RIPE NCC Services to Legacy Internet Resource Holders

The RIPE NCC maintains and publishes registry data for resources held by members and legacy Internet resource holders in our service region. The RIPE NCC also provides reverse DNS delegation and a routing registry for IP addresses and AS Numbers, both of which include legacy Internet resources.

In 2014, the RIPE community accepted the policy “RIPE NCC Services to Legacy Internet Resource Holders”.

Services Provided to Legacy Internet Resource Holders

The matrix below presents the services that are available to legacy Internet resource holders depending on their choice of relationship with the RIPE NCC. These services are subject to change based on RIPE Policies.

For more information about fees, please visit the billing procedure page.

I am a legacy Internet resource holder and I want to:

Register my legacy Internet resources under my LIR

Are you already a member of the RIPE NCC and want to register under your LIR legacy resources that you are either the original holder of, or that have been transferred to your organisation in the past?

Note: There are no additional costs involved when moving legacy Internet resources under your LIR.

1. Send an email to [email protected] stating your reg-id and the legacy Internet resources (IPv4 prefixes and/or AS Numbers) that you hold and that you want to be registered under your LIR.
2. The RIPE NCC will follow a due diligence process. You will be asked to provide supporting documentation as proof that your organisation is the legitimate holder of these legacy Internet resources.
3. Depending on the case, such documents might include: company/organisation registration documents, proof of organisation name change (if one has taken place), transfer agreement, etc.
4. Once the evaluation of the holdership of the legacy Internet resources has been concluded, the RIPE NCC will email you a document with the Terms and Conditions that you will have to read, sign and return.
5. The RIPE NCC will then update the corresponding objects in the RIPE Database and move the resources under your LIR.
6. You can choose to have your legacy Internet resources registered as “LEGACY” or as though they had originally been distributed by the RIPE NCC (by converting them into “ALLOCATED PA”).

Become a member of the RIPE NCC (LIR)

Are you interested in becoming a member of the RIPE NCC in order to register and manage your legacy Internet resources?

Note: In this case you will get access to all member-only services of the RIPE NCC and will be able to request Internet number resources (IPv4, IPv6, AS Numbers) directly, at no additional cost.

1. Send an email to [email protected] stating the legacy Internet resources (IPv4 prefixes and/or AS Numbers) that you hold and that you want to be registered under your LIR, once your membership is activated.
2. The RIPE NCC will follow a due diligence process. You will be asked to provide supporting documentation as a proof that your organisation is the legitimate holder of these legacy Internet resources.
3. Depending on the case, such documents might include: company/organisation registration documents, proof of organisation name change (if one has taken place), transfer agreement, etc.
4. Once the evaluation of the holdership of the legacy Internet resources has been concluded, the RIPE NCC will guide you through the process of becoming an LIR.
5. Once your LIR membership has been activated, the RIPE NCC will then update the corresponding objects in the RIPE Database and move the resources under your LIR.
6. You can choose to have your legacy Internet resources registered as “LEGACY” or as though they had originally been distributed by the RIPE NCC (by converting them into “ALLOCATED PA”).
7. You can then request and manage Internet number resources.

Become a member
Billing

Register my legacy Internet resources via a sponsoring LIR

If you are not a RIPE NCC member, or if you are a member but do not wish to extend the membership contract to cover your legacy Internet resources, you may choose to enter into a contract with a RIPE NCC member who is willing to act as a sponsoring LIR for the purpose of registering your legacy Internet resources.

1. Send an email to [email protected] stating the legacy Internet resources (IPv4 prefixes and/or AS Numbers) that you hold and that you want to be registered via a sponsoring LIR. If you are already in an agreement with a sponsoring LIR, include its reg-id in your email. You may also copy the sponsoring LIR's contacts.
2. The RIPE NCC will follow a due diligence process. You will be asked to provide supporting documentation as a proof that your organisation is the legitimate holder of these legacy Internet resources.
3. These documents might be submitted by your sponsoring LIR on your behalf.
4. Depending on the case, such documents might include: company/organisation registration documents, proof of organisation name change (if one has taken place), transfer agreement, etc.
5. Once the evaluation of the holdership of the legacy Internet resources has been concluded, either you or your sponsoring LIR should send the RIPE NCC the agreement signed by both parties.
6. The RIPE NCC will then update the corresponding objects in the RIPE Database and move the resources under the account of the sponsoring LIR (this does not influence the holdership of the resources).
7. You can choose to have your legacy Internet resources registered as “LEGACY” or as though they had originally been distributed by the RIPE NCC (by converting them into “ASSIGNED PI”).

List of LIRs

Have no formal relationship with the RIPE NCC

In the case that no formal relationship has been established in support of a particular legacy Internet resource, the RIPE NCC will continue to provide any registry service already provided in support of each legacy Internet resource involved. The RIPE NCC will have no obligation to start providing any registry services not already provided in support of a particular legacy Internet resource, even in the case that the service element is provided in support of any other legacy Internet resource held by the same or another resource holder.

Note: Legacy Internet resource holders are encouraged to maintain their records in the RIPE Database. Keeping registration data current helps network operators make better operational decisions and prevents resources from being hijacked.

Are you a legacy Internet resource holder who wants to update the RIPE Registry in order to reflect reality?

1. Send an email to [email protected] stating the legacy Internet resources (IPv4 prefixes and/or AS Numbers) that you hold and for which you want the RIPE NCC to update the corresponding objects in the RIPE Database and its internal records.
2. The RIPE NCC will follow a due diligence process. You will be asked to provide supporting documentation as a proof that your organisation is the legitimate holder of these legacy Internet resources.
3. Depending on the case, such documents might include, but are not limited to, company/organisation registration documents, proof of organisation name change (if one has taken place), transfer agreement, etc.
4. Once the evaluation of the holdership of the legacy Internet resources has been concluded, the RIPE NCC will update the corresponding objects in the RIPE Database and its internal records.

Important Information

Background

Before the establishment of the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) system, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) was the primary authority to allocate and assign Internet number resources. It delegated this responsibility to various organisations like SRI-NIC and InterNIC.

When an RIR was established, the IANA transferred the responsibility of resource management to the respective RIR in the region.

• The RIPE Registry
• The RIPE NCC Activity Plan 1992

The RIPE NCC was the first RIR, founded in 1992. APNIC was formed in 1993, followed by ARIN in 1997, LACNIC in 1999 and AFRINIC in 2004.

When ARIN was formed in 1997, it inherited the InterNIC database of IP allocations.

In 2002, the RIRs came together to transfer all of the "legacy" address space to the RIR appropriate to the region where the resource holder resided. This was called the Early Registration Transfer (ERX) project.

Definition of legacy Internet resources

Legacy Internet resources, as defined in this policy, are any Internet resources obtained prior to (or otherwise outside of) the current system of hierarchical distribution (by allocation or assignment) through the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs).

This definition also refers to resources that have been distributed by IANA or InterNIC (or according to the appropriate manner at the time of distribution). This includes legacy Internet resources that have been transferred to the RIPE Registry since 1992.

This definition does not include:

• Resources that have been distributed or “obtained” in an inappropriate manner (e.g. hijacked resources).
• Resources transferred from other RIRs that have lost their “legacy” status due to the relevant RIR policies or processes (provided the RIPE NCC has an inter-RIR transfer policy).
• Resources that no longer have their "legacy" status after a relevant request by the legacy Internet resource holders (if the legacy Internet resource holders have requested their resources to be registered and maintained as if they had been distributed by the RIPE NCC).

Due diligence

This policy defines the holder of legacy Internet resources as one who has received these resources either directly or from another legacy Internet resource holder. This definition does not include holders of resources that are outside the definition of legacy Internet resources.

The RIPE NCC is entitled to perform due diligence checks in order to enter into a contractual relationship with someone who declares to be a legacy Internet resource holder. These due diligence checks will consist of:

• Verification that the contractual party exists (and is valid) and that it is properly represented in the signing of the agreement in accordance with the RIPE NCC procedural document “Due Diligence for the Quality of the RIPE NCC Registration Data”.
• Verification that the party declaring to be the legacy Internet resource holder is indeed the legitimate holder of the resources. The holder will need to submit the relevant proof and documentation.

If a party declaring to be a legacy Internet resource holder is unable to comply with these due diligence checks by providing satisfactory documentation as required, the RIPE NCC will not accept a contractual relationship as described in this policy and may refuse to update the corresponding records in the RIPE Registry.

Other questions

If you have any questions in the meantime, you can always contact us at [email protected].