1. Welcome, Preliminaries
RIPE NCC Executive Board Chairman Kees Neggers opened the General Meeting (GM) at 17:00 and welcomed the attendees. Kees explained that he
would chair the meeting until Agenda point 9 and then the Treasurer of the RIPE NCC Executive Board, Janos Zsako, would chair the Executive Board
elections.
2. Report from the RIPE NCC
The report on the RIPE NCC's activities was presented during the RIPE NCC Services Working Group on Wednesday, 7 May 2008 from 16:00 to 17:00
and it was not repeated here.
3. Presentation of the RIPE NCC 2007 Financial Report
The Chairman introduced Janos Zsako, who explained that he would be making the Financial Report presentation because the Chief Financial Officer of the RIPE NCC, Jochem de Ruig, was unable to attend.
Janos concluded the presentation and asked if there were any comments or questions.
There was a comment that the financial team had done an excellent job on the term deposit interest rates attained for the RIPE NCC's cash holdings.
4. Adoption of the RIPE NCC 2007 Audited Financial Report
The 2007 Audited Financial Report is contained within the RIPE NCC Annual Report 2007 and is available online.
The Chairman noted that the audit and the management letter of the 2007 Financial Report were very positive. He added that the total administration of the RIPE NCC is therefore up-to-date and conforms to industry best practices. He thanked the RIPE NCC Managing Director Axel Pawlik and his staff, and pointed to the efforts of the Executive Board Treasurer Janos Zsako in ensuring that the correct procedures were followed.
The formal resolution: "The General Meeting adopts the 2007 Financial Report of the RIPE NCC."
The resolution was accepted unanimously.
5. Discharge of the Executive Board
The RIPE NCC 2007 Annual Report is available online.
The formal resolution: "The General Meeting discharges the Executive Board with regard to its actions as they appear from the Annual Report."
The resolution was accepted and there was one abstention noted.
6. Financial Status Q1/2008 and Outlook
Janos Zsako outlined the financial status for the first quarter of 2008 and the outlook for the rest of the year.
Janos asked if there were any questions. There were none.
7. Report from the Executive Board
The Chairman gave the report from the RIPE NCC Executive Board.
The Chairman commented that he would like the members' input into the scenario discussions that will take place between the Executive Board and the RIPE NCC's senior management in June 2008. He noted that they will hire scenario experts and any ideas would be welcome. He asked that people just approach the Executive Board members with any input, however small, they may have.
The Chairman also noted that the Personnel Fund had successfully been discontinued, and he felt that this demonstrates a high level of trust between RIPE NCC staff, management and the Executive Board. He added that the Executive Board would ensure that the money would now be used to ensure a healthy environment for RIPE NCC staff.
The Chairman commented that one of the issues from the last GM was that regarding provider independent (PI) address space and policy proposal 2007-01, and this is still ongoing. He added that the Executive Board is aware that this is an issue that could have an impact on the RIPE NCC and its service provision, as well as on the RIPE NCC's structure with respect to such matters as membership status, fees and the Charging Scheme. He assured members that there would be good analysis of possible scenarios and outcomes and he pointed out that this would have to be brought to the next GM as the members would have to approve the Budget and Charging Scheme for 2009.
Another matter from the previous GM that the Chairman referenced was use of the Charging Scheme to accelerate deployment of IPv6, but it was decided by the GM that the tariff scheme should be related to the RIPE NCC's service provision and that the promotion of IPv6 take-up should take place through the policy environment that is currently in place.
Kees concluded his presentation and asked if there were any questions.
There was a request for the Board to come up with proposed changes to the Articles of Association, such as introducing associate membership and restricted membership that could possibly be applied to the PI space issue. The member said he would be in favour of changes being made to the system for making decisions in the General Meetings and he suggested that introducing e-voting and restricting the amount proxy votes that can be used should be looked into.
The Chairman noted that there was a discussion on membership issues at the last GM and if something happens with the PI space issue and possible new membership statuses then this will have to happen via changes in the Articles of Association.
The member asked if anything on PI space would be on the agenda at the next GM.
The Chairman responded that it was already proposed to have something on the agenda for the next GM. He noted that regarding voting procedures, it was simple previously when there were few candidates but in a situation with many candidates it is not the most efficient method. He added that if the Articles of Association are being changed the Executive Board would look into this as well.
Regarding policy proposal 2007-01, a question was asked whether as a community we would offer cheap membership to people looking for PI address space. He suggested that ISPs might look at discounts as a cheap means of sidestepping the LIR process.
The Chair of the Address Policy Working Group responded, saying that PI space is currently free, so whatever price is arrived at it will be more expensive than is currently the case. He added that membership for PI address space holders would have to be cheaper than normal membership for a number of reasons.
The Chairman said that if the fee charged is related to the service provided by the RIPE NCC it would have to be determined how much work the RIPE NCC would have to carry out. He continued that this is something Axel would have to look at to see how much it would cost the NCC to make transparent the fees that would be charged. The Chairman noted that the Board has already asked Axel to look into it so this supports both colleagues' comments.
There was a comment that the members would get to the bottom of this issue in the current GM, which is why months ago it was suggested that a draft structural document on this be produced so people could look at it in the policy environment. He suggested that we could probably tweak the size categories and we would then have to look at issues such as whether the new members would have voting rights or not. He felt that if people are just looking for cheap resources then we could expect that they will probably not have an interest in the well-being of the RIPE NCC or the RIPE community after they receive these resources.
The Chairman said that the members would have to look at the rights and obligations people would have if membership status was granted and this is a matter that would have to be investigated.
There were no further questions.
8. Approval of New Nominees to the Arbitration Pool
The Chairman noted that the arbitration pool is not used very often but it is an important resource to have and the Executive Board is very pleased to have three nominees.
The formal resolution: "The General meeting approves the addition of Olaf Kolkman, Jaap Akkerhuis and Remco van Mook to the RIPE NCC Arbitration Pool."
The resolution was accepted unanimously.
9. RIPE NCC Executive Board Elections
The RIPE NCC Executive Board election was chaired by Janos Zsako. Janos explained that the elections were to fill the seats being vacated by Kees Neggers and Jim Reid. Janos thanked Kees and Jim for the work they performed during their terms on the Executive Board. Janos explained the voting procedure and asked the candidates to briefly introduce themselves.
The seven candidates were:
• Fahad AlShirawi
• Joao Damas
• Ian Meikle
• Kees Neggers
• Jim Reid
• Max Tulyev
• Andreas Wittkemper
Voting Results
Seat 1: Round 1 of Voting
Fahad AlShirawi 49
Joao Damas 59
Ian Meikle 19
Kees Neggers 39
Jim Reid 13
Max Tulyev 3
Andreas Wittkemper 29
Abstentions 4
Janos noted that 108 votes were required for election and that a second round of voting would be required.
He added that all candidates were eligible for votes in the second round.
Seat 1: Round 2 of Voting
Fahad AlShirawi 94
Joao Damas 67
Ian Meikle 1
Kees Neggers 35
Jim Reid 9
Max Tulyev 0
Andreas Wittkemper 5
Abstentions 4
Janos noted that a third round of voting would be required. He added that, under the voting procedure laid out in the RIPE NCC Articles of Association, Max Tulyev was not eligible to receive votes in the third round of voting.
Seat 1: Round 3 of Voting
Fahad AlShirawi 104
Joao Damas 68
Ian Meikle 1
Kees Neggers 28
Jim Reid 5
Andreas Wittkemper 3
Invalid 1
Abstentions 6
Janos noted that a fourth round of voting would be required. He added that, under the voting procedure laid out in the RIPE NCC Articles of Association, Ian Meikle was not eligible to receive votes in the fourth round of voting.
Seat 1: Round 4 of Voting
Fahad AlShirawi 119
Joao Damas 66
Kees Neggers 22
Jim Reid 3
Andreas Wittkemper 1
Abstentions 5
Fahad AlShirawi was elected.
Janos noted that the remaining six candidates were eligible for election.
Seat 2: Round 1 of Voting
Joao Damas 75
Ian Meikle 19
Kees Neggers 31
Jim Reid 6
Max Tulyev 4
Andreas Wittkemper 76
Abstentions 5
Janos noted that a second round of voting would be required. He added that all candidates were eligible for votes in the second round.
Seat 2: Round 2 of Voting
Joao Damas 80
Ian Meikle 17
Kees Neggers 15
Jim Reid 4
Max Tulyev 3
Andreas Wittkemper 92
Abstentions 5
Janos noted that a third round of voting would be required. He added that, under the voting procedure laid out in the RIPE NCC Articles of Association, Max Tulyev was not eligible to receive votes in the third round of voting.
Seat 2: Round 3 of Voting
Joao Damas 80
Ian Meikle 17
Kees Neggers 9
Jim Reid 5
Andreas Wittkemper 100
Abstentions 5
Janos noted that a fourth round of voting would be required. He added that, under the voting procedure laid out in the RIPE NCC Articles of Association, Jim Reid was not eligible to receive votes in the fourth round of voting.
Seat 2: Round 4 of Voting
Joao Damas 80
Ian Meikle 17
Kees Neggers 11
Andreas Wittkemper 102
Abstentions 6
Janos noted that a fifth round of voting would be required. He added that, under the voting procedure laid out in the RIPE NCC Articles of Association, Kees Neggers was not eligible to receive votes in the fifth round of voting.
Seat 2: Round 5 of Voting
Joao Damas 84
Ian Meikle 0
Andreas Wittkemper 124
Invalid 1
Abstentions 7
Andreas Wittkemper was elected.
Janos concluded the GM at 20:27 and thanked everybody for attending.