ARIN Membership

Who Can Join?

Membership is not required to participate in ARIN's policy development process. Membership in ARIN is open to any individual or entity. Organizations that receive direct allocations of IP address space from ARIN are automatically accorded General Membership. Any other interested parties are welcome to join for a small fee.

ARIN seeks a broad-based membership that represents all users and potential users of Internet number resources within its service region.

It is not necessary to become a member of ARIN prior to applying for Internet number resources, nor will doing so make it easier to obtain them. Members and nonmembers alike must justify allocation requests based on utilization criteria.

General Membership

Any individual or entity may become a General Member of ARIN in one of the following ways:

Receive a direct allocation of IP address space from ARIN.
Membership remains active as long as the organization remains a General Member in good standing. See the Registration section for information on requesting IP address space.

Organizations that received a direct assignment of IPv4 address space; organizations that received an experimental allocation; organizations that received an AS number; and organizations that have had fees waived for the initial registration or annual renewal of an IP allocation are not accorded membership automatically. However, they may become General Members by following the instructions below.

Complete a Membership Application Form and pay an annual membership fee of $500.

See the ARIN Bylaws, Article V, Section 1 for more information on membership types.

Designated Member Representative

Each ARIN General Member is asked to name a designated member representative (DMR). This is the only person that will be eligible to vote in ARIN online elections (Bylaws, Article V, Section 3.b.). Each member may cast one vote for each open seat. The DMR must have a name and personalized e-mail address on record with the Member Services Department (info@arin.net) to be eligible. The e-mail must include the person's name or initials and the organization's domain name. Role accounts are not acceptable.

The DMR is not identified in WHOIS. The information is used exclusively for ARIN's Member Services Department and will not be shared with anyone outside ARIN.

Although the Member Services Department attempts to gather updated DMR information prior to ARIN's annual election cycle, it is ultimately the member's responsibility to maintain its data and ensure its voter eligibility. To verify or update your DMR's information, contact the Member Services Department at info@arin.net.

General Members in Good Standing

A General Member in good standing is defined as an entity that is current on all membership and/or resource fee payments (Bylaws, Article V, Section 1.b.).

The ARIN Board of Trustees declares that for purposes of determining General Member in good standing status, the term "current" is defined as having no outstanding invoices sixty (60) days beyond the invoice due date. For purposes of membership, invoices are tied to Org IDs for subscriber members and organization names for nonsubscriber members.

Membership Rights

According to the ARIN Bylaws, every ARIN General Member in good standing is entitled to:

Send two representatives to ARIN's biannual Public Policy and Members Meetings at no cost. (ARIN member organizations may send additional representatives to these meetings for a nominal registration fee.)
Nominate and elect Board of Trustees and Advisory Council members. Each ARIN member is entitled to one vote per open seat, cast by its designated member representative.
Participate in member mailing lists for announcements and discussions.
Display the ARIN member logo on a company or personal website.
Take advantage of future membership benefits offered.

Membership Termination

Membership is terminated when the directly allocated address space is transferred to another entity or returned to ARIN, or when the entity fails to pay required annual renewal, maintenance, or membership fees. If resources are transferred, membership and its associated rights are transferred to the entity acquiring the address space, if that entity creates a new Org ID with ARIN.

More Information

ARIN relies on the involvement of its members to accomplish its mission. Members are encouraged to attend meetings, engage in mailing list policy discussions, and vote in the Board of Trustees, Advisory Council, and Number Resource Organization Number Council elections.

Contact the Member Services Department at info@arin.net with questions about membership or general ARIN operations, or to update your designated member representative information. In addition, this website contains detailed information about the history of ARIN, its mission, and how it allocates numbering resources, so browse through the site to find more information about what it means to be a member of ARIN.