[arin-ppml] Change of Use and ARIN (was: Re: AFRINIC And The Stability Of The Internet Number Registry System)

[John Curran]

On 7 Sep 2021, at 3:39 PM, arin-ppml <arin-ppml at arin.net<mailto:arin-ppml at arin.net>> wrote:

Unless I recall it incorrectly, they are elected by the *membership* not the *community*. There is a huge difference.

Jordi -

You are correct - ARIN is membership organization with a member-elected Board of Trustees.

In other regions, the chairs of the PDP are elected by the community.

In the ARIN region, our ARIN Advisory Council (which administers the policy process) is elected by the membership as well.

The board is still elected by the membership, but the board has nothing to say in regards to PDP/policy making process.

In the overwhelming majority of the time, the ARIN Board of Trustees role is limited to review and ratification of recommended policies, but they do retain the ability to propose policy in an emergency (see below).

Further to that, only one RIR (LACNIC) has explicitly indicated in the PDP that the board could reject a policy that reached consensus and return it to the policy list for further discussion. I don’t think it happened ever – I agree that this is a good think in order to protect the membership/organization if the community gets crazy, but it must be clearly proven and explained with no doubts or signs of attempt of community decisions manipulation.

In the ARIN region, the relevant section of the PDP <https://www.arin.net/participate/policy/pdp/#10-special-policy-actions> states that the Board may initiate policy _"if urgently necessary pursuant to ARIN’s mission”_

The Board doesn’t simply enact policy - the process involves posting the proposed policy to this list (arin-ppml) and having an express review of it by the ARIN AC –

10. Special Policy Actions
10.1 Emergency PDP
If urgently necessary pursuant to ARIN’s mission, the Board of Trustees may initiate policy by declaring an emergency and posting a Recommended Draft Policy on the PPML for discussion for a minimum of 14 days. The Advisory Council will review the Recommended Draft Policy within 7 days of the end of the discussion period and make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees. If the Board of Trustees adopts the policy, it will be presented at the next Public Policy Meeting for reconsideration.

I am unaware of the ARIN Board ever proposing policy aside from the circumstances in 2009 regarding the need for a usable transfer policy.

FYI,
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers

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