188th Executive Board Meeting Minutes
4-5 September 2025, Amsterdam
Author: Fergal Cunningham
Publication date: 25 September 2025
Status: Draft
Attendees:
- Randy Bush (RB), Member
- Ondřej Filip (OF), Chair
- Maria Häll (MH), Member
- Raymond Jetten (RJ), Treasurer
- Sander Steffann (SS), Member
- Harald A. Summa (SU), Member
- Piotr Strzyżewski (PS), Secretary
- Mirjam Kühne (MK), RIPE Chair (topics 1-3, 5-14)
- Daniella Coutinho (DC), Executive Assistant, RIPE NCC
- Fergal Cunningham (FC), Head of Membership Engagement, RIPE NCC (topics 1-3, 5-14)
- Athina Fragkouli (AF), Chief Legal Officer, RIPE NCC
- Simon-Jan Haytink (SJH), Chief Finance Officer, RIPE NCC (topics 1-3, 5 14)
- Hans Petter Holen (HPH), Managing Director, RIPE NCC
- Hisham Ibrahim (HI), Chief Community Officer, RIPE NCC, (topics 2, 3, 12)
- Eleonora Petridou (EP), Chief Information Security Officer, RIPE NCC (topics 2.3, 3)
- Felipe Victolla Silveira (FVS), Chief Technology Officer, RIPE NCC (topic 3)
- Carolien Vos (CV), Chief Human Resources Director, RIPE NCC (topics 1, 5-14)
- Gabor de Wit (GdW), Chief Registry Officer, RIPE NCC (topics 3, 5.2)
Guests:
- Yannou Tamis, Governance Academy (topic 7)
- Bas Visée, Rutgers & Posch (topic 7)
Day 1: 4 September 2025
1. Welcome and Agenda
Ondřej Filip, RIPE NCC Executive Board Chair, opened the meeting at 13:04 UTC+2 and welcomed attendees.
1.1 Apologies, New Agenda Points
There were no apologies, although Maria Häll, Executive Board member, noted that she would be unavailable from 09:00 to 11:00 on the second day of the Board meeting.
The term of Falk von Bornstaedt on the Rob Blokzijl Foundation was noted as a topic to add to the AOB.
1.2 BOV Meeting
Ahead of the meeting, the Board had a consultation meeting (bijzondere overlegvergadering, BOV) with Hans Petter Holen and the Works Council (Ondernemingsraad, OR) as laid out in the Works Councils Act, article 24. The RIPE NCC Works Council provided an overview of the work it had been doing over the past two years. They also discussed the organisation’s company culture, the future of the office and the Draft Activity Plan and Budget 2026 with the Board.
1.3 Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the previous two meetings were approved.
Resolution EB#188-R-01
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the minutes of EB#186 and EB#187.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
1.4 Conflict of Interest
No conflicts of interest were noted.
1.5 Dates of Next Meeting
Hans Petter Holen, RIPE NCC Managing Director, went through dates of upcoming Board meetings and there was discussion about availability for various dates. The Board discussed with Hans Petter the balance that needed to be struck between having documentation prepared and ready for Board meetings and how much time is needed to digest it all. There followed a general discussion on the information that the Board needs in order to be adequately prepared for Board meetings.
1.6 Joint Meeting with the APNIC Board
There was a request from the APNIC Executive Council to have a joint board meeting at the APNIC Meeting in Jakarta. Hans Petter said the proposal was to look at areas that required common strategic work. There was a discussion about this, and it was agreed that there should be tangible work items to be discussed and a good agenda proposed before a joint board meeting should be arranged.
2. MD Report
Hans Petter presented the report from the Managing Director. He shared the progress of the Objectives and Key Results 2025 and explained why this was not shared in July as suggested in the 186th meeting. He covered developments in the Registry, reorganisation within the Technology division, service availability, political, legislative and regulatory changes impacting our operations, recent and upcoming events, legal activities including recent legal settlements, work on ICP-2, security, risk and compliance developments, and staffing issues.
It was noted that the new draft of the ICP-2 document showed significant improvement. There was also a request for the RIPE NCC to inform Board members if any RIPE NCC event, including training courses or hackathons, are happening in their home country so they can help increase awareness in the local community. The Board also requested that the RIPE NCC provide written criteria for the selection of event sponsors.
2.1 Political Climate
Hisham Ibrahim, RIPE NCC Chief Community Officer, gave a presentation on the political climate currently faced by the RIPE NCC and went through a list of political risks that the RIPE NCC faces in the current political environment.
The Board asked for a comparison of the situation with other RIRs, and Hisham said the RIPE NCC service region was relatively unique in terms of diversity, conflicts, regulatory environment and more. Hans Petter gave an overview of the viewpoints and unique situations of some of the other RIRs. Hisham noted that the NCC has made good progress in establishing some formal relations with governments in recent years, and the Board recognised and appreciated this.
There followed a general discussion on political issues and the outlook for the years ahead.
2.2 Regulatory Requirements
Athina Fragkouli, RIPE NCC Chief Legal Officer, gave a presentation on the regulatory environment that the RIPE NCC has to navigate. She talked about the various pieces of legislation that are applicable to the RIPE NCC, how we are managing our compliance efforts, developments with sanctions, and likely upcoming work in the legal arena.
2.3 Risks
Eleonora Petridou, RIPE NCC Chief Information Security Officer, presented on the threat and risk landscape facing the RIPE NCC. She gave insights and current trends, as well as making strategic recommendations.
There was a question about AI-enhanced risks, and Eleonora said that measures had been taken to ensure AI was not being used inappropriately or with important systems. She led a discussion on the potential threats posed to the RIPE NCC by AI in general.
A Board member asked if there is a point of contact for reporting security vulnerabilities on the products (RIPE Atlas probes and anchors) that were being shipped out, and if there are obvious reporting channels for external parties to inform the RIPE NCC about threats. Eleonora said yes and listed the many ways people can report and how they are encouraged to do so.
RIPE NCC Security Incident Response Team - security@ripe.net
There was a general question on tools and resources used to implement good security at the RIPE NCC, and Eleonora gave an overview of tools being used, external support and staffing around security.
3. Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2026
Overview Budget 2026
Simon-Jan Haytink, RIPE NCC Chief Financial Officer, gave a presentation on the RIPE NCC’s Budget for 2026. He explained that the income budget for 2026 would be the same as for 2025, while the cost budget would rise with general increases including inflation. He said this follows what was communicated to members to have the same budget for 2025 and 2026 while work continues to develop a new charging model for 2027 onwards. He said overall we were budgeting to break even. He said the main cost budget increase is for personnel costs following a budgeted increase in FTE to 202.1.
On the draft activity budget, Simon-Jan went through the difference of 2026 per division compared to last year. Hans Petter explained the changes in the Organisational Sustainability section, including the addition of FTEs for Legal and a Project Management area that would carry out that function across the organisation.
There was a comment that the increase in FTEs, although small, could draw criticism and needed to be fully explained externally.
There was a question about the labour market, and Hans Petter explained that it varied, with some positions being easy to hire for while others, such as security engineers, were much more difficult to bring on board.
The Board gave some ideas on where they thought there might be a need for extra focus in 2026.
Hans Petter noted that considerable cuts have been made in the past across the organisation. He also noted that there is 300k for the office renovation that can’t start until external renovations are done.
Gabor de Wit, RIPE NCC Chief Registry Officer, noted that there were potential efficiencies to be gained in the area of automation in the Registry.
There was a question about using encryption in the RIPE NCC, both for RPKI and in relation to data on mail systems, and Felipe Victolla Silveira, RIPE NCC Chief Technology Officer, said different levels of encryption were applied depending on the type of data.
Information Security Plans 2026
Eleonora then gave a presentation on the 2026 plans for Information Security, Risk and Compliance. She noted the main goal was to build resilience and ensure the RIPE NCC is ready for current and emerging threats. She said ISO 27001 is a flagship project to help with compliance, including compliance with NIS2. She talked about the independent auditing that takes place to ensure our security controls are effective. She said work would take place to design and maintain a resilient and defensible security architecture, which would involve collaboration with the technology teams and the rest of the organisation.
There was a question on what she had in mind for AI security, and Eleonora said a lot of the issues here are privacy-related. She said there also needs to be investigations around boundaries that should be created. Hans Petter said research in this area would mainly be on our Information Services public data. There followed a general discussion about where it might be useful to use AI, and the costs involved. Hans Petter said AI was not a priority for 2026.
Registry Business Continuity Plan
Gabor then gave a presentation on Registry Business Continuity Plan (BCP) implementation, and why we need such planning. He talked about ISO 27001 implementation in the Registry, the impact of legislation and AFRINIC’s status as a registry. He outlined the key principles that would apply in the Registry and how they would be applied in 2026. He noted that some staff would be dedicated to BCP. He talked about some of the gaps in BCP that have been identified and how these should be addressed in 2026. He also discussed various aspects regarding location and repatriation of data from the cloud. He concluded with long-term Registry BCP commitments.
There was a question about the resourcing around ISO 27001, and Gabor and Eleonora explained that there was some use of third party consultants but that, mainly, this was a full-time effort from internal staff. Eleonora further explained the high level of change that would be needed to implement this in the Registry.
Escrow for Registry Data
Gabor then presented on escrow services for RIPE NCC Registry data. He explained how this might work and the costs involved, which can depend on the amount and type of data that would be escrowed. He proposed that if accepted, this should be a phased project. He asked if the Board would support this work, and if they had other thoughts or considerations.
The Board said that this was a very good idea and that it supported carrying out further investigations on data escrow. Hans Petter said he would inform the NRO EC about this work and raise the possibility of carrying out joint efforts on data escrow.
IT Infrastructure Plans 2026
Felipe then gave a presentation on the RIPE NCC’s IT infrastructure plans for 2026. He covered resilience, security and modernisation. He gave an overview of what the current infrastructure looks like to the Board. He talked about work to build redundancy into our infrastructure, including adding a third data centre to the two existing ones. He talked about the BCP plans for the infrastructure. Regarding security, he referenced Eleonora’s presentation and explained how the Technology division would be working with her teams to build security into the infrastructure. He said the main issue would be to change the security mindset in the organisation. The Board noted the need to plan carefully locations and repatriation of data from cloud vendors.
Felipe then explained the work that was planned to modernise the infrastructure. He talked about DevOps principles, platform engineering and containerisation.
Registry Efficiency and Accuracy Plans
Gabor and Felipe then jointly presented on Registry efficiency and accuracy plans, and how the Technology teams would be supporting this work through supporting software development and cross-domain collaboration.
Gabor recapped the Registry’s goals for 2026 and what staff there would focus on.
There was a question about how the members view Registry services, and Hans Petter gave insights we have gained through Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Effort Score (CES) results received from members, which were exceptionally high.
Felipe then talked about challenges within Business Applications, covering technical debt, the capacity of the teams and issues with ways of working. He talked about how Business Applications was working to meet the needs of the organisation, including through changes in structure. He explained that there was a change from two broad teams to three more topic-focused teams based on client identity, core services and external services that are provided to members.
There was a discussion about technical debt and how removing this can speed up delivery in the long run.
4. AOB Day 1
Rob Blokzijl Foundation
The RIPE NCC Executive Board received a message from the Chair of the Rob Blokzijl Foundation (RBF) regarding the reappointment of Falk von Bornstaedt, who was designated by the Board while he was a Board member. The Board discussed the matter and agreed to approach the Chair of the RBF and consult Falk during RIPE 91.
Day 2: 5 September 2024
5. Finance
5.1 Financial Status July 2025
Simon-Jan gave the financial status as of July 2025. He covered the financial performance for the year to date, the balance sheet, income details, LIR and membership trends, payment behaviour, the situation with ultra high-risk countries, an expenditure overview, budget variance for the organisation and the four divisions of the organisation, a Treasury update, and capital and liquidity.
There were clarifying questions from various Board members on the details of the payment performance, which Simon-Jan answered.
Simon-Jan asked the Board if they had an opinion on giving further extensions to members in areas of distress who were unable to pay. Hans Petter explained that so far extensions were granted on an annual basis. The case of Ukraine was discussed, including whether help could be sought to contact unresponsive members there. A number of suggestions were made as to how information on the status of companies there could be acquired. There was a request from the Board to investigate the options suggested and report back to the Board.
There was a comment regarding the Treasury that, in terms of investment opportunities, we should remain conservative given the market is unlikely to improve in the near future. There was further discussion on this topic, and Simon-Jan said he was already working to source a new investment partner.
The Board commented that everything looked healthy and thanked Simon-Jan for his work.
5.2 Members in Ultra High Risk Counties
Athina, Gabor and Simon-Jan gave an overview of the situation with members in ultra-high-risk countries, including our efforts to provide Registry services and collect on outstanding invoices.
5.3 Treasury
Simon-Jan gave a presentation on a proposed way forward to engage a new treasury investment partner. He provided a list of options for the Board to consider, including starting a new investigation into potential partners (which could take up to a year from market research to implementation) or deciding to move the treasury to ABN AMRO, which is the RIPE NCC’s daily banking partner. He said the timeframe for the second option could be expected to be a matter of weeks.
A Board member agreed that working with ABN AMRO would be the best option, and there was discussion about the logistics on how to proceed, being conscious of the time involved for the RIPE NCC to arrange this. Hans Petter gave a list of various considerations that needed to be taken into account, and he suggested that the ABN AMRO option looked safest and would require the least effort on the RIPE NCC’s part.
The Board decided to use ABN AMRO as the new investment partner.
Resolution EB#188-R-02
The RIPE NCC Executive Board, following the adoption of Resolution EB#187-R-01, approves the selection of ABN AMRO as the investment partner that will manage the investment portfolio of the RIPE NCC.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
5.4 Charging Scheme 2027
Simon-Jan gave a presentation on potential options for new charging scheme models. There was a question on whether to present just one preferred model that met the Charging Scheme Task Force principles, and Hans Petter said he would prefer that members had a choice between different models that met the principles set by the task force. He said that given there was much work to be done and likely inflation in the coming years that needed to be accommodated, but we needed to accommodate the members who have fewer resources and the charging scheme should consider this.
There was a discussion on the various proposals put forward by Simon-Jan and the best way to socialise these proposals among the membership.
A Board member said there shouldn’t be too many options put forward. It was pointed out that the Articles of Association allow preferential voting on resolutions, so three options to vote on would be possible.
It was noted that one of the options encouraged a direct relationship between End Users and the RIPE NCC, which could help with budgeting and administrative issues.
There were further questions about the resources that might contribute to category placements. There was a comment that academic institutions should not be charged as commercial companies. Another comment related to likely requests to not overly disadvantage IPv6 holdership.
Simon-Jan detailed a bespoke proposal that he thought would align with the principles of the Charging Scheme Task Force and also meet most considerations we have seen from members.
The Board asked Simon-Jan to prepare options, including his newly proposed model, for discussion at the October 2025 General Meeting.
Board members noted that they didn’t want to see large jumps in categories in the proposed models.
There was a comment that the Charging Scheme Task Force needs to be involved and the Board needs to align with the great work they carried out. Simon-Jan confirmed that he would be consulting with the task force on proposed models before the GM.
Action EB457 / 05/09/2025 / SJH
Simon-Jan to prepare three models for Charging Scheme 2027 to discuss with the task force and then members at the October 2025 GM.
6. RIPE Community
Mirjam Kühne, RIPE Chair, gave an update on developments in the RIPE community.
She gave an update on the transition to the new RIPE Chair Team, saying the plan was to hand over to the new team at the Community Plenary at RIPE 91.
She then gave an overview of planning for the RIPE 91 Meeting, saying she was reviewing sponsorship packages with the RIPE NCC Events Team. She explained that there is a new submission system being used for RIPE 91, and she thanked the RIPE NCC for implementing it and the Programme Committee and Working Group chairs for investing time to become familiar with the new system.
She then said the RIPE Code of Conduct (CoC) Team was bringing two new volunteers on board, and the team was engaged in various initiatives such as presenting to newcomers, gathering statistics, making changes to its process document, and preparing a survey for the community to see how reporting to the CoC can be made easier to do.
Mirjam then talked about the new RIPE Fellowship programme that had been developed by the RIPE NCC. She said this showed good collaboration between RIPE and the RIPE NCC, and she looked forward to the new programme being launched and bringing new blood into the community.
Finally, Mirjam gave a policy update, noting that there were three open policy proposals in the Address Policy Working Group and one in the Routing Working Group. She said she was working on making policies more accessible, and she was considering a consistent format that could be applied to policy documents.
The Board thanked Mirjam for the update.
7. Governance Structure
Athina introduced Yannou Tamis from Governance Academy and Bas Visée from Rutgers & Posch, a lawyer who provides the RIPE NCC with advice on governance matters.
Yannou gave a presentation on the advice from Governance Academy on the RIPE NCC’s governance structure, particularly the recommendation to change to a two-tier Board structure with the current Board becoming a Supervisory Board. He noted that a legal opinion on the new governance structure was requested and this was received. He talked about the deliverables from Governance Academy, including on employment contracts and engagement agreements between a new Supervisory Board and a new Executive Board. He noted that Governance Academy advised that as little change as possible should happen with the Articles of Association and communication around this change should be as simple as possible.
Hans Petter said there needs to be either a resolution for AoA changes or a decision not to move forward with these governance changes at this time. He said a further meeting could be arranged to form a resolution as long as it happened before the deadline for the GM agenda.
He also said this issue was not a huge priority. He said we can continue Board training by Governance Academy regardless. He said the main goal is clarity for everyone.
There was a comment that this change is bigger than expected and that it might be too rushed to take this step ahead of the October General Meeting. There were questions on whether a cross-analysis would need to be carried out with the ICP-2 Governance for RIRs document, and Athina said there would be no issues with ICP-2. It was also noted that all other RIRs have a one-tier Board structure.
Bas said with this change to a Supervisory Board, the same balance of power would remain in place between Supervisory and Executive Boards, with the General Meeting remaining the ultimate power in the overall structure.
There was a question about what exactly the differences would be, and Bas said that legally speaking, there would be less responsibility and therefore less liability for the Supervisory Board. He added that in the proposed model, there is a clearer set of rules that implement the way the Board works in practice, so the proposed model seems a better fit. He said the differences are mainly legalistic.
There was a comment that the need to explain to others your position as a non-executive director on the Executive Board is already problematic.
There was a comment that recognition of a two-tier system is not widespread in the industry. Bas said the structure is well known and also present in other jurisdictions even if one-tier structures are predominant.
There was a comment that having the elected Supervisory Board amend decisions of the appointed Executive Board (replacing today's Managing Director) would be preferable without needing to dismiss them if necessary, and Bas said this was always likely to be there.
Bas explained that in the new structure, the Chair of the Supervisory Board would still chair the General Meeting and the Managing Director would have the same role as now.
There was a comment that with the new structure, the emphasis would be more on steering and guidance rather than instructing the organisation what to do.
There was a suggestion that all these issues should be taken to the training session that was planned for the Executive Board in January 2026 so they could be discussed more fully and without the pressure of an impending General Meeting. Hans Petter said that this would be a good approach. The Board agreed that this was a good approach that would prevent the RIPE NCC from expending resources on the issue in the short term.
8. Office
Carolien Vos, RIPE NCC Chief Human Resources Officer, gave a presentation on the future of the RIPE NCC office. She gave the background, saying the current lease continues from November 2026 for five or ten years if we do not make a decision to formally end it 12 months before the renewal date, so a decision is needed on whether to stay or move to a different location. She said the work involved an assessment of the current work conditions, and she gave an overview of the results of that assessment. She talked about the work that was carried out to investigate possible alternatives to the current office. She gave a comparison of the current office with five of the other most favourable alternatives. She concluded with a list of options that would help the Board to make a decision on what the RIPE NCC should do in relation to the office. She said the guidance from the RIPE NCC would be to stay at the current office and carry out some renovations in 2026 and 2027.
Hans Petter said that the 2026 budget includes € 300,000 to initiate necessary office upgrades. He said we would return with a comprehensive proposal for office upgrades in 2027, once the new strategy and charging scheme are in place, to ensure our office remains a healthy, safe, and inclusive work environment for all over the next 5-10 years. Hans Petter said it is not known yet when external renovations would be completed and he also did not want to increase the budget for 2026.
There was a question on whether depreciation was over the length of the contract, and Hans Petter said it was..
Carolien noted that there are fixes that are needed, and it is unclear in some cases whether these are the responsibility of the landlord or the tenant. She said we are not spending much on upkeep at the moment as this would be unwise until a decision is made to stay for a further ten years.
There was a suggestion that it might be best to invest properly and spread the costs over 10 years. Hans Petter said that continuing the agreement would mean a guaranteed further ten years at the current location. He also said there was no final agreement on what the desired state of the office would be if we stayed, so there would be work to make an improvement plan.
There was a question about whether we need all the space we are currently using, and Carolien said we are not wasting space, especially if we make some changes to better accommodate hybrid working.
There was a question about a dispute with the landlord over square meterage, but this will be resolved and the overall value per square meter is currently very good.
The discussion concluded with agreement from the Board with the decision to stay at the current location and also with the need to invest in improving the current workspace.
9. HR Staff Pulse Check and Company Culture
Carolien gave a presentation on the culture at the RIPE NCC and efforts to improve it. She gave details of the results from staff surveys on company culture. She talked about how the culture has changed over the years and also the challenges that workloads and changes in the requirements of our organisation has brought about. She talked about work that is underway to improve culture and plans for 2026 to advance these efforts.
There was a discussion about culture in general and the efforts to ensure a good one at the RIPE NCC. Many Board members gave suggestions on measures that could be taken based on their experiences at their own workplaces. The Board thanked Carolien, and there was a comment that developments seemed to be moving in the right direction.
10. Draft Activity Plan and Budget 2026 Approval
Hans Petter said that the 2026 Budget proposal has a positive operational result of EUR 15,000, which basically means a balanced and break-even budget. He said this is in accordance with the plan we communicated in 2024, when we increased the LIR fee for 2025 and 2026.
The Board discussed approving the Draft Activity Plan and Budget 2026 for publication. One Board member said they had some minor edits, but nothing significant. Hans Petter also asked if the Board wanted the RIPE NCC to formally allocate resources to investigate the possibility of having a data escrow service, and the Board agreed that this should be done.
The Board then agreed to approve the resolution to publish the document for the membership.
Resolution EB#188-R-03
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2026.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Resolution EB#188-R-04
The RIPE NCC Executive Board directs the Managing Director to investigate the use of escrow services for registration data managed by the RIPE NCC.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
11. Corporate Governance
11.1 GM Agenda
Hans Petter presented the draft agenda for the October 2025 General Meeting. The item on amendments to the Articles of Association was removed, given the decision of the Board not to proceed at this time with a change to a two-tier Board structure.
Resolution EB#188-R-05
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the draft agenda for the RIPE NCC General Meeting in October 2025.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
11.2 Overview of all Upcoming Communication
Fergal Cunningham, RIPE NCC Head of Membership Engagement, gave an overview of the communication that needed to take place ahead of, during and after the RIPE NCC General Meeting October 2025. He noted that the Draft RIPE NCC Strategy 2027-2031 and the Draft Activity Plan and Budget 2026 needed to be discussed with members ahead of the GM, while discussion on proposed charging scheme models could take place at the General Meeting and up until the March 2026 Executive Board meeting. He also outlined the dates for key communications and encouraged Board members to attend online Open Houses in October to discuss the strategy and activity plan with members.
The Board suggested that Fergal should send the same overview to the membership as soon as possible so they are fully aware of upcoming governance work that needs their input.
11.3 Amendments Related to DORA
Athina started by explaining that "DORA" refers to the Digital Operational Resilience Act, a European Union regulation enacted to strengthen the digital resilience of the financial sector. She said this was applicable from January 2025, and it mandates that banks, insurance companies, investment firms, and other financial market participants implement robust ICT risk management, incident reporting and third-party risk management.
Athina then gave a presentation, saying that while the requirements apply to financial institutions, the RIPE NCC aims to facilitate the implementation of this regulation for those entities that are RIPE NCC members to a reasonable extent. She explained the obligations under DORA and how the RIPE NCC could implement them, when possible.
There was some discussion about the various requirements, including the ability to provide audit results with non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Hans Petter clarified that in such cases, we provide redacted versions and only full versions after vulnerabilities have been addressed.
The Board thanked Athina for the work and agreed to the amendments proposed.
Resolution EB#188-R-06
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed amendments to the following documents: “RIPE NCC LIR Account Agreement”, “RIPE Database Terms and Conditions”, “RIPE NCC Certification Service Terms and Conditions”, “RIPE NCC Certification Repository Terms and Conditions” and “RIPE NCC Publish in Parent and Repository Terms and Conditions”, taking into account editorial changes.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
11.4 Amendments to the Atlas T&Cs
Athina explained the proposed changes, which relate to the naming conventions that users can apply to RIPE Atlas probes. She said that currently, users can name them anything they want, but they should not use names that are offensive or names they have no rights to.
Resolution EB#188-R-07
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed amendments to the document “RIPE Atlas Service Terms and Conditions”.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
11.5 Amendments to the RIPE Fellowship T&Cs
Athina presented proposed amendments to the RIPE Fellowship Terms and Conditions, which she said were needed due to the fact that the programme has been revamped and new T&Cs are needed to accommodate the changes.
Resolution EB#188-R-08
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the amendments to the document “RIPE Fellowship Terms and Conditions”.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
11.6 Review of Members Discuss Moderation
Fergal presented proposed amendments to the process for moderation of the members-discuss mailing list. He explained that, in the past, there was no moderation on the list following a Board resolution. However, on several occasions the Board, in order to prevent inappropriate posts or discussions, had to request that emergency moderation be put in place.
The proposed change to the process would see moderation permanently turned on, which would prevent the need for reactive measures if inappropriate emails were posted. Moderation would be handled by the RIPE NCC, and members could check the unmoderated members-discuss list to ensure mails were being processed correctly. The new process would also allow members to appeal to the Board should they feel their mails were incorrectly moderated.
The Board discussed the process and agreed among themselves how to handle appeals. They then agreed to approve the proposed amended process.
Resolution EB#188-R-09
The RIPE NCC Executive Board resolves to permanently enable moderation on the members-discuss mailing list. The Executive Board further resolves to adopt the amendments to the document “Members-Discuss Mailing List Moderation”.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
12. Resilience of Joint Internet Number Registry
12.1 Updates to “Criteria for Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries” (ICP-2)
Athina gave an update to the Board on progress made with ICP-2 since the last Board Meeting. She noted that two further documents would be published - a document explaining the amendments from the previous version and a joint impact analysis from the RIRs.
She outlined the main changes in the new ICP-2 document. She noted that if there were still disagreements then there could be another revision round.
There was a question about how difficult it would be to implement, and Athina said this would be made clear from the impact analysis when it is published. Hans Petter added that once the criteria are in place, we can put out a proposal for an audit on governance processes, but we need to wait for the process to be completed before we can start that.
Athina asked the Board to read the updated document and inform her if there were concerns. She informed the Board there would be an Open House to discuss the document with the community on 17 September 2025.
12.2 AFRINIC
Athina gave an update on the situation with AFRINIC and the legal proceedings it is involved in, as well as efforts to hold a Board election.
There was general discussion about this and the Board expressed its wishes that a successful election will take place soon.
13. Governance of the Root Server System
13.1 RSSGWG
Hans Petter gave an update on the root server governance process. He said the RIPE NCC plays a role in this process as operator of K-root. He said there was an ongoing ICANN consultation process on a The Root Server System Governance Structure on the governance system. He said the RIPE NCC will aim to live up to the commitments set by the proposed governance structure since it has taken part in developing them.
Hans Petter asked for a commitment for the next five-year strategy that the RIPE NCC would continue to run K-root funded by the members. He also asked if the RIPE NCC should contribute a comment to the public consultation on the document. The Board agreed in both cases that this is something the RIPE NCC should do.
There followed a general discussion on what would be best in terms of governance for the root servers.
14. AOB Day 2
There was no other business to discuss.
Ondřej closed the meeting at 16:20 UTC+2.
Resolutions
Resolution EB#188-R-01
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the minutes of EB#186 and EB#187.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Resolution EB#188-R-02
The RIPE NCC Executive Board, following the adoption of Resolution EB#187-R-01, approves the selection of ABN AMRO as the investment partner that will manage the investment portfolio of the RIPE NCC.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Resolution EB#188-R-03
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2026.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Resolution EB#188-R-04
The RIPE NCC Executive Board directs the Managing Director to investigate the use of escrow services for registration data managed by the RIPE NCC.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Resolution EB#188-R-05
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the draft agenda for the RIPE NCC General Meeting in October 2025.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Resolution EB#188-R-06
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed amendments to the following documents: “RIPE NCC LIR Account Agreement”, “RIPE Database Terms and Conditions”, “RIPE NCC Certification Service Terms and Conditions”, “RIPE NCC Certification Repository Terms and Conditions” and “RIPE NCC Publish in Parent and Repository Terms and Conditions”, taking into account editorial changes.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Resolution EB#188-R-07
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed amendments to the document “RIPE Atlas Service Terms and Conditions”.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Resolution EB#188-R-08
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the amendments to the document “RIPE Fellowship Terms and Conditions”.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Resolution EB#188-R-09
The RIPE NCC Executive Board resolves to permanently enable moderation on the members-discuss mailing list. The Executive Board further resolves to adopt the amendments to the document “Members-Discuss Mailing List Moderation”.
The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.
Action Items
Ongoing action items
Action EB454 / 24/06/2024 / SJH
To list the main risks and the related substantive reasoning for the goals of RIPE NCC reserves.
Status 20/09/2024: Ongoing. In the meeting, it was noted the reserves were created to get the organisation through difficult times. An update will be included in the Executive Board report at the autumn GM.
Status 12/12/2024: Ongoing. An update at the autumn GM was given, and at EB#179, input from the Board was gathered.
Status 21/03/2025: Ongoing. It was noted that a document covering the reasoning behind the RIPE NCC reserves would be provided to the Board before the RIPE 90 Meeting.
Status 28/06/2025: Ongoing. A first draft of the document was shared with the Board and comments and feedback are being processed.
Status 05/09/2025: Ongoing.
Action EB455 / 20/03/2025 / HPH
To develop a proposal to transition from an Executive Board to a Supervisory Board, taking into account a transition plan, employment consequences, remuneration and the relevant amendments to the Articles of Association for GM approval.
Status 28/06/2025: Ongoing. The Board discussed the proposal for transition in topic 5 of EB#186 and agreed to move forward with the proposed actions.
Status 05/09/2025. Ongoing. The Board discussed the proposal in topic 7 of EB#188 and agreed to further in the training session that will be planned for the Board in January 2026
Action EB456 / 20/03/2025 / AF
To propose an improved process for selecting volunteers for the Executive Board Election Code of Conduct Team
Status 28/06/2025: Ongoing.
Status 05/09/2025: Ongoing.
New action items
Action EB457 / 05/09/2025 / SJH
Simon-Jan to prepare three models for Charging Scheme 2027 to discuss with the task force and then members at the October 2025 GM.