[arin-ppml] Policy Proposal 86: Clarify Board of Trustees Emergency Authority - Abandoned

[Member Services]

Policy Proposal 86: Clarify Board of Trustees Emergency Authority

On 29 April 2009 the ARIN Advisory Council (AC) abandoned Policy 
Proposal 86. The AC provided the following explanation of their decision:

#####

The process by which the ARIN Advisory Council evaluates proposed number 
resource policies was initially codified in the Internet Resource Policy 
Evaluation Process (IRPEP), which in January 2009 was replaced with the 
Policy Development Process (PDP).

The PDP (and IRPEP in the past) serve to facilitate the advancement of 
number resource policy proposals from initial concept to finished form 
through an open, transparent, bottom-up process. The collected output of 
ARIN policy proposals over time is recorded in the Number Resource 
Policy Manual (NRPM).

Conspicuously absent from both the PDP and the IRPEP are any mechanisms 
to modify corporate instruments other than the NRPM (e.g. mission 
statement, charter, corporate bylaws, etc). Therefore, the PDP cannot be 
utilized and is not the proper vehicle under which to petition for 
changes to the process by which the Board of Trustees makes emergency 
policy decisions.

The Board of Trustees of any non-profit corporation have fiduciary and 
other common law duties to make wise decisions that preserve the 
organization's capability to carry out its mission. This responsibility 
cannot be completely delegated to any body, including an advisory 
council, or any other means for community input. If a better 
understanding is needed as to how the Board will act during any future 
exercise of Section 7.1 Emergency PDP, there was unanimous agreement at 
the AC meeting that the proper way to achieve this discussion and goal 
would be via the ARIN Consultation and Suggestion Process (ACSP).

https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp.html section 4.5
https://www.arin.net/participate/acsp/index.html

#####

The AC abandoned the proposal. This action may be petitioned. Per the 
ARIN Policy Development Process, “Any member of the community, including 
a proposal originator, may initiate a Discussion Petition if they are 
dissatisfied with the action taken by the Advisory Council regarding any 
specific policy proposal. If successful, this petition will change the 
policy proposal to a draft policy which will be published for discussion 
and review by the community on the PPML and at an upcoming public policy 
meeting.” The deadline to begin a petition for this proposal is 8 May 
2009. Petitions must include the proposal and a petition statement. Once 
begun, a petition lasts for 5 business days. Success is measured as 
support from at least 10 different people from 10 different 
organizations. Should an actual petition begin, ARIN staff will post 
additional information.

If there is no petition, or the petition fails, then this proposal will 
be closed.

The text for Draft Policies and Proposals is available at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/

The ARIN Policy Development Process is available at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp.html

Regards,

Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)

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Policy Proposal 86: Clarify Board of Trustees Emergency Authority

Proposal Originator: William Herrin

Proposal Version: 1.0

Date: 4/3/2009

Proposal type: modify

Policy term: permanent

Policy statement:

In the ARIN Policy Development Process (PDP) section 7.1, replace the 
sentence:
The Board of Trustees may initiate the Emergency PDP by declaring an 
emergency and posting a draft policy to the PPML for discussion for a 
minimum of 10 business days.
With the following text:
If faced with an extant problem for which a delay of six months is 
reasonably expected to have grave consequences, the Board of Trustees 
may initiate the Emergency PDP by declaring an emergency and drafting a 
proposal constrained to preventing actions which the Number Resource 
Policy Manual would otherwise allow. The draft policy must then be 
posted to the PPML for discussion for a minimum of 10 business days.

Rationale:
Section 1 of the ARIN Policy Development Process (PDP) wisely excludes 
the Board of Trustees (BoT) from participating in the drafting of ARIN 
policy for inclusion in the NRPM. Such participation would mean that the 
same individuals both write and approve the organization's policy.
Historically, giving the same individuals both the power to write policy 
and the power to approve it has demonstrated itself to be ripe for abuse.
Section 7 of the PDP exists so that if some mad genius comes up with a 
technically correct way to requisition all the remaining IP addresses, 
something can be done quickly enough to block it. It does not exist to 
allow the BoT a convenient way to forge new policy in violation of the 
section 1 proscriptions.
With emergency policy proposal 2009-1, the BoT exhibited an imperfect 
understanding of the purpose of section 7. This proposal seeks to 
clarify it.

Timetable for implementation: immediate