Minutes 53rd Executive Board Meeting

Author: Paul Rendek
Date: 2006/11/23

Revision No.: 1.1

Status: Final
Maintainer: Sabine Mader

Minutes of the RIPE NCC Executive Board Meeting EB #53 on 30 August 2006
RIPE NCC Offices, Amsterdam

Attendees:

Dmitry Burkov, ICANN Liaison
Kees Neggers, Chairman
Jim Reid, Member
Nigel Titley, Secretary
János Zsakó, Treasurer

Sabine Mader, Assistant to the Managing Director, RIPE NCC
Axel Pawlik, Managing Director, RIPE NCC
Paul Rendek, Head of Member Services & Comms., RIPE NCC

Guests:
Rob Blokzijl for agenda item 6.3

Agenda:

1. Agenda / Comments
1.1. Apologies, New Agenda Points
1.2. Approval of Previous Minutes, #52
1.3. Date of Next Meetings
2. Action Items without related agenda point
3. Report from the RIPE NCC
4. Preparations for General Meeting
4.1. General Meeting Agenda
4.2. Draft Activity Plan 2007
4.3. Draft Budget 2007
4.4. Charging Scheme 2007
5. Legal Issues
5.1. Witness Statement
5.2. Power of Attorney
6. External Relations
6.1. NRO
6.2. ICANN / IANA
6.3. RIPE
7. AOB
7.1 Authorising Cash Transfer

Kees Neggers, Executive Board Chairman opened the meeting at 13:00

1. Agenda / Comments

The Board covered agenda point 6.3 at the start of the meeting to accommodate Rob Blokzijl. Â

The Board thanked Axel for the timely preparation of documentation.

The Board agreed to meet with Axel regarding the outcome of his function classification with the Hay Group at the end of the meeting.

1.1. Apologies, New Agenda Points

The Board agreed to meet with Axel regarding the outcome of his function classification with the Hay Group at the end of the meeting.

1.2. Approval of Previous Minutes, #52

Minutes were approved by the Board.

1.3. Date of Next Meetings

Confirmation of the next meeting dates:

EB Meeting #54 - 5 October 2006 - from 12:30 to 13:30 at the RIPE 53 meeting (meeting room TBA)

EB Meeting #55 - 23 November 2006 - from 13:00 - 17:00 at the RIPE NCC offices. Lunch at 12:00

Axel reported that the RIPE NCC Christmas dinner would be held on 8 December 2006.

2. Action Items without related agenda point

The Board discussed the outstanding action items (see action items section attached at the end of the minutes).

3. Report from the RIPE NCC

Axel provided a report to the Board.

The Board asked whether members need to renew their membership with the RIPE NCC in order to continue using allocated address space. Axel clarified that members are not required to renew their membership to continue using allocated address space.

It was reported that the RIPE NCC will investigate possible changes to the articles of association in accordance with changes in Dutch law. The RIPE NCC will work together with their lawyers to review the Articles of Association and report back to the Board.

The Board asked about the status of the emergency plan and has asked the RIPE NCC to consider having a 3rd party review the emergency plan.

The Board discussed the reorganisation planned at the RIPE NCC.

ACTION: The Board asked Axel to publish the RIPE NCC reorganisation structure and supporting text to the membership.

The Board asked for further clarification on the restructure activity at the RIPE NCC. The Board felt that better and more explicit communication with the Board and the membership is needed during the course of this and any future reorganisation. The Board also asked Axel not to carry out any reorganisation activities in the future without their consultation.

Axel agreed and provided the Board with a presentation on the reorganisation of the RIPE NCC.

The Board was not in agreement that the RIPE NCC attempted to redefine a mission statement without their consultation. It was agreed that if the mission statement would be altered it would need to be adopted formally by the membership.

4. Preparations for General Meeting

4.1. General Meeting Agenda

The Board agreed the agenda of the GM meeting.

4.2. Draft Activity Plan 2007

The Board agreed to present the draft Activity Plan 2007 to the RIPE NCC membership.

4.3. Draft Budget 2007

The Board discussed the increase of staff proposed in the budget. The Board requested more justification of an increase in staffing levels.

ACTION: The Board requested a document looking at the budget and income over the next 3 years. The document should include a list of positions and what the positions would fulfill in the organisation in order to support the immediate increase in staff.

4.4. Charging Scheme 2007

Janos provided the Board with a short explanation of the proposed RIPE NCC Member Rebate for 2007. The Board agreed that a proposal to provide a one-time rebate proportional to service fees contributed from 2003-2006 was acceptable.

The board stressed that the distribution of the rebate proposal should be fair and clearly understood and asked Axel to improve the wording of the draft proposal to properly reflect this point.

ACTION: The Board requested that Axel revise the proposed documents including the suggested changes prior to publishing the documents to the membership in preparation for the General Meeting.

5. Legal Issues

5.1. Witness Statement

Axel reported that the RIPE NCC has received a formal summons from the Dutch court to present a witness statement for a case taking place in Turkey.

The Board was pleased with the witness statement and it was satisfied to have the document signed by two Board members. Kees and Nigel signed the witness statement.

5.2. Power of Attorney

The Board discussed handing power of attorney for court appearances regarding RIPE NCC activities to Axel. The Board agreed that it would hand over power of attorney on a case by case basis if and when it was needed.Â

ACTION: The Board asked Axel to produce a schedule with approximate timeframes of how much notice one is given before having to make a court appearance in the Netherlands.

6. External Relations

6.1. NRO

The NRO EC has agreed to contribute USD 25.000 to the IGF secretariat, subject to individual RIR board approval. Axel reported that the contribution would basically be given as goodwill. The board approved the monetary contribution to the IGF secretariat through the NRO.

Axel confirmed that the Boards of the RIRs have agreed not to incorporate the NRO at this time.

6.2. ICANN / IANA

Dmitry provided a short update from the liaison activities that took place at the ICANN meeting. He commented that it is very difficult to meet with ICANN staff during an ICANN meeting.

The Board asked for a status update on the ICANN/IANA service contract. It was reported that the contract was sent to ICANN and that ICANN has acknowledged the receipt of the document. The RIRs are now waiting for a reply from ICANN.

6.3. RIPE

Rob reported that the RIPE meeting is on schedule and that the agenda is on track. He mentioned that the WG Chairs were currently working to complete the plenary sessions.

It was reported that a session targeted at increasing public and private sector dialogue was being organised with the help of various governments that participated at the last RIPE meeting.

7. AOB

7.1 Authorising Cash Transfer

The Board approved and authorised a cash transfer to the RIPE NCC current account.

7.2 RIPE NCC Managing Director’s Job Description

The Board approved the Managing Director’s Job Description.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 17:15

Outstanding Actions:

EB121 20/06/06 JZ
Janos will work with the RIPE NCC to re-balance the deposit of funds. A proposal will be brought forward for Board agreement.
Status 30/08/06: ONGOING: The proposal will be presented at the next Board meeting.

EB122 20/06/06 AP
Axel to prepare a draft emergency plan to be proposed to the Board for their upcoming meeting: 30 August 2006.
Status 30/08/06: ONGOING – Axel will provide a list of acronyms for the doc. The doc. will be made available for the Board.

EB123 20/06/06 AP
Axel to prepare the RIPE Meeting costs and include support staff costs. This will include how staff travel is broken down for RIPE Meetings (RIPE Meeting support, RIPE NCC Business support & RIPE meeting attendees).
Status 30/08/06: DONE

EB124 20/06/06 KN
Kees will contact the Hay Group regarding the evaluation of the Managing Directors position.
Status 30/06/06: DONE

New Action Items:

EB125 30/08/06 AP
The Board asked Axel to publish the RIPE NCC reorganisation structure and supporting text to the membership.

EB126 30/08/06 AP
The Board requested a document looking at the budget and income over the next 3 years. The document should including a list of positions and what the positions would fulfill in the organisation in order to support the immediate increase in staff.

EB127 30/08/06 AP
The Board requested that Axel revise the proposed documents including the suggested changes prior to publishing the documents to the membership in preparation for the General Meeting.

EB128 30/08/06 AP
ACTION: The Board asked Axel to produce a schedule with approximate timeframes of how much notice one is given before having to make a court appearance in the Netherlands.