[arin-ppml] Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2025-7: Make policy in 6.5.8.2 match the examples

[ARIN]

On 18 June 2026, the ARIN Advisory Council (AC) advanced the following Draft Policy to Recommended Draft Policy status: 

*ARIN-2025-7: Make policy in 6.5.8.2 match the examples

The text of the Recommended Draft Policy is below, and may also be found at: 

https://www.arin.net/participate/policy/drafts/2025_7/

You are encouraged to discuss all Recommended Draft Policies on PPML prior to their presentation at the next ARIN Public Policy Consultation (PPC). PPML and PPC discussions are invaluable to the AC when determining community consensus. 

The PDP can be found at:

https://www.arin.net/participate/policy/pdp/

Draft Policies and Proposals under discussion can be found at: 

https://www.arin.net/participate/policy/drafts/

Regards,
 
Eddie Diego
Policy Analyst
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)


Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2025-7: Make policy in 6.5.8.2 match the examples

AC Assessment of Conformance with the Principles of Internet Number Resource Policy:

Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2025-7 conforms to the principles of the ARIN Policy Development Process. If adopted, this policy fixes a math loophole in NRPM Section 6.5.8.2 to clarify that a single-site organization receives a /48 IPv6 allocation. To align with current registry procedures, it also updates the terminology throughout the section from "assignment" to "allocation." These clarifications match ARIN's actual current practices, introduce no operational changes, and have received strong community support both on the PPML and at recent ARIN meetings. We have found this policy to be fair, impartial, and technically sound. Additionally, we have had no concerns expressed by the community for this policy.

Problem Statement:

6.5.8.2 states “An organization qualifies for an assignment on the next larger nibble boundary when their sites exceed 75% of the /48s available in a prefix.“and then follows with “For example: More than 1 but less than or equal to 12 sites justified, receives a /44 assignment;“implying that a single site should only receive a /48. However, 1 /48 exceeds 75% of the /48s available in a /48 (1), so per the rule an organization with a single site should receive a /44, which differs from the example.

Policy Statement:

Current Text:

6.5.8.2. Initial Assignment Size

Organizations that meet at least one of the initial assignment criteria above are eligible to receive an initial assignment of /48. Requests for larger initial assignments, reasonably justified with supporting documentation, will be evaluated based on the number of sites in an organization’s network and the number of subnets needed to support any extra-large sites defined below.

The initial assignment size will be determined by the number of sites justified below. An organization qualifies for an assignment on the next larger nibble boundary when their sites exceed 75% of the /48s available in a prefix. For example:

* More than 1 but less than or equal to 12 sites justified, receives a /44 assignment;
* More than 12 but less than or equal to 192 sites justified, receives a /40 assignment;
* More than 192 but less than or equal to 3,072 sites justified, receives a /36 assignment;
* More than 3,072 but less than or equal to 49,152 sites justified, receives a /32 assignment; etc…

Proposed Text:

6.5.8.2. Initial Allocation Size

Organizations that meet at least one of the initial allocation criteria above are eligible to receive an initial allocation of /48. Larger initial allocation sizes will be determined by the number of sites justified below; an organization will qualify for an allocation on the next larger nibble boundary when their sites exceed 75% of the /48s available in a prefix. For example:

* 2 to 12 sites justified will receive a /44 allocation;
* 13 to 192 sites justified will receive a /40 allocation;
* 193 to 3,072 sites justified will receive a /36 allocation;
* 3,073 to 49,152 sites justified will receive a /32 allocation, etc.