Minutes 149th Executive Board Meeting


Author:	Daniella Coutinho
Date:	2021/11/02
Status:	Final

Attendees:

Piotr Strzyżewski (PS), Secretary
Job Snijders (JS), Member
Remco van Mook (RvM), Member
Maria Häll (MH), Member
Raymond Jetten (RJ), Member
Ondřej Filip (OF), Treasurer
Christian Kaufmann (CK), Chairman

Mirjam Kühne (MK), RIPE Chair

Daniella Coutinho (DC), Executive Assistant, RIPE NCC
Fergal Cunningham (FC), Head of Membership Engagement, RIPE NCC (Topic 3-11)
Athina Fragkouli (AF), Chief Legal Officer, RIPE NCC (Topic 3-11)
Simon-Jan Haytink (SJH), Finance Manager, RIPE NCC (Topic 3-11)
Hans Petter Holen (HPH), Managing Director, RIPE NCC
Hisham Ibrahim (HI), Chief Community Officer, RIPE NCC (Topic 3-11)
Kaveh Ranjbar (KR), Chief Information Officer, RIPE NCC (Topic 3-11)
Felipe Victolla Silveira (FVS), Chief Operations Officer, RIPE NCC (Topic 3-11)
Carolien Vos (CV), HR Director, RIPE NCC (Topic 3-11)

Guest:

Marco Hogewoning, Manager Public Policy & Internet Governance, RIPE NCC (topic 8.2)
Maxim Burtikov, Public Policy Officer Eastern Europe and Central Asia, RIPE NCC (topic 8.2)

1. Welcome and agenda

The Chairman opened the meeting at 09:04 and welcomed everyone.

1.1 Apologies, new agenda points

The Chairman noted that Piotr Strzyżewski would join 10 minutes later and Maria Häll would join 20 minutes later. All other members of the RIPE NCC Executive Board (the Board) were present. Two items were added to the agenda under AOB.

1.2 Approval of minutes

Resolution EB#149-R-01
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the minutes of EB#148.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

1.3 Dates of next meetings

19 Nov 2021, Board Briefing ahead of RIPE 83
24-26 November 2021, RIPE NCC General Meeting
15-16 December 2021

It was agreed to settle the proposed dates for 2022 via polling.

1.4 Action list review

Action items in progress

Action EBD427 / 23/09/2021 / SJH
To form the group to select a professional party for portfolio management and make a recommendation to the Board on management of the treasury.
Status 29-10-2021: Project group is formed (CK, OF, HPH, SJH). SJH to contact parties and schedule meetings.

Action EBD429 / 23/09/2021 / FVS
To make a plan to improve the service levels in the Registry.
Status 29-10-2021: Open, to be discussed in December 2021.

Closed action items

Action EBD415 / 08/09/2020 / SJH
To improve transparency in the purchases by separating consultancy in the Finance Report.
Deadline: Briefing Session before RIPE 81
Status 11-12-2020: In progress.
GvB provided an improved report for topic 3.3, but further improvements can be made.
Status 12-03-2021: In progress.
Status 21-06-2021: In progress, to be included in monthly finance report.
Status 23-09-2021: Reassigned from GvB to SJH, in progress.
Status 29-10-2021: Done. The Finance Report has been improved.

Action EBD428 / 23/09/2021 / HPH, FC, SJH
To propose charging scheme models based on the outcome of the survey and Open House before 29 October.
Status 29-10-2021: Done. Possible charging schemes will be discussed at topic 3.3 of EB#149.

Action EBD430 / 24/09/2021 / HI
To revisit the existing business case for Certified Professionals for the upcoming Board meeting on 29 October 2021.
Status 29-10-2021: Done. The business case for Certified Professionals will be discussed at topic 8.1 of EB#149.

2. Report from the MD

Hans Petter Holen shared his management report with updates about the NRO, Atlas probe contract, AFRINIC’s legal case, objectives for sanctions, the status of his priorities for Q3, and HR projects and the organisational structure.

3. Finance

3.1 Financial report

Simon-Jan Haytink presented the financial report with the latest actual figures and estimates for 2021. He also shared some insight into possible scenarios for the redistribution of the 2021 surplus. Because the income growth is expected to decrease in the coming years, it is advisable to return 50% of the 2021 surplus to the members.

3.2 Financial auditor

Yearly, auditors are independently reviewing the financial figures of the RIPE NCC. Simon-Jan asked the Board if the RIPE NCC should should stay with the current auditor or select a new one. A new firm would have a fresh look at the figures while the current auditor already had knowledge of the company and was able to dive deeper into the figures.

Resolution EB#149-R-02
The RIPE NCC Executive Board authorises the RIPE NCC Management to continue the engagement with the current audit firm for another three-year period, 2022-2024.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

3.3 Charging Scheme

Hans Petter Holen presented three possible models for a new Charging Scheme as of 2023, as requested by the Board at EB#148. The first model was “as is - one LIR, one fee plus PI”, the second “resource-based” and the third "categories based on resources with and without separate PI/ASNs".

The Board discussed the models and how to present the different options during the General Meeting (GM) on 24 November 2021. It was decided to present the third “categories based on resources” model, both with and without a separate fee for ASNs and Provider Independent (PI) resources, and to ask the members for feedback at the upcoming GM. Based on member feedback, the proposal could then be refined before members vote on the Charging Scheme at the GM in May 2022.

Action EBD431 / 29/10/2021 / HPH
To develop a presentation with two scenarios for the Charging Scheme 2023, share with the Board and set up a meeting with OF before RIPE 83.

4. Board briefing topics

The suggested subjects for the briefings ahead of RIPE 83 were shared and agreed upon.

5. Risk owners

The Board agreed on the following distribution of risk categories of the Integrated Risk Management:

Organisational Risk - Christian Kaufmann
Financial Risk - Ondřej Filip
Legal Risk - Remco van Mook
HR Risk - Piotr Strzyżewski
Operational Risk - Maria Häll
IT Risk - Job Snijders
Registry Risk - Raymond Jetten
Reputational Risk - Christan Kaufmann

6. Corporate documents

6.1 Due diligence procedure

Athina Fragkouli shared the proposal to align the sanctions check description with recent changes in the sanctions process and to expand the five-year restriction from becoming members due to the submission of fraudulent documentation to applicants that have submitted fraudulent documents in a previous membership application.

Resolution EB#149-R-03
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed amendments to the RIPE NCC procedural document “Due Diligence for the Quality of the RIPE NCC Registration Data”.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

6.2 Inter-RIR transfer procedure

Athina explained the proposal to make explicit in the procedural document that the RIPE NCC will not approve any inter-RIR transfer in which any involved party is subject to Dutch or EU sanctions. Furthermore, the involved party in our region should be responsible for providing the RIPE NCC with the documents necessary for our due diligence checks of their business partner from the other RIR service region.

Resolution EB#149-R-04
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed amendments to the RIPE NCC procedural document “Inter-RIR Transfer of Internet Number Resources”.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

6.3 Activating bank account

It was agreed to take the necessary steps to activate the bank account in Dubai.

7. Sanctions report

Felipe Victolla Silveira presented the Sanctions Transparency Report. This quarterly report provides data on how RIPE NCC members, End Users and legacy resource holders are affected by sanctions while respecting confidentiality and privacy. The suggestion for the report was given during RIPE 82. The Board discussed the report, advised for further clarification of certain aspects and agreed to publish the report.

Action EBD432 / 29/10/2021 / FVS
To publish the Quarterly Sanctions Transparency Report.

8. Community and Engagement

8.1 Certified Professionals

As requested by the Board at its previous meeting, Hisham Ibrahim presented a business plan for Certified Professionals to recover invested costs with a defined, controllable and phased approach. The Board appreciated the presentation, discussed the content and agreed to the first phase that will focus on validating interest.

8.2 PPIG EB report

Marco Hogewoning and Maxim Burtikov joined for the Public Policy and Internet Governance (PPIG) report. The Board asked about the situation in Russia in particular. Marco explained that there are more countries that would want to change the governance model to have more control over the Internet. It was important to keep an open dialogue and to maintain and protect the multistakeholder model. A good example is the response of the RIPE NCC to legislation drafted by the European Commission which contained language that would bring the root server operators under the scope of EU regulation (NIS2). The EU Parliament has now agreed on a draft that removes the root server operators from the scope.

9. Plan for review of the future structure of the RIPE NCC

Hans Petter explained that the RIPE NCC is currently searching for an external party to advise on possible adjustments to the corporate structures that would allow the RIPE NCC to serve entities sanctioned by the Dutch or EU governments in the coming months. He expects to be able to report findings in early 2022.

10. RIPE

The RIPE Chair, Mirjam Kühne, briefed the Board on what is happening in the RIPE community.

The preparations for RIPE 83 are well underway. Registration numbers are similar to earlier meetings. The social event on Monday will be on SpatialChat with various groups in different rooms. The Board agreed to be available for participants for questions and talks.

The RIPE Chair Team drafted a new version of the Policy Development Process (PDP) and shared this on ripe-list, asking for feedback and comments.

Mirjam noted that the RIPE Database Requirements Task Force published their report with a number of recommendations. She advised to start looking at some of the recommendations and do a preliminary impact analysis.

The RIPE Chair team is working with RIPE NCC staff to increase the visibility of the RIPE community on www.ripe.net and make it easier to find relevant information.

11. AOB

Concerns from a member regarding voting transparency at the General Meeting were discussed. The Board noted that voting needs to be explained better and suggested not to bring back paper ballots at the next physical meeting to reduce possible errors. The Board agreed to address the concerns personally.

Christian noted he is planning to run for a seat on the ICANN Board next year. In case he will be selected, he will step down as Chairman. The Board did not see a conflict of interest and wished him luck.

Upcoming events and Board attendance were discussed:

22-29 Nov, RIPE 83 , virtual
2 Dec, 1130-1300 UTC+1, Govt Roundtable meeting Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia, virtual
6-10 Dec, IGF 2021, Katowice Poland, hybrid meeting
13 Dec, 0900-1130 UTC+1, Govt Roundtable meeting Middle East, virtual
15-16 Dec, EB#150, Amsterdam

Resolutions