Minutes 141st Executive Board Meeting

Attendees:

• Christian Kaufmann (CK), Chair
• Falk von Bornstaedt (FvB), Member
• Ondřej Filip (OF), Treasurer
• Raymond Jetten (RJ), Member
• Remco van Mook (RvM), Member
• Maria Häll (MH), Member
• Piotr Strzyżewski (PS), Secretary

• Gwen van Berne (GvB), Chief Financial Officer, RIPE NCC (topic 1-5)
• Chris Buckridge (CB), Head of External Relations, RIPE NCC (topic 1-5)
• Maxim Burtikov, (MB), External Relations Officer, RIPE NCC (topic 4)
• Daniella Coutinho (DC), Executive Assistant, RIPE NCC
• Athina Fragkouli (AF), Chief Legal Officer, RIPE NCC (topic 1-5)
• Hans Petter Holen (HPH), Managing Director, RIPE NCC
• Hisham Ibrahim (HI), External Relations Manager, RIPE NC (topic 4)
• Mirjam Kühne (MK), RIPE Chair (topic 1-5)
• Kaveh Ranjbar (KR), Chief Information Officer, RIPE NCC (topic 1-5)
• Felipe Victolla Silveira (FVS), Chief Operations Officer, RIPE NCC (topic 1-5)
• Carolien Vos (CV), HR Director, RIPE NCC (topic 1-5)

1. Welcome and Agenda

The Chair opened the meeting at 09:00 and welcomed everyone. All members of the RIPE NCC Executive Board (the Board) were present. It was noted this meeting was an addition to the usual meeting schedule of the Board, therefore regular topics like approval of previous minutes and reviewing the action list were not discussed.

2. Status report from MD

Hans Petter Holen reported on staff changes and the structure of the organisation. He also gave an update on various projects related to HR and Finance. He further shared the priorities for Q1 2021.

Gwen van Berne shared the Finance Update for year end 2020. 

3. Sanctions update

Athina Fragkouli gave an update on the status of sanctions, the areas of concern (legal, political/IG issues, compliance and financial), the response from the MFA to our request for exemption and the next steps that will be taken.

The Board asked some clarifying questions and suggested to update the SSA to reflect the fact that we might be limited in the services we provide to sanctioned members. We should also at our discretion change the payment terms for fees if circumstances require this.

4. Regulatory Scenarios

Athina gave a follow-up presentation on the regulatory threats discussed at the strategy session on 10 December 2020. Hisham Ibrahim and Maxim Burtikov joined the meeting for this topic.

It was confirmed that both the existence of the organisation and existence of the RIR system are important. The Board noted that we are here to enable our members to deliver internet services but we have a responsibility for the stability of the RIR ecosystem. It would serve the RIPE NCC and other RIRs to have a discussion and agree on strategy on NRO level rather than on individual RIRs’ level.

Chris Buckridge identified three areas of priority:

• Ongoing existence of the RIPE NCC
• A globally consistent registry of Internet number resources
• Community-based authority over IP address policy

5. Charging Scheme

During EB#140, Gwen van Berne presented options for revising the Charging Scheme in 2022. Here she gave an update on the project status and multiple directions were discussed, as well as new guiding principles.

The Board asked Gwen to make a risk analysis of the effects of all proposals that were suggested, including the option of a transfer fee. The Board noted that the matter of the payment of a sign-up fee when an SSA is re-activated should be addressed and brought forward to the members at the May GM 2021.

The Board would like to consult the members to understand how they feel about options like transfer fees and charging by volume of space. The goal is to gather structured feedback and have an informed discussion on the future of the charging scheme afterwards. The Board asked the RIPE NCC to prepare a short questionnaire for a survey. Based on the questions, the Board will decide if a survey will be sent out during the summer.

6. Goal setting 2021

Hans Petter shared a presentation on the Employee Performance Management Cycle and the link to the Strategy for 2021. Goals for 2021 are derived from this for the direct reports of Hans Petter and himself.

The objectives for the MD were discussed.

7. AOB

Due to time constraints, this topic was not discussed.

The Chair adjourned the meeting at 13:35 (UTC+1)