Minutes 95th Executive Board Meeting

Draft Minutes 95^th RIPE NCC Executive Board Meeting

12 September 2014, 0900-1400, Sheraton Airport Hotel, Schiphol, Netherlands

Attendees:

• Dmitry Burkov, ICANN Liaison
• Maria Häll, Member
• Christian Kaufmann, Secretary
• Nigel Titley, Chairman
• Remco Van Mook, Treasurer
• Salam Yamout, Member
• János Zsakó, Adviser
• Hans Petter Holen, Chairman RIPE
• Sabine Mader, Assistant to the Managing Director, RIPE NCC
• Axel Pawlik, Managing Director, RIPE NCC
• Paul Rendek, Director of External Relations, RIPE NCC
• Jochem de Ruig, Chief Financial Officer, RIPE NCC

Agenda

1.         Agenda / Comments (0900-0915)

1.1       Apologies, New Agenda Points

1.2       Approval of Previous Minutes, EB#94

1.3       Date of Next Meetings

1.4       Conference Attendance Executive Board 2014/2015

2.         Remaining Outstanding Actions, not covered by agenda (0915-0930)

3.         Report from the RIPE NCC (0930-1100)

3.1.      Financial Update

3.1.1    Clearing House

3.2       Legal & Corporate Documents

3.2.1    LEA Requests

3.2.2    Sanctions

3.3.      Services (1100-1130)

3.3.1    ATLAS

4.         General Meeting Preparations (1130-1230)

4.1       Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2015

4.2       Draft Agenda RIPE NCC General Meeting 5 November 2014

4.3       Voting at General Meetings

4.4       Presentations, Board Activities

5.         Review of Active Policy Proposals (1230-1245)

6.         External Relations (1245-1330)

6.1       ICANN / IANA

6.2       NRO / RIRs

6.3       ITU

6.4       RIPE

6.5       IETF

7.         AOB (1330-1345)

1. Agenda / Comments (0900-0915)

1.1 Apologies, New Agenda Points

Nigel Titley, RIPE NCC Chairman, opened the meeting at 9:05am.

Axel provided an apology on behalf of Rob Blokzijl who was absent from the meeting.

Remco raised a discussion about sanctions. He proposed to bring forward a resolution that would address actions taken by the RIPE NCC in the event of sanctions in its service region. It was agreed that this would be discussed under agenda 3.2.2.

Referencing a discussion initiated by Nick Hilliard on a RIPE mailing list, Janos proposed to include a topic covering charging for Autonomous System Numbers under agenda point 4.2.

1.2 Approval of Previous Minutes, EB#94

No comment was brought forward on the previous minutes; the Board approved the minutes of Executive Board Meeting #94.

1.3  Date of Next Meetings

• 12 September 2014, Sheraton Airport Hotel, Schiphol/Netherlands
• 3 & 5 November 2014, during RIPE-69, London, informal meetings
• 11 December 2014, 13:00, RIPE NCC Offices, Amsterdam
• 19 March 2015, 09:30, Beirut, Lebanon
• 11 & 13 May 2015, during RIPE-70, Amsterdam, informal meetings
• 16 June 2015, 13:00, RIPE NCC Offices, Amsterdam

The Board agreed to have a briefing meeting on Sunday, 2 November 2014 prior to the RIPE 69 meeting from 14:00-18:00, to review the developments regarding IANA oversight transition.

The 19 March EB meeting was agreed to take place in Beirut, Lebanon.

1.4 Conference Attendance Executive Board 2014/2015       

The Board reviewed the conference calendar for the remainder of 2014 and 2015. Nigel asked the Board members to submit any changes or corrections directly to Sabine.

2. Remaining Outstanding Actions, not covered by agenda (0915-0930)

a) completed

EB292 01/04/2014 AP

The Board asked the RIPE NCC to produce a document that outlines different scenarios of sanctions and actions that would be taken by the RIPE NCC.

Status 19/06/2014: in Progress, it was noted that the document will remain an internal document but it will be announced that the RIPE NCC has prepared such a document in the best interest of its entire membership.

Status 12/09/2014: DONE

-> See agenda topic 3.2.2

EB293 19/06/2014 AP

The Board asked the RIPE NCC to contract the services of Ernst & Young.

Status 12/09/2014: DONE

EB294 19/06/2014 AP

The Board asked the RIPE NCC to draft a response to the tax authorities based on option 1 with a possible surplus re-distribution (re-distribution of excess revenue to the members). Remco will review the draft response. In addition, the RIPE NCC will investigate an option to set up separate foundation for "the good of the Internet" funds, to lower surplus in the RIPE NCC association and build up a foundation that holds continuity funds for the good of the Internet.

Status 12/09/2014: DONE

-> See agenda topic 3.1.1

EB296 19/06/2014 AP

The Board asked Axel to formally remove Olaf Kolkman from the RIPE NCC Arbitration Panel.

Status 12/09/2014: DONE

EB297 19/06/2014 AP

The Board has asked the RIPE NCC to publish the draft minutes of the General Meeting May 2014.

Status 12/09/2014: DONE

b) in progress

EB298 19/06/2014 MH & SY

Salam and Maria will work with Paul to document potential areas to extend RIPE NCC resources for the good of the Internet.

Status 12/09/2014: DONE, This topic will be discussed in agenda 3.3.

3. Report from the RIPE NCC (0930-1100)

Axel reported that the Board was supplied with a report prior to the Executive Board Meeting and that there were no further activities to report at this time. The Board expressed that they were pleased with the general RIPE NCC report and the external relations report.

3.1. Financial Update

The Board briefly discussed the financial status of the RIPE NCC. No questions were raised about the current status of RIPE NCC finances. 

3.1.1    Clearing House

1. New Tax Ruling for the Clearing House
2. Updated RIPE NCC Clearinghouse Procedure
3. Proposed Changes to the RIPE NCC Standard Service Agreement

The new draft tax ruling was discussed. Jochem reported that the calculation of the tax-free capital gains in the Clearing House will be pro rata and administered separately. In 2014 the RIPE NCC can make a last tax-free deposit into the Clearing House. From 2015 onwards annually the GM can decide either to put the surplus (deficit) into the Clearing House after paying corporate gains tax or to redistribute the surplus (deficit) to the members.

The Board agreed that from 2015 onwards they would ask the RIPE NCC members whether they want to pay tax or have a pay out.  This would take place at each autumn RIPE NCC General Meeting.

Overall, the Board was pleased with the new ruling negotiated by the RIPE NCC; the Board thanked the RIPE NCC.

Resolution EB#95-R-01: The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed agreement with the tax authorities and authorises the RIPE NCC Management to conclude the agreement with the tax authorities.

Resolution EB#95-R-02: The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the updated Clearing House Procedure.

Resolution EB#95-R-03: The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the updated RIPE NCC Standard Service Agreement to be put forward to the General Meeting in November for approval.

ACTION EB299: The Board asked the RIPE NCC Management to investigate merging reserves (from TERENA) into the Clearing House, to be discussed at the next Executive Board Meeting in December.

3.2 Legal & Corporate Documents

There were no new documents proposed for Board discussion. The Board was pleased with the Corporate Governance Matrix document and asked that the RIPE NCC keep ties with all stakeholders to ensure the RIPE NCC corporate governance documents remain current.

3.2.1    LEA Requests

No issues were raised.

3.2.2    Sanctions

Nigel proposed that the Board draft a resolution regarding RIPE NCC actions in the events that sanctions are raised within the RIPE NCC service region.

The Board would like the RIPE NCC to prepare a statement to clarify the position of the RIPE NCC in the event of sanctions. 

ACTION EB300: The RIPE NCC Board asked the RIPE NCC to prepare a resolution to outline actions in the event of sanctions. The resolution will be distributed on the Board list. The Board will agree the resolution prior to the November RIPE meeting. Upon approval, the Board asked that the resolution be published on the RIPE NCC website.

3.3. Services (1100-1130)

Nigel asked Salam to provide an update on action EB298 19/06/2014 MH & SY.

Salam explained the reason for the proposed areas for potential expenditure of RIPE NCC resources for the good of the Internet as outlined in the document prepared by Maria and Salam.

After brief discussion the Board agreed on a set of activities to bring forward to the membership. They asked Maria and Salam to work with RIPE NCC staff to expand on the description of activities in preparation for community discussion. The Board agreed that the best way forward was to have the community and members agree on the areas they wish to support.

The Board agreed that the activities should be formatted consistently with the way the organisation presents activities in the RIPE NCC Activity Plan including financial figures attached to each activity.

ACTION EB301: The Board asked the RIPE NCC to work with Salam and Maria to expand on the activities in the document further for Board consideration. Upon approval the Board would like to publish the set of proposed activities for community and membership discussion.

3.3.1    ATLAS

The Board discussed the RIPE ATLAS User Value Proposition document prepared by the RIPE NCC management. The Board was pleased with the document and asked for the removal of the word “user” in the document title and for the addition of the Registration Services use component.

EB295 19/06/2014 AP

The Board asked Axel to produce a value proposition for the ATLAS service in preparation for the September meeting.

Status 12/09/2014: DONE

ACTION EB302: After the proposed edits to the RIPE ATLAS User Value Proposition document the Board asked the RIPE NCC to publish the document on the RIPE NCC website and to the appropriate RIPE working group mailing lists.

4. General Meeting Preparations

The Board reviewed the draft agenda for the General Meeting November 2014. Agenda items were briefly discussed and presentations and supporting documentation were agreed.

4.1 Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2015

The Board discussed the draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2015. The Board complimented the format used for the document. They approved the document and were pleased to see that all suggestions were clearly incorporated.

Resolution EB#95-R-04: The Executive Board approves the publication of the Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2015.

ACTION EB303: The Board asked the RIPE NCC to publish the Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2015.

4.2 Draft Agenda RIPE NCC General Meeting 5 November 2014

After discussion the Board agreed to add an additional agenda item to cover charging for ASN, noted as agenda item 7 for the General Meeting agenda.

ACTION EB304: Draft Agenda General Meeting 5 November 2014: The RIPE NCC Management will ask Nick Hilliard to present and raise discussion regarding charging for ASN. The Board agreed a 20-minute slot including discussion for this topic.

Resolution EB#95-R-05: The Executive Board approves the draft agenda for the RIPE NCC General Meeting of 5 November 2014.

4.3 Voting at General Meetings

Resolution EB#95-R-06: The Executive Board decides to set the electronic voting period to close at 09:00 UTC on Friday, 7 November and the results will be announced at 10:45 UTC before the closing Plenary at RIPE 69 on Friday, 7 November 2014.

4.4 Presentations, Board Activities

Axel reported that he would draft a presentation for Board review in time for the General Meeting November 2014.

5. Review of Active Policy Proposals

The Board briefly discussed the current set of RIPE policy proposals. There was discussion about the proposed Inter-RIR transfer policy. They discussed potential impact on the stability of the RIR system.

The Board emphasised that they are not involved in the policy development process as a Board.

6. External Relations

6.1 ICANN / IANA

ICANN and IANA issues were discussed in the Board briefing session on 11 September 2014. Maria mentioned that she was pleased to see the timeline published in the External Relations report on the IANA oversight transition. Nigel asked if the Board had any further issues to bring forward. No further questions were raised.

6.2 NRO / RIRs

The Board discussed the selection process for the open seat on the NRO Number Council. The cut-off date for candidates is set for 10 October 2014. After some discussion it was agreed that the Board would select the candidate by 7 November 2014.

6.3 ITU

Paul provided an update on ITU, in specific the ITU PP 2014 that will take place in October in Busan, South Korea. He reported that the RIPE NCC will be represented at this meeting and that staff were also participating in the preparatory meetings of the Arab Group, CEPT and RCC.

No further questions were raised.

6.4 RIPE

Hans-Petter gave a brief update on RIPE activities. He was pleased with the preparations so far for the upcoming RIPE 69 meeting in London. He mentioned that the RIPE Program Committee brought forward the idea of travel support for presenters at the RIPE meeting. After discussion, the Board agreed to continue to manage this on a case-by-case basis.

No further questions were raised.

6.5 IETF

No issues were brought forward.

7. AOB (1330-1345)

The Chairman thanked the RIPE NCC and the Board members and adjourned the meeting at 12:15.

Outstanding Action Items:

No outstanding action items noted.

New Action Items:

EB299 12/09/2014 AP

The Board asked the RIPE NCC Management to investigate option to merge reserves (from TERENA) into the Clearing House, to be discussed at next Executive Board Meeting in December.

EB300 12/09/2014 AP

The RIPE NCC Board asked the RIPE NCC to prepare a resolution to outline actions in the event of sanctions. The resolution will be distributed on the Board list. The Board will agree the resolution prior to the November RIPE meeting. Upon approval, the Board asked that the resolution be published on the RIPE NCC website.

EB301 12/09/2014 MH & SY

The Board asked the RIPE NCC to work with Salam and Maria to expand on the activities in the document further for Board consideration. Upon approval the Board would like to publish the set of proposed activities for community and membership discussion.

EB302 12/09/2014 AP

After the proposed edits to the RIPE ATLAS User Value Proposition document the Board asked the RIPE NCC to publish the document on the RIPE NCC website and to the appropriate RIPE working group mailing lists.

EB303 12/09/2014 AP

The Board asked the RIPE NCC to publish the Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2015.

EB304 12/09/2014 AP

Draft Agenda General Meeting 5 November 2014: The RIPE NCC Management will ask Nick Hilliard to present and raise discussion regarding charging for ASN. The Board agreed a 20-minute slot including discussion for this topic.

Resolutions:

Resolution EB#95-R-01: The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed agreement with the tax authorities and authorises the RIPE NCC Management to conclude the agreement with the tax authorities.

Resolution EB#95-R-02: The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the updated Clearing House Procedure.

Resolution EB#95-R-03: The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the updated RIPE NCC Standard Service Agreement to be put forward to the General Meeting in November for approval.

Resolution EB#95-R-04: The Executive Board approves the publication of the Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2015.

Resolution EB#95-R-05: The Executive Board approves the draft agenda for the RIPE NCC General Meeting of 5 November 2014.

Resolution EB#95-R-06: The Executive Board decides to set the electronic voting period to close at 09:00 UTC on Friday, 7 November and the results will be announced at 10:45 UTC before the closing Plenary at RIPE 69 on Friday, 7 November 2014.