Felix,
In meetings on May 19 and June 7, the Query and XSLT working groups considered 
this comment. The working groups feel that it is undesirable to globally change 
all occurrences of "URI" to "IRI" because many terms such as "base URI" are in 
common use throughout the family of XML-related specifications. However, the 
working groups agreed to make the following changes:

(1) In the XPath and XQuery specifications, replace references to RFC 2396 with 
references to RFC 3986 and 3987.

(2) In the XPath and XQuery specifications, Section 2 (Basics), add the 
following paragraph: "Within this specification, the term URI refers to a 
Universal Resource Identifier as defined in RFC 3896 and extended in RFC 3897 
with the new name IRI. The term URI has been retained in preference to IRI to 
avoid introducing new names for concepts such as 'Base URI' that are defined or 
referenced across the whole family of XML specifications."

(3) In the XQuery specification, Section 2.4.5 (URI Literals), add the 
following note: "The xs:anyURI type is designed to anticipate the introduction 
of Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRI's) as defined in [RFC 3987]."

We hope that these changes will address your concerns. Please let us know 
whether you find these changes to be an acceptable response to your comment.

Regards,
Don Chamberlin (for the Query and XSLT working groups)

(In reply to comment #1)
> Felix,
> In meetings on May 19 and June 7, the Query and XSLT working groups considered 
> this comment. The working groups feel that it is undesirable to globally change 
> all occurrences of "URI" to "IRI" because many terms such as "base URI" are in 
> common use throughout the family of XML-related specifications. However, the 
> working groups agreed to make the following changes:
> 
> (1) In the XPath and XQuery specifications, replace references to RFC 2396 with 
> references to RFC 3986 and 3987.
> 
> (2) In the XPath and XQuery specifications, Section 2 (Basics), add the 
> following paragraph: "Within this specification, the term URI refers to a 
> Universal Resource Identifier as defined in RFC 3896 and extended in RFC 3897 
> with the new name IRI. The term URI has been retained in preference to IRI to 
> avoid introducing new names for concepts such as 'Base URI' that are defined or 
> referenced across the whole family of XML specifications."
> 
> (3) In the XQuery specification, Section 2.4.5 (URI Literals), add the 
> following note: "The xs:anyURI type is designed to anticipate the introduction 
> of Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRI's) as defined in [RFC 3987]."
> 
> We hope that these changes will address your concerns. Please let us know 
> whether you find these changes to be an acceptable response to your comment.
> 
> Regards,
> Don Chamberlin (for the Query and XSLT working groups)

consenus of the i18n-core-wg (telecon 21 May 2005):
The working group is VERY HAPPY about your changes! We thank you very much and 
regared the bug as closed.
Regards,
Felix Sasaki