[ripe-list] Revised PDP - Draft version 3 for your review

Dear colleagues,

The deadline for comments to the changes we proposed to the revised
Policy Development Process (PDP) document has passed. We reviewed the
suggestions we received and made some adjustments accordingly.
The new version (v3) is here:

https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-documents/other-documents/policy-development-process-in-ripe-v3

At the top of the document you will find a link to a page showing the
diff to v2 (and also a diff to ripe-710, the current PDP document).

Below you find the main considerations and changes we made. In addition
to that, the communication experts at the RIPE NCC cleaned up and
tightened the language throughout the document to avoid misunderstandings.

Before issuing a last call, we would like to ask you to review this new
version again carefully and provide any feedback before 27 May 2022. In
order to be able to build consensus, it is also important to let us know
if you are happy with this revised version of the document.

Kind regards,
Mirjam Kühne
RIPE Chair
=========

Main changes and considerations in revised PDP v3:

1. Introduction
We removed the distinction between author and owner and the sentence
related to that distinction in the introduction.

2. The Process
Based on feedback received for earlier versions of this draft, we kept
the strong suggestion to share an idea with the community before it
enters the formal policy process. We clarified that this is not
mandatory and strengthened the motivation.

2.1. Status of a proposal
We reviewed the suggestion to add a fourth status “abandoned” in
addition to open, accepted and withdrawn. We decided not to add
“abandoned” as this case is already covered by "withdrawn" or “open” (in
case someone else picks up the proposal).

4. Appeals Process
We did not see enough support for introducing a separate appeals body.
But based on experience with the first appeal, the entire appeals
process is defined a lot more clearly now.

5. Changes to the PDP
We received a comment that changes to the PDP should follow the same
process as other documents in RIPE. RIPE documents are typically agreed
by community consensus. While a specific, formal process has been agreed
for development of RIPE policy, enthusiasm in the community for using
this process for other RIPE documents is currently low. Therefore we
kept section 5. that describes how the PDP document is changed through
community consensus.