Community discussion of prop-118

The Open Policy Meeting at APNIC 44 in Taichung, Taiwan discussed prop-118: No needs in APNIC region.

The following is a summary of the discussion and posts to the mailing list as prepared by the APNIC Secretariat.

This proposal is to remove the requirement to demonstrate need when transferring IPv4 addresses into or within the APNIC region. There is an exception where the resources are from an RIR region that requires needs-based policies, in which case, recipients must provide a plan use of at least 50% of the resources within five years. This policy would not apply to AS number transfers.

Supporting arguments

• The policy would reduce the workload for staff and Members by around 800 emails per year.
• Anything you can do to make transfers easy will mean more unused addresses freed up for use.
• The role of the registry is to be an accurate record keeper; if the source and recipient agree to transfer, the registry should record it.
• Demonstrated need is not relevant since the resources are not from the free pool.
• It would avoid the need to supply sensitive information to APNIC when demonstrating your needs.

Opposing arguments

• In the past 12 months, only a single transfer was refused by the Secretariat because the recipient was unable to demonstrate need.
• This policy will lead to speculation and hoarding of IPv4 addresses.
• This policy will lead to abuse in the use of address space if both this proposal and prop-119 are adopted.
• The workload removed by this proposal would benefit address brokers more than the Secretariat.
• More fraudulent transfers might occur if there is less analysis by the Secretariat.
• Justifying 50% use within five years does not seem like meaningful criteria. It is hard for applicants to speculate the needs for five years (too long ahead) and it is also hard to evaluate the application.