Policy Proposal (Global): Allocation of IPv4 Blocks to Regional Internet Registries

[Member Services]

ARIN received the following global policy proposal. In accordance with
the ARIN Policy Development Process, the proposal is being posted to the
ARIN Public Policy Mailing List (PPML).

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

The AC will review this 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. The decision will be announced to the PPML.

In the meantime, the AC invites everyone to comment on this 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.

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

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

Regards,

Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)


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Policy Proposal Name: Allocation of IPv4 Blocks to Regional Internet
Registries

Proposal Originator:

This proposal was developed by a team consisting of persons from each of
the 5 RIRs.

Adiel A. Akplogan" AfriNIC

Raul Echeberria LACNIC

MAEMURA Akinori APNIC

Axel Pawlik RIPE NCC

Ray Plzak ARIN

Oscar A. Robles-Garay" LACNIC

Nigel Titley RIPE NCC

Paul Wilson APNIC

Proposal Version: 1.0

Date: 13 January 2009

Proposal type: New

Policy term: Permanent

Policy statement:

This document describes the policy governing the allocation of IPv4
address space from the IANA to the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs).
This document does not stipulate performance requirements in the
provision of services by IANA to an RIR in accordance with this policy.
Such requirements should be specified by appropriate agreements among
the RIRs and ICANN.

This policy is to be implemented in two phases.

A. Phase I: Recovery of IPv4 Address Space

Upon ratification of this policy by the ICANN Board of Directors the
IANA shall establish a mechanism to receive IPv4 address space which is
returned to it by the RIRs, and hold that address space in a 'recovered
IPv4 pool'.

Each RIR through their respective chosen policies and strategies may
recover IPv4 address space which is under their administration. Each RIR
shall at quarterly intervals return any such recovered address space to
the IANA in aggregated blocks of /24 or larger, for inclusion in the
recovered IPv4 pool.

During Phase I, no allocations will be made from the recovered IPv4 pool.

B. Phase II: Allocation of Recovered IPv4 address space by the IANA

Upon ratification of this policy by the ICANN Board of Directors and a
declaration by the IANA that its existing free pool of unallocated IPv4
addresses space is depleted; Global Addressing Policy ASO-001-2 (adopted
by ICANN Board 8 April 2005) is rescinded. IANA will then commence to
allocate the IPv4 address space from the recovered IPv4 pool.

1. Allocation of IPv4 Address Space

a. For the purposes of this policy, an 'IPv4 allocation period' is
defined as a 6-month period following 1 March or 1 September in each year.

b. At the beginning of each IPv4 allocation period, the IANA will
determine the 'IPv4 allocation unit' for that period, as 1/10 of its
IPv4 address pool, rounded down to the next CIDR (power-of-2) boundary.

c. In each allocation period, each RIR may issue one IPv4 request to the
IANA.  Providing that the RIR satisfies the allocation criteria
described in paragraph B.2, the IANA will allocate a single allocation
unit, composed of the smallest possible number of blocks available in
its IPv4 address pool.

2. IPv4 Address Space Allocation Criteria

A RIR is eligible to receive additional IPv4 address space from the IANA
when the total of its IPv4 address holdings is less than 50% of the
current IPv4 allocation unit, and providing that it has not already
received an IPv4 allocation from the IANA during the current IPv4
allocation period.

3. Initial Allocation of IPv4 Address Space

Each new RIR shall, at the moment of recognition, be allocated one (1)
allocation unit by the IANA. If an allocation unit is not available,
then the IANA will issue this block as soon as one is available. This
allocation will be made regardless of the newly formed RIR's projected
utilization figures and shall be independent of the IPv4 address space
that may have been transferred to the new RIR by the already existing
RIRs as part of the formal transition process.

4. Reporting

a. All returned space is to be recorded in an IANA-published log of IPv4
address space transactions, with each log entry detailing the returned
address block, the date of the return, and the returning RIR.

b. All allocated space is also to be recorded in this IANA-published log
of IPv4 address space transactions, with each log entry detailing the
address blocks, the date of the allocation and the recipient RIR.

c. The IANA will maintain a public registry of the current disposition
of all IPv4 address space, detailing all reservations and current
allocations and current IANA-held address space that is unallocated.

d) The IANA may make public announcements of IPv4 address block transactions
that occur under this policy. The IANA will make appropriate
modifications to the "Internet Protocol V4 Address Space" page of the
IANA website and may make announcements to its own appropriate
announcement lists. The IANA announcements will be limited to which
address ranges, the time of allocation and to which Registry they have
been allocated.

Rationale:

With the depletion of the IANA free pool of IPv4 address space, the
current policy regarding the allocation of IPv4 address space to the
RIRs will become moot. The RIRs may, according to their individual
policies and procedures, recover IPv4 address space. This policy
provides a mechanism for the RIRs to retro allocate the recovered IPv4
address space to the IANA and provides the IANA the policy by which it
can allocate it back to the RIRs on a needs basis. This policy creates a
new global pool of IPv4 address space that can be allocated where it is
needed on a global basis without a transfer of address space between the
RIRs.


Timetable for implementation:

This policy is to be implemented immediately upon ratification by the
ICANN Board of Directors according to the global policy process
described in the ASO MoU.