Removal of requirement for certification of reallocated IPv4 addresses

This proposal requests that the text requiring certification of transferred resources is deleted

Summary of Proposal

The RIPE policy proposal 2007-08, “Enabling Methods for Reallocation of IPv4 Resources”, provided a mechanism for re-allocating IPv4 address resources from one RIPE Local Internet Registry to another.  The original intention of the policy was to introduce mandatory certification for all reallocated IPv4 address blocks in order to conclusively establish holdership, and the policy was accepted in December 2008.  Subsequently, as the RIPE Community failed to achieve consensus on resource certification policies, the 2007-08 authors noted that the mandatory certification policy was at odds with the RIPE NCC procedures concerning certification, which put the RIPE NCC in a position whereby it could not fulfil the policy aims.  In other words, it’s a policy bug.

This proposal requests that the text requiring certification of transferred resources is deleted, thereby allowing default RIPE policies and RIPE NCC procedures regarding certification to be applied to reallocated IPv4 address space.

Policy Text

1. Current policy text

[Following text is to be modified from the RIPE Policy Document “IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment Policies for the RIPE NCC Service Region”, if the proposal reaches consensus. This will result in a new policy section.]

5.5 Transfers of Allocations

[…]

Please note that the LIR always remains responsible for the entire allocation it receives from the RIPE NCC until the transfer of address space to another LIR is completed or the address space is returned. The LIR must ensure that all policies are applied.

Re-allocated blocks will be signed to establish the current allocation owner.

Re-allocated blocks are no different from the allocations made directly by the RIPE NCC and so they must be used by the receiving LIR according to the policies described in this document.

1. New policy text

[Following text will replace section 5.5 in the RIPE Policy Document “IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment Policies for the RIPE NCC Service Region”, if the proposal reaches consensus. This will result in a new policy section. NOTE: removed the second last paragraph.]

5.5 Transfers of Allocations

[…]

Please note that the LIR always remains responsible for the entire allocation it receives from the RIPE NCC until the transfer of address space to another LIR is completed or the address space is returned. The LIR must ensure that all policies are applied.

Re-allocated blocks are no different from the allocations made directly by the RIPE NCC and so they must be used by the receiving LIR according to the policies described in this document.

Rationale

1. Arguments supporting the proposal

The RIPE NCC is currently in a position whereby it cannot fulfil the objectives of the original policy.  As there is no point in having policy which cannot be implemented, the policy should be fixed. 

Attempting to amend the policy to allow opt-in certification would continue the discrepancy between certification requirements for reallocated IPv4 address blocks and non reallocated blocks.

The simplest solution to dealing with this issue is to delete the text and allow the default procedures for resource certification to be applied.

b. Arguments opposing the proposal

none

Note: In order to provide additional information related to the proposal, details of an impact analysis carried out by the RIPE NCC are documented below. The projections presented in this analysis are based on existing data and should be viewed only as an indication of the possible impact that the policy might have if the proposal is accepted and implemented.

A. RIPE NCC's Understanding of the Proposed Policy

The RIPE NCC understands that this policy proposal represents a straightforward clean up in the IPv4 Policy.

B. Impact of Policy on Registry and Addressing System

Address/Internet Number Resource Consumption:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate any significant impact if this proposal is implemented.

Fragmentation/Aggregation:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate any significant impact if this proposal is implemented.

C. Impact of Policy on RIPE NCC Operations/Services 

Registration Services:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate any significant impact if this proposal is implemented.

Billing/Finance Department:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate any significant impact if this proposal is implemented.

RIPE Database:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate any significant impact if this proposal is implemented.

D. Legal Impact of Policy

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate any significant impact if this proposal is implemented.