[ripe-list] Community consensus on RIPE NCC staff participation in RIPE

Dear colleagues,

I would like to thank the community for reaching consensus on what is an important document for the RIPE community and particularly for RIPE NCC staff, who are now formally recognised as being able to participate in RIPE on an equal footing. This is an important principle for us, and I hope it will further encourage our staff to engage freely and frequently when appropriate with the rest of the community.

The second principle, noting that staff should take care to disclose their positions when discussing matters relating to community guidance to the RIPE NCC, is also one that we are fully committed to.

Niall rightly notes that we are planning to review our internal guidelines on staff interaction with the community. I will invite all staff to join me in discussing how we can best interact with the community for its benefit and the benefit of our staff. The Works Council will also play an important role in this process. In the meantime, we published our internal code of conduct[1], section 9 of which contains guidelines on staff engagement externally, and we will adhere to this until we have completed our internal review. I will come back to the community with the outcome of that review.

Finally, I wish to thank the RIPE Chair Team for their work on this RIPE Document, and especially Niall who steered it through the community process.

I sincerely look forward to our continued engagement together as a community.

Kind regards,
Hans Petter Holen
RIPE NCC Managing Director, CEO

[1] https://www.ripe.net/about-us/staff/ripe-ncc-code-of-conduct.pdf



> On 4 Oct 2023, at 15:39, Niall O'Reilly <niall.oreilly at ucd.ie> wrote:
> 
> Dear Colleagues,
> 
> I am glad to declare RIPE community consensus on draft v2 [1 <https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-documents/other-documents/ripe-ncc-staff-participation-in-the-ripe-community-draft-v2>] of the
> document on RIPE NCC staff participation in RIPE.
> 
> I expect that the text of this draft will be published as a RIPE
> document in the near future, after final editing to add
> acknowledgements, check spelling and terminology, and make whatever
> other minor changes may be needed to prepare it for release.
> 
> I should like to add a few remarks.
> 
> Last call on this draft was re-opened on 21 July 2023 [2 <https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/ripe-list/2023-July/002967.html>], and closed
> on 4 September 2023.
> 
> During this second last-call period, there were a number of expressions
> of support, and none of objection, to the two principles enunciated in
> this draft.
> 
> In addition, on 2 August 2023, Andy Davidson maintained [3 <https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/ripe-list/2023-August/002984.html>],
> 
> As a responsible community, it is incumbent upon us to safeguard NCC
> staff from potential conflicts of interest by defining clear
> protocols for how such situations are considered and managed when
> NCC staff participate in RIPE activities with activity plans,
> budgets, or hiring decisions.
> 
> He also asked,
> 
> Can this be captured in the lovely
> succinct way that you have approached the first two drafts?
> 
> At the time, I replied that I hoped so.
> 
> On reflection, I believe that the initiative for addressing Andy's
> concerns is best left to RIPE NCC management and staff.
> 
> Pragmatically, they have well-established internal mechanisms which
> would likely not run more smoothly if the community were to try to
> orchestrate them. Diplomatically, the community should avoid
> telling NCC management and staff what is good for them.
> 
> Moreover, I have been made aware that the RIPE NCC is planning to
> review its internal guidelines on staff interaction with the
> community, and needs to know the consensus of the community in order
> to inform that review.
> 
> For all these reasons, I believe it is appropriate to declare
> consensus on this document now, rather than to attempt improving it
> further.
> 
> Finally, I wish to thank everyone who has participated in discussing
> this draft and its predecessor.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Niall O'Reilly
> RIPE Vice-Chair
> 

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