarily a new G-12 or G-20 tightening them," Zuck said. "It strikes the balance of greater government involvement in lieu of greater government control."

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