[ncc-announce] RIPE NCC Position On The ITU IPv6 Group

Dear Colleagues,

As you may be aware, the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU)  
Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) has convened an ITU  
IPv6 Group, the first meeting of which will be held on 15-16 March  
2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. Information on this group is available at:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/othergroups/ipv6/

Among the group's Terms of Reference are the following:

   * To draft a global policy proposal for the reservation of a large  
IPv6 block, taking into consideration the future needs of developing  
countries (as outlined in paragraph 23 of ITU document C09/29).

   * To further study possible methodologies and related  
implementation mechanisms to ensure 'equitable access' to IPv6  
resource by countries.

   * To further study the possibility for ITU to become another  
Internet Registry, and propose policies and procedures for ITU to  
manage a reserved IPv6 block.

   * To further study the feasibility and advisability of implementing  
the CIR [Country Internet Registry] model for those countries who  
would request national allocations.

The ITU IPv6 Group is open to ITU Member States and Sector Members of  
ITU-T and ITU-D. RIRs that are not members have also been extended an  
invitation to participate.

IPv6 address policy is clearly of critical importance to the RIPE NCC  
membership, and the unsympathetic implementation of any of the Terms  
of Reference stated above would have serious impact on the global IP  
address distribution environment.

Members of RIPE NCC staff will be participating in this meeting of the  
ITU IPv6 Group to represent the interests of our members and community.

The position of the RIPE NCC is based on support for smooth and  
reliable working of the Internet globally, and for the bottom-up, open  
policy development process that allows for all stakeholders, including  
business, government and the technical community, to participate.

Some of the issues addressed in the Terms of Reference listed above  
are a cause for concern because they could directly affect the RIPE  
NCC operations as a Regional Internet Registry (RIR). Therefore, the  
RIPE NCC position on the Terms of Reference is as follows:

* The needs of developing economies in IP address policy are  
important. Network operators in these economies have fair and equal  
access to IPv6 resources from the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs),  
and to the Policy Development Processes in their RIR and globally.  
Each of the RIRs has been allocated an equal block of IPv6 to  
distribute to networks in their region. (eg. AfriNIC has been  
allocated the same sized block of IPv6 as the RIPE NCC).

* IPv6 allocations made by RIRs to date amount to the equivalent of  
500 times the size of the entire IPv4 address pool, allocated to  
networks in over 150 economies.

* If a significant sector in the Internet community feels that the  
"reservation of a large IPv6 block" for "the future needs of  
developing countries" is warranted, the open, bottom-up Policy  
Development Processes (PDPs) of the RIRs provide an appropriate forum  
in which to argue that case and develop such a policy.

* The RIRs, as the recognised stewards of Internet Number Resources,  
are working, individually, jointly, and with invited experts, to  
engage the ITU membership. We have closely followed discussions in the  
ITU to date. The RIPE NCC does not believe that there are any problems  
that would be solved by the shift to a country-based allocation system  
or the installation of the ITU as an Internet Registry.

The purpose of this email is to ensure that all RIPE NCC members are  
informed of the RIPE NCC's participation in this ITU IPv6 Group, and  
our position. If you have any comments or questions regarding this  
information, please send an email to <ncc at ripe.net>.

Kind regards,

Axel Pawlik
Managing Director
RIPE NCC