Policy Proposal 105: Simplified M&A transfer policy

[Member Services]

ARIN received the following policy proposal and is posting it to the
Public Policy Mailing List (PPML) in accordance with Policy Development
Process.

This proposal is in the first stage of the Policy Development Process.
ARIN staff will perform the Clarity and Understanding step. Staff does
not evaluate the proposal at this time, their goal is to make sure that
they understand the proposal and believe the community will as well.
Staff will report their results to the ARIN Advisory Council (AC) within
10 days.

The AC will review the proposal at their next regularly scheduled
meeting (if the period before the next regularly scheduled meeting is
less than 10 days, then the period may be extended to the subsequent
regularly scheduled meeting). The AC will decide how to utilize the
proposal and announce the decision to the PPML.

In the meantime, the AC invites everyone to comment on the proposal on
the PPML, particularly their support or non-support and the reasoning
behind their opinion. Such participation contributes to a thorough
vetting and provides important guidance to the AC in their deliberations.

Draft Policies and Proposals under discussion can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/index.html

The ARIN Policy Development Process can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp.html

Mailing list subscription information can be found
at: https://www.arin.net/mailing_lists/

Regards,

Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)


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Policy Proposal 105: Simplified M&A transfer policy

Proposal Originator: Scott Leibrand

Proposal Version: 1.0

Date: 22 December 2009

Proposal type: new

Policy term: permanent

Policy statement:

Replace section 8.2 with:

8.2. Mergers and Acquisitions

ARIN will consider requests for the transfer of number resources in the
case of properly documented mergers and acquisitions.  ARIN will
maintain an up-to-date list of acceptable types of documentation.

In the event that number resources of the acquired/merged
organization(s) are no longer efficiently utilized at the time ARIN
becomes aware of the transaction, through a transfer request or
otherwise, ARIN will work with the resource holder(s) to return or
aggregate resources as appropriate via the processes outlined in
sections 4.6, 4.7, or 12 of the NRPM.

Add "In addition to transfers under section 8.2, " at the beginning of
section 8.3. Transfers to Specified Recipients.

Rationale:

This policy proposal: attempts to simplify the M&A transfer section of
the NRPM; eliminates the ambiguity discussed at the ARIN Public Policy
Meeting (PPM) in Dearborn by clarifying that transfers can occur under
either 8.2 or 8.3 independently; and attempts to address the concerns
raised in the staff policy implementation report at the Dearborn PPM.

The idea here is to simply say that ARIN will allow M&A transfers, and
to require the return of any address space that is not efficiently
utilized after the acquisition. Preferably that would happen
voluntarily under the policies of NRPM 4.6 (Amnesty), but it also leaves
the door open for ARIN to revoke space under NRPM 12 (Resource Review)
if necessary. This also should dramatically increase the completion
rate for transfer requests, as the evaluation of whether space is
efficiently utilized after the transfer can occur in parallel,
completely independently of the transfer request, and can continue even
if the transfer request is abandoned.

The bulleted lists of acceptable documentation removed from the NRPM
should be maintained by ARIN elsewhere on the website, such as at
https://www.arin.net/resources/request/transfers.html

Timetable for implementation: Immediate