[arin-announce] New ARIN Membership Structure for 2022

[ARIN]

ARIN held a consultation on proposed changes to ARIN’s Membership Structure from 28 October to 29 November 2021. The purpose of this consultation was to provide our customers ARIN’s plan for membership going forward and to seek feedback on planned changes to ARIN’s membership structure for 2022. The full details of the consultation are available at:

https://www.arin.net/participate/community/acsp/consultations/2021/2021-5/

The proposed change to membership structure introduces a new category known as “Service Members”. The distinguishing characteristic between Service and General Member categories is related to the commitment to vote in ARIN’s elections.

Existing end-user customers will become Service Members as of 1 January 2022, and any Service Member organization may apply to become a General Member by submitting a request and meeting the General Member criteria. It is our hope that many end-user organizations will take advantage of the opportunity to participate in ARIN governance.

All General Members listed as of 31 December 2021 continue to be General Members, and ARIN will conduct a robust outreach to Service Members and new customers to inform them of their option to become General Members.

General members (whether existing or new ones who were previously end-user organizations and opted to become General Members) must participate in ARIN Elections to maintain their status. Following the 2023 ARIN annual election and each election thereafter, General Members that did not cast a ballot in any of the previous three ARIN elections will revert to Service Member status.

After considering the feedback from the community, ARIN will move forward to implement a new Membership structure beginning in January 2022, with the following changes:

• ARIN will offer an “abstain/no vote” option to the ballot as a way for General Member organizations to record their participation in an ARIN election without casting a vote in support of any specific candidate.
• ARIN will implement a minimum petition threshold.
• General Members who revert to Service Members (due to not participating in ARIN elections) will be able to reapply to be a General Member and will not be required to wait one year to do so. Organizations are encouraged to maintain their General Member status to avoid administrative overhead and/or delay that might result from the Service Member application process.

Organizations applying to become General Members will need to meet the following criteria:

• Presently be an ARIN Service Member in good standing with IPv4 and/or IPv6 number resources receiving services under a valid ARIN registration services agreement.
• Agrees to participate in ARIN governance by participating in annual elections.
• Agrees to inclusion of their organization in ARIN’s public membership lists and voter lists.
• Agrees that their participation in the ARIN community will comply with ARIN’s Standards of Behavior and ARIN Mailing List Appropriate Usage Policy.

We thank everyone who provided valuable feedback on this consultation and look forward to seeing robust participation in ARIN governance as a result of providing greater membership access and options to our customers.

Regards,

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)