RIPE NCC General Meeting October 2005: Minutes

Location: Hotel Krasnapolsky, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Date: 13 October 2005
Scribe: Rob Allen

1. Welcome, Preliminaries
2. Financial and Administration Update
3. Report from the Executive Board
4. RIPE NCC Vision and Focus: Proposed Changes to Activities in 2006
5. Draft Budget
6. Charging Scheme 2006
7. RIPE NCC Policy and Quality of Service
8. Close

1. Welcome, Preliminaries

Kees Neggers, RIPE NCC Executive Board Chairman, opened the meeting at 17:23.
He welcomed the attendees.

2. Financial and Administration Update

Jochem de Ruig, Chief Financial Officer of the RIPE NCC, presented the Financial and Administration Update.

The presentation is available at:

http://www.ripe.net/membership/gm/gm-october2005/presentations/financial-status.pdf

The Chairman asked for questions.

Question: Kurt Lindqvist asked if the presentation referenced a balance sheet surplus or an operational surplus?

Answer: Jochem replied that any surplus the RIPE NCC has is automatically a balance surplus as the RIPE NCC does not pay any corporate income tax.

3. Report from the Executive Board

Kees Neggers, RIPE NCC Executive Board Chairman, presented the report from the RIPE NCC Executive Board.

The presentation is available at:

http://www.ripe.net/membership/gm/gm-october2005/presentations/board-report.pdf

Kees noted that the RIPE NCC has an agreed balance reserve that is maintained to ensure a stable reserve position.

He stated that since the beginning of the RIPE NCC, one auditing firm has performed the audits of the RIPE NCC. He added that the RIPE NCC Executive Board feels that in accordance with good business practice, the auditors should be changed every 4 - 5 years. He noted that the RIPE NCC Executive Board has agreed to contract KPMG to perform the auditing of the RIPE NCC for 2005.

He noted that most RIPE NCC members had signed the new RIPE NCC contract, but that 150 members had still not signed a new contract. He asked any members who had not signed their new contract to do so. He added that if a member did not sign the updated contract by the end of the year, the member’s agreement with the RIPE NCC would expire at the end of the year, as has been announced in the notices that have been sent out about this.

He mentioned that Axel Pawlik, RIPE NCC Managing Director, and other RIPE NCC staff spend time on dealing with external relations and added that these activities are important for the RIPE NCC and its members.

He noted that in regards to the Number Resource Organization (NRO) it is important for the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) to incorporate the NRO in a way that makes it work in the most effective way.

He stated that the RIPE NCC still operates under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ICANN. He added that there is continued negotiation about a contract, and it is important for the RIPE NCC to ensure that the contract is appropriate.

He noted that the Information and Communication Technologies community depend on RIPE NCC services and a good governance structure in the changing landscape. He added that things are moving rapidly and that the RIPE NCC is part of this changing landscape.

The Chairman asked for questions.
There were none.

Kees handed over to Frode Greisen, ICANN Liaison on the RIPE NCC Executive Board, to give a report on what has been happening with ICANN and the RIRs.

Frode mentioned that ICANN was established in 1998 and that the first RIPE NCC MoU with ICANN was in 1999.

He noted that in 2003 the RIRs formed the NRO, a common RIR vehicle for talking to ICANN. He added that in 2004, a second MoU was signed with ICANN on the Address Supporting Organization (ASO) Address Council. He noted that address policy has continued to develop smoothly with no conflict.

He noted that the RIRs want to conclude a contract with ICANN and the IANA on address allocation. He added that, in terms of the World Summit on the Information Society process, it is difficult to anticipate what kind of impact an RIR contract with ICANN and the IANA would have on RIR members. He mentioned that the RIRs did not feel an urgent need to finalise a contract, but that this is continuing to be discussed as a matter of good housekeeping.

4. RIPE NCC Vision and Focus: Proposed Changes to Activities in 2006

Kees noted that Axel had already given an introduction to this in the RIPE NCC Services Working Group at RIPE 51.

Kees asked for questions and feedback on Axel’s presentation at the RIPE NCC Services Working Group.

Axel noted that the RIPE NCC General Meeting is the formal checkpoint for RIPE NCC members to speak about RIPE NCC activities.

Comment: Wilfried Woeber commented that there are other entities performing comparable services to some activities performed by the RIPE NCC. He added that it would be good to see how the RIPE NCC Executive Board, Management and members think about how to manage the winding down of services in a proper way. He noted that there need to be some criteria for how to judge situations where another entity is offering a service similar to a service offered by the RIPE NCC. He added that factors to consider would include reliability, cost and development.

Answer: Axel replied that he supported this point. He added that the RIPE NCC was very aware of providing value and stability of service. He noted that the RIPE NCC is naturally committed to continuing services that are running today in a stable way until there is a good understanding of whether these services should be stopped or changed.

Axel noted that the RIPE NCC members have an important role in providing input for this, and that these issues need to be discussed. He added that he agreed that it was important to provide clear criteria for services offered by the RIPE NCC.

5. Draft Budget

Kees noted that the draft budget was part of the input used to define the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme. He added that the RIPE NCC Budget 2006 will be approved by the RIPE NCC Executive Board later in 2005, based on feedback collected at this General Meeting.

Jochem de Ruig, Chief Financial Officer of the RIPE NCC, presented the draft RIPE NCC budget for 2006.

This presentation is available at:

http://www.ripe.net/membership/gm/gm-october2005/presentations/draft-budget.pdf

Jochem noted that the RIPE NCC’s Clearing House agreement with the Dutch tax authorities allowed for a reserve equivalent to three times the total of the RIPE NCC’s annual service fees. He added that the RIPE NCC Executive Board has set a more limited target equivalent to one year’s RIPE NCC expenses. He stated that the aim for the RIPE NCC budget for 2006 is to lower the reserve percentage toward the RIPE NCC Executive Board’s target.

The Chairman asked for questions.
There were none.

6. Charging Scheme 2006

Jochem de Ruig, Chief Financial Officer of the RIPE NCC, presented the proposal for the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2006.

This presentation is available at:

http://www.ripe.net/membership/gm/gm-october2005/presentations/draft-budget.pdf

Jochem noted that there was a small error in Appendix I of the Charging Scheme. He noted that the error was a reference to IPv6 PA (Provider Aggregatable) allocations, and added that the reference to "PA" will be removed when the Charging Scheme 2006 is published.

The Chairman asked for questions.
There were none.

As suggested by the Chairman, the members voted on the Charging Scheme by a show of hands.

The formal resolution:
"The General Meeting adopts the Charging Scheme 2006 proposal.”

The resolution was unanimously accepted with no abstentions.

7. RIPE NCC Policy and Quality of Service

The Chairman asked for comments or questions.
There were none.

8. Close

The Chairman noted that it was good to see so many attendees at the GM. The Chairman said that the new scheduling for the GM clearly had a good effect on attendee numbers.

The Chairman thanked the members and closed the meeting.