[ncc-announce] [GM] RIPE NCC Executive Board Position on Multiple LIRs Resolution

Dear colleagues,

The RIPE NCC General Meeting (GM) takes place tomorrow on Wednesday, 25
May 2016.

At the GM, members will vote on four resolutions and in the RIPE NCC
Executive Board election. The third resolution to be voted on concerns
the ability of RIPE NCC members to open additional LIR accounts.
Currently, this ability is suspended pending the vote at the GM. There
will be a presentation on this issue at the meeting and a discussion
afterwards.

The Executive Board recommends to members that they vote Yes to allow
members to open additional LIR accounts. Due to the high number of
remote voting participants who are registered for the meeting, the Board
would like to take the opportunity to explain via email its reasoning
for making such a recommendation.

The RIPE NCC has noticed that while the suspension has been in place,
there has been no significant slowdown in the number of organisations
becoming members of the RIPE NCC. The RIPE NCC has also noted that there
has been an increase in some countries of organisations setting up
separate legal entities that can become full members of the RIPE NCC and
receive a /22 of IPv4 address space.

This means that it is more difficult to track who is holding multiple
/22s of IPv4 address space from the last /8. It also means that these
separate legal entities, which can be owned by a single person, can
acquire multiple voting rights at the GM.

The Board therefore believes that the suspension of the ability to add
additional LIR accounts has not solved the problem it was intended to
solve, and it has created some new problems.

By voting Yes to this resolution, the Board believes it would:
1. Bring much-needed transparency to the situation regarding holders of
/22s from the last /8
2. Encourage a reduction in the amount of individuals holding multiple
voting rights at the GM
3. Allow the Policy Development Process (PDP) to close loopholes
relating to the Last /8 policy rather than the membership

Last week, the RIPE NCC published an article on RIPE Labs that gives
further information on membership growth and available IPv4 statistics:
https://labs.ripe.net/Members/wilhelm/ripe-ncc-membership-and-available-ipv4-statistics-an-update

We look forward to hearing your views on this matter at the GM, and you
should also feel free to discuss this matter on the
<members-discuss at ripe.net> mailing list.

There are three other resolutions to be voted on at the GM:

Resolution 1 asks members to formally adopt the RIPE NCC's audited
accounting for 2015.

Resolution 2 asks members to formally discharge the Executive Board of
liability in relation to their position as board members.

Resolution 4 asks the members to approve the Charging Scheme for 2017.
The charging scheme proposed by the board would continue the current
annual membership fee of EUR 1,400 + EUR 50 per PI assignment. There
will also be a presentation on this at the GM and a discussion afterwards.

All items to be presented, discussed and voted on at the GM are listed
in the agenda for the meeting:
https://www.ripe.net/participate/meetings/gm/meetings/may-2016/agenda

Executive Board Election
------------------------
There are four candidates for the RIPE NCC Executive Board election.
Biographies for all candidates are available at:
https://www.ripe.net/participate/meetings/gm/meetings/may-2016/confirmed-candidates

Voting at the GM
----------------
The deadline to register to vote electronically is 16:00 UTC+2 on 25 May.

The voting window will open during the GM and will close at 09:00 UTC+2
on 27 May, giving members across the service region time to consider the
discussions at the GM before casting their votes.

All those who register to vote will receive an email with a link to the
voting software on the day of the GM.

Registration
------------
There are currently over 950 members registered to vote at the GM. All
members are asked to take a minute to register to vote via the LIR
Portal. You can register for your organisation at:
https://www.ripe.net/s/gm-registration-may-2016

If you have any questions about the GM or electronic voting, please
contact <agm at ripe.net>.

Regards,

Nigel Titley
RIPE NCC Executive Board Chairman