191st Executive Board Meeting Minutes

26-27 March 2026, Amsterdam

Author: Fergal Cunningham

Publication date: 16 March 2026

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
Daniella Coutinho (DC), Executive Assistant, RIPE NCC
Fergal Cunningham (FC), Head of Membership Engagement, RIPE NCC
Athina Fragkouli (AF), Chief Legal Officer, RIPE NCC
Simon-Jan Haytink (SJH), Chief Finance Officer, RIPE NCC
Hans Petter Holen (HPH), Managing Director, RIPE NCC
Hisham Ibrahim (HI), Chief Community Officer, RIPE NCC (topics 4, 8)
Carolien Vos (CV), Chief Human Resources Director, RIPE NCC (topics 2.3, 7)
Gabor de Wit (GdW), Chief Registry Officer, RIPE NCC (topics 4.1, 5.4)
Sjoerd Wolthers (SW), Interim Chief Technology Officer, RIPE NCC (topic 2.2)
Jeroen Kooiman (JK), IT Consultant (topic 2.2)
Florian Obser (FO), Principal Systems Engineer, RIPE NCC (topic 9)
Ulka Athale (UA), Community Development Manager, RIPE NCC (topic 3)

Guests:

Bas Visée, Rutgers & Posch (topic 7.1)

1. Welcome and Agenda

Ondřej Filip, RIPE NCC Executive Board Chair, opened the meeting at 13:00 (UTC+1) and welcomed attendees.

1.1 Apologies, New agenda points

There were no apologies, and no new agenda points were proposed.

1.2 Approval of minutes

The minutes of the previous meetings EB#189 and EB#190 were approved by the Board.

Resolution EB#191-R-01
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the minutes of EB#189 and #EB190.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

1.3 Conflict of Interest

No conflicts of interest were noted. Six Board members noted that they represented RIPE NCC members and might have opinions about charging scheme proposals.

Athina Fragkouli, RIPE NCC Chief Legal Officer, said that the charging scheme is discussed every year by the Board, and it is a requirement that the Board proposes charging scheme options to the General Meeting. The proposals under consideration are based on transparent, objective criteria applicable to all members. The decision on the charging scheme is approved by the General Meeting. Ultimately, the assessment of whether a Board member should be excused from the discussion lies with the rest of the Board. Regardless, if a Board member feels conflicted, they should abstain from the decision-making.

The Board took note of the above. No Board member was excused from the discussion.

1.4 Dates of Next Meetings

The Board discussed the dates of upcoming meetings, including the briefing session ahead of the May General Meeting. The Board then went through proposed dates for meetings for the rest of the year.

1.5 Conference Calendar

Hans Petter Holen, RIPE NCC Managing Director, noted that the dates and location of the LACNIC Meeting in May have moved. And he said the second LACNIC Meeting will overlap with ARIN and ICANN. There was a discussion on various meetings and when and where they might happen. Board members indicated where they would likely attend other conferences.

1.6 Action List Review

Hans Petter went through open items on the action list.

1.7 Reference to BOV Meeting

A consultation meeting (bijzondere overlegvergadering, BOV) was held with the Executive Board and the RIPE NCC Works Council (Ondernemingsraad, OR) directly prior to the start of the formal Executive Board meeting, as laid out in the Works Councils Act, article 24. The general operations of the RIPE NCC were discussed, as well as the draft Annual Report 2025 and the Financial Report 2025.

2. Report from the Managing Director

2.1 Report from the Managing Director

Hans Petter Holen, RIPE NCC Managing Director, gave an update to the Board on several topics that were high on his agenda: addressing issues with RIPE NCC IT infrastructure (see agenda point 2.2); working with the Board on issues related to Board structures (see agenda point 7.1); the retreat where the Management Team discussed strategy and aligned on planning for the rest of the year (see agenda point 3.1); and the ongoing war in the Middle East and how staff there have been affected (see agenda point 10).

Hans Petter then went through the objectives and key results for the Registry, Technology, External Engagement and Community, Security and Compliance, Legal and HR.

Athina also gave some insights on sanctions verification processes, especially in relation to Iran, and there was a discussion around this and due diligence processes. It was noted that there are complexities around due diligence processes when you need to serve the entire service region. Hans Petter also noted the significant costs involved in this.

2.2 Goal setting 2026

Hans Petter discussed his goals with the Board, and adjustments were made based on up-to-date information.

2.3 IT Infrastructure Improvements

Sjoerd Wolthers, RIPE NCC Interim Chief Technology Officer, and Jeroen Kooiman, IT Engineering Consultant, gave a presentation on improvements that would need to be made to RIPE NCC IT infrastructure. Hans Petter said the approach would be to build a new platform and migrate to that one because the age of the current platforms meant that it would be unwise to try to carry out major restructuring on them.

Hans Petter said the budget required was significant, although he noted this was a rough estimate given no full design was in place. He said there was a need to invest in the IT infrastructure in the coming years.

Hans Petter said that we are in a much better position than three years ago due to changes in how the Technology division is structured. Sjoerd also noted that different areas have developed differently, also for very good reasons, based on the different needs they serve. He said planning has now developed in a more inclusive and transparent way, which is leading to a better approach. Hans Petter then noted that investment in infrastructure was not a one-off issue, as further investments are continuously needed as equipment reaches end-of-life.

A Board member asked if the investment would be depreciated over five years, and it was confirmed that this was the case. Simon-Jan Haytink, RIPE NCC Chief Financial Officer, said that there would be a separate presentation on a draft five-year budget (see agenda point 5.3) that would accompany the RIPE NCC five-year strategy, and that this draft budget would include the infrastructure investment.

A Board member noted that there had been external pressure from members and the community to move away from the cloud and focus on reliability, and that is what this investment in infrastructure supports.

Hans Petter asked if the direction presented was the right one as far as the Board was concerned, and there were several comments that agreed, but that the main issue was funding the investments needed.

Simon-Jan said that the draft five-year budget proposal includes this investment, but this would require a significant increase in budget, which will have to be partly offset by a focus on cost reductions/efficiencies.

Sjoerd said these are first estimates, and although they look good, there needs to be verification with suppliers. At the next Board meeting in June, the required budget will be more accurate, so a decision could then be made. He thanked the Board for their input and said he was confident we would be in a stable state in the coming years.

2.4 Office Improvements

Hans Petter gave a presentation on improvements that needed to be made to the Amsterdam office. He explained that there was a workplace assessment showing that noise and climate control needed improvement, while there were other issues, some related to office layout and staff safety, that could also be addressed. He said that an architect did a proposed redesign, and costs were assessed.

Carolien Vos, RIPE NCC Chief Human Resources Officer, shared the concept for an updated office space that addressed the issues that have been identified. She added that the three options presented covered one option that only included essential items, the second option also included items identified by staff as needing upgrades, and the final design budget was for a complete overhaul of the internal space.

There was a lengthy discussion about the various elements of the design proposal and the fixes that were needed to improve the office, as well as transition plans should large-scale renovation be required. A Board member noted that safety in the office should be a key requirement, and Hans Petter said that there were new legal requirements around electricity installations that would need to be complied with.

Hans Petter said that the costs could be spread over the 9.5 years that were left on the current lease.

Hans Petter asked the Board what they would need to make a decision at the June Board meeting regarding the office renovation, and various Board members asked for information on what is critical to do and what is nice to have, and also information on the benefits that would come from a significant office upgrade. Hans Petter said that costs for office maintenance are continuous, although currently a heavier investment is required to bring the office up to acceptable standards. He added that acting sooner would mean having more years to depreciate the investment.

Simon-Jan said that office costs were approximately EUR 1 million per year currently, mainly covering the rent. Hans Petter said that he felt the cheapest option likely cost too much for too little benefit, but more analysis would be needed, especially regarding the options likely to help most with productivity from staff.

Following discussion of the costs involved, the Board decided that a lightweight cost-benefit analysis should be carried out ahead of the Board meeting in June so a decision could be made. It was noted that this topic would also need to be considered when looking at the five-year budget for the RIPE NCC.

3. Draft RIPE NCC Strategy 2027-2031

3.1 Draft RIPE NCC Strategy 2027-2031

Fergal Cunningham, RIPE NCC Head of Membership Engagement, and Ulka Athale, RIPE NCC Community Development Manager, presented on the work to develop the RIPE NCC Strategy 2027-2031. Fergal gave an overview of the structure of the strategy documents, explaining that there would be three documents that included the high-level RIPE NCC strategy, a document that covered service-level work to deliver on the strategy, and a final document that set out how the RIPE NCC would fund its five-year strategy.

There was a discussion around the strategy, with comments that there could be clearer indicators of success laid out in the execution document, more focus on cost efficiencies to be gained, references could be added to some of the bigger issues that the RIPE NCC is dealing with such as sanctions and ultra high risk countries, engagement with governments, and plans that the RIPE NCC has to maintain its current presence in Amsterdam and Dubai. The Board also requested that a high-level summary of the three documents be provided for members when they are published.

Fergal gave the timeline for the rest of the strategy work, saying that the final draft would be published ahead of the RIPE 92 Meeting. He thanked the Board for the review they had carried out and said that this was valuable feedback that would be incorporated before the documents would be published externally.

4. Resilience of the Joint Internet Number Registry

4.1 Updates to “Criteria for Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries” (ICP-2)

Athina gave an update on progress related to the RIR Governance Document that is being worked on by the RIRs and their communities. She talked about the recent ICANN Meeting in Mumbai and how discussions with ICANN developed there.

She said the ASO AC in Mumbai had 10 closed sessions focusing on the work to finalise the document, next to many public sessions. She shared a presentation that showed the progress in various areas from the document. She said a key point of discussion at recent meetings has been about the recognition process, the audits, the emergency continuity operator process and ICANN’s role.

She concluded that a detailed timeline with the next steps is being worked on.

4.2 AFRINIC

Athina gave an update on developments with AFRINIC. She noted that the AFRINIC Board is now in place and the RIPE NCC would work with them in the same way as it would with other Boards. The search for a CEO/MD is ongoing.

4.3 Follow-up from Joint Board Meeting

Hans Petter noted that the minutes from the joint board meeting in Jakarta had not been distributed yet, so he suggested tabling discussion around the meeting until the minutes were available.

Day 2: 27 March 2026

5. Finance

5.1 Financial Status February 2026

Simon-Jan gave an update on the financial status as at February 2026. He gave details relating to income, member developments, payment behaviours, use of payment extensions, membership fees at risk in Iran and Syria, an expenditure overview for the year to date, budget variance in different areas, a treasury update, profit and loss figures for February, capital and liquidity, and a forecast for the rest of 2026. Simon-Jan also covered the status of financial OKRs for 2026.

The Board asked several clarifying questions that Simon-Jan was able to address.

5.2 Financial Report 2025 and Audit Report 2025

Simon-Jan gave a presentation on the RIPE NCC Financial Report 2025 and the Independent Auditor's Report. The Board thanked Simon-Jan for again receiving a report with an unqualified opinion from the auditors. He went through the report, and the Board had some clarifying questions that Simon-Jan answered. He said that the audited report states that the RIPE NCC is financially healthy.

Resolution EB#191-R-02
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the submission of the audited RIPE NCC Financial Report 2025 to the upcoming RIPE NCC General Meeting for its adoption.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

5.3 Five-year Budget

Simon-Jan said that the five-year budget discussion would be integrated into the discussion on the charging scheme options because these two items were very closely linked.

5.4 RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2027

Simon-Jan first presented a five-year budget scenario with an income budget of EUR 45 million by 2031. He said that in creating the five-year cost budget scenario, he used an annual 1.5% increase on non-personnel operating expenses and personnel cost increases of 3%. Simon-Jan said it also covered investments such as infrastructure, office renovation and RIR Governance Document implementations.

He said to keep cost increases within reason, there needs to be a commitment to achieving a corresponding cost reduction of 1.5%.

The question that Simon-Jan asked the Board was whether the charging scheme should aim for EUR 45 million level of income from 2027 or gradually build up to it.

The Board discussed the budget, noting that while the cost budget covered the areas that were essential and that would bring resilience to the RIPE NCC, they felt that the inflation rate of 1.5% used in Simon-Jan’s scenario was very optimistic, given the current situation. There were also comments that, given the need to adequately invest in infrastructure, the budget might be too modest.

There followed a discussion about cost efficiencies/reductions that the RIPE NCC could realise, with comments that automation should be pursued as a way to do this. Simon-Jan noted we would need to look at the full cost base of the organisation and a review of possible cost savings would be carried out ahead of the next board meeting.

There was consensus that, given the need for investments and the uncertain situation with external factors such as inflation, it would be better to build up the income budget gradually rather than aiming for a higher figure now.

Fergal then presented on the charging scheme consultation and the options that the Board could consider proposing to members for voting on at the upcoming General Meeting.

He gave an overview of all the feedback that had been given by members during the charging scheme consultation. He noted that while it was difficult to make assumptions about how representative the feedback was, given the amount of contributors, we did see some support and resistance to the three models (current model, category model, formula model) presented, with much of the input saying the level of differentiation in the category and formula models should be higher. He said there was little objection to the charges proposed by the Charging Scheme Task Force, but there was strong reaction against the idea of greatly increasing PI fees in order to encourage End Users to become members.

Fergal said that the proposal to charge per member rather than per LIR account was problematic because the technical impact analysis showed it would take more time and effort to implement with our old systems for a small number of members than would bring value, and with the practice of setting up multiple LIR accounts becoming less attractive, it is becoming less of an issue. Hans Petter said we should still charge per LIR account for 2027 and work from the RIPE 92 meeting to socialise the idea of gradually phasing out multiple LIR accounts per member. This would result in the same goal over a longer period with lower total implementation costs.

On price differentiation in the category and formula models, Fergal noted that the distribution of LIR accounts means that the vast majority are in the small to mid-sized range, so increasing prices at the higher end will not necessarily mean large price reductions at the lower end. However, having a cap that is three times what was initially presented to members during the consultation would be a significant increase in differentiation and mean that nearly 75% of LIR accounts would see reduced fees.

Simon-Jan said additional fees (for example, for transfers) could be introduced in subsequent years, and this would mean the membership fee could potentially be further reduced, and discussion around these separate charges could be more targeted and coherent

There was a lengthy discussion about all the options and scenarios presented. The Board favoured options that would mean stability for the RIPE NCC and ability to make investments that will contribute to the resilience of the Internet in our service region, while transitioning to a charging model based on differentiation according to resources held that allows gradual change and which is intended to reduce fees for around 15,000 of our 20,000 LIR accounts.

Fergal then explained voting options, and there was discussion about what voting options could be presented that would give clear options while being very understandable for members. There was agreement that the current one LIR account-one fee model should be given as an option for members to vote on. There was also consensus that only the category model should be proposed as an alternative option in order to give a clear choice between the current model and a model that introduces greater equity based on resource holdings. It was agreed that the task force proposal to allow one free ASN per LIR account should be implemented in both models. The Board said that all voting options proposed should aim for the same income budget.

In conclusion, the Board asked the RIPE NCC to prepare two charging scheme options based on the 2026 income budget with a 3.3% inflation increase using the Netherlands inflation rate for 2025. The RIPE NCC would detail the proposals and share with the Board for their approval.

Finally, Fergal said that the final charging options would be published four weeks before the GM.

Action EB458 / 27/03/2026 / HPH
To identify possible cost savings for the years 2027-2031 and review where cost efficiencies/reductions can be made.

5.5 Goals of the Clearing House

Simon-Jan presented a document with the goals of the Clearing House at the EB#189 meeting, to which the Board agreed. Simon-Jan is now working on a version that will be published as a RIPE Document, but he noted further work is needed, so he will finalise the document and share it with the Board for final approval.

6. Corporate Governance

6.1 Annual Report 2025

Fergal presented the RIPE NCC Annual Report 2025. He thanked the Board for providing feedback on the draft version and noted that the suggestions received would be incorporated into the final version for publication.

Resolution EB#191-R-03

The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the RIPE NCC Annual Report 2025 and directs its publication for the upcoming General Meeting.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

6.2 Plan General Meeting May 2026

Fergal gave an overview of the proposed agenda for the RIPE NCC General Meeting (GM) to be held from 20-22 May 2026. He noted that the call for nominations for the Executive Board election had already been published, and registration had launched smoothly, with over 300 members already registered for the GM.

The Board approved the draft agenda for publication.

Resolution EB#191-R-04
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the draft agenda for the RIPE NCC General Meeting in May 2026.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

6.3 Arbiters Nomination

Athina said that the call for volunteers for the Arbiters Panel had been launched and that 12 volunteers stepped forward. However, there are only six places available currently on the panel. She explained the criteria for the Board to select eligible volunteers. She said it is possible to have elections at the GM with those eligible in order to have six arbiters approved by members. She said that although the call for volunteers said voting to approve arbiters would take place at the May GM, it would be better to have this vote at the October GM because volunteers needed to be aware of the voting process before they were asked to participate in it at the GM. Also, she said that having two elections for different roles at the same GM could lead to confusion.

Hans Petter said that the process might need to be adapted in light of the difficulties that emerged with this situation.

There was a general discussion about the issue with problems relating to verifying eligibility identified as a difficulty for the Board.

The Board agreed with the approach outlined by Athina and asked that a proposal for the October GM be prepared for the June Board meeting.

6.4 Amendments to the Closure Procedure

Athina explained that in order to terminate a Standard Service agreement per the Closure Procedure, a process must be followed where a reminder of the Member's obligations is sent to the Member via post as well as by email. Since the communication with members happens primarily via email and emails are legally binding in any event, the Board agreed to the proposed amendment to remove the reminder by registered post from the Closure Procedure.

Resolution EB#191-R-05
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed amendments to the RIPE NCC procedural document “Closure of Members, Deregistration of Internet Resources and Legacy Internet Resources Procedure”.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

6.5 Amendments to the RPKI Legal Framework

Athina said amendments are needed to “RIPE NCC Certification Service Terms and Conditions” and “RIPE NCC Publish in Parent and Repository Terms and Conditions” following the approval of the RIPE Policy “Revocation of Persistently Non-functional Delegated RPKI CAs”. The Policy grants a mandate to the RIPE NCC to revoke resource certificates associated with longtime non-functional CAs and, with this, reduce workload for the parties relying on these certificates. The proposed amendments will make this possible. Other amendments were also proposed to add clarifications and readability improvements of the legal framework. The Board agreed to the proposed amendments.

Resolution EB#191-R-06
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the proposed amendments to “RIPE NCC Certification Service Terms and Conditions” and “RIPE NCC Publish in Parent and Repository Terms and Conditions”.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

7. Governance Structure

7.1 Proposed New Governance Model

Athina explained that, despite its name, the RIPE NCC Executive Board is not in charge of the daily management of the RIPE NCC, but it is merely supervising the daily operations performed by the Management Team.

To formalise this current practice, the Executive Board decided to turn into a so-called one-tier board, consisting of executive (the members of the current Management Team, i.e. the Managing Director) and non-executive directors (the members of the current Executive Board). This way, the primary responsibility for the daily management of the RIPE NCC and the corresponding liability officially shifts from the existing Executive Board / new non-executive directors to the current Management Team / new executive directors. The non-executive directors will supervise the executive directors.

A Board member had sent a recommendation to pursue the one-tier approach, and there was a discussion about the proposal. It was noted that by adopting this proposal, the structure of the RIPE NCC Board and Executive would then align much more closely with the structures currently in place at the other RIRs.

There was a comment that, although this had been discussed and minuted at several Board meetings, there would be a need to properly explain everything to the members, starting at the upcoming General Meeting. Further, amendments to the Articles of Association need to be proposed and signed off by the Board before they can be put forward to the GM for approval

The Board thanked Athina and external legal counsel Bas Visée for their work in supporting the development of this proposal, which is intended to bring clarity to RIPE NCC governance and align the structures with the current practices.

Resolution EB#191-R-07
The RIPE NCC Executive Board, in order to formalise the current practice, resolves to change its governance structure to a one-tier board consisting of executive (the members of the current Management Team, i.e. the Managing Director) and non-executive directors (the members of the current Executive Board).

Further, the RIPE NCC Executive Board instructs the RIPE NCC Managing Director to prepare the relevant amendments to the RIPE NCC Articles of Association for the Board’s review and approval. Subject to approval by the Board, the amendments shall be submitted as a proposal for adoption by the General Meeting to be held in October 2026 at the earliest.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

8. RIPE

8.0 RIPE

RIPE Chair Mirjam Kühne gave an update on developments in the RIPE community.

She gave an update on preparations for the RIPE 92 Meeting in Edinburgh, noting that there were already over 400 registrations and that work was going well with the organisation. She said DNS OARC would be holding their meeting at the same venue on the Saturday and Sunday before RIPE 92, and the organisers of that meeting were coordinating agendas with the RIPE PC and the DNS Working Group. She also gave a reminder that attendees coming from the EU would need to have an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) in order to enter the UK.

Mirjam then talked about the great work that has been done to develop the new Fellowship Programme. She said the overall goals were to bring new active people and voices to the community and to increase diversity on various matters. She said 18 fellows were already selected for RIPE 92 and 93, and the coaches have shown great dedication. She said some issues were identified for the next round, including visa issues and related costs, AI submissions and the need to automate parts of the programme.

She then noted that for RIPE 92, a public speaking tutorial would be available both before and during RIPE 92 for those who felt it would help their presentations.

Mirjam then said that, together with the RIPE NCC, the RIPE Chair Team was reviewing the fees for RIPE Meetings. She noted it had been some time since fees were increased, and the meeting was now available quite cheaply in comparison to other meetings. She said the team was looking at where the balance should be between covering costs from meeting fees, sponsorships and member funding. She concluded that this would be brought up at the RIPE community plenary, and further discussion and analysis would take place in cooperation with the RIPE NCC.

Mirjam noted that the venues for RIPE 93 (Sofia) and RIPE 94 (Vilnius) were decided, and preliminary plans were in place up to RIPE 100.

She then gave an update from the working groups and on policy. She said there was a new policy proposal in ARIN relating to TIPTOP (taking IP to other planets), which emerged from the IETF and has been discussed in the RIPE community. She said there were still a lot of questions to be answered relating to proposals around this issue.

She said other policy proposals statuses in RIPE included Revised IPv6 PI Assignment Policy (new discussion phase); IPv6 Initial Allocations /28 and extension to /28 (withdrawn); and ASN assignment criteria revisited (awaiting new version).

Mirjam said she was working with the RIPE NCC’s Policy Development Officer on a new draft version of the Policy Development Process (PDP). And she said she planned to draft guidelines for working group chairs on how to deal effectively with policy proposal implementations.

On RIPE governance, she said a new RIPE PC charter was published, and a representative from CAPIF could be appointed. She said a new version of the working group chair job description would soon be published, and the working group chairs were discussing among themselves the selection processes for chairs, and this would be continued at the RIPE community plenary.

Finally, Mirjam talked about the events and meetings where the RIPE Chair team had carried out engagements since the last Board meeting.

There were various comments from the Board on the issues brought up by Mirjam, especially related to funding RIPE Meetings, improving the policy proposal process, and the ability to engage in the Middle East, given the ongoing conflict there. Hisham Ibrahim, RIPE NCC Chief Community Officer, also gave input on how the RIPE NCC is supporting the RIPE community, noting the work to assess RIPE Meeting fees, creating official liaisons from the RIPE NCC to working groups, planning IPv6 promotions at upcoming events, and working on closer coordination with the IETF and the IAB.

8.1 Data Retention of Meeting Attendees

Athina gave an update based on issues surrounding data retention of meeting attendees. She explained the complications with all this (based on GDPR). She said currently, we have lists of attendees with personal information publicly available. She said we can keep these public if we have a legitimate reason to do so and inform people up front. After reviewing the matter, it was concluded that the list of attendees must not be publicly available for longer than 12 months after the end of each meeting. She noted that, on the other hand, there was a legitimate purpose for retaining this information internally, as this would allow, for example, the NRO NC elections and RIPE Chair selection process to be followed. She said this meant data will be retained internally, but will be deleted externally after 12 months. She concluded that internal procedures would be updated to ensure this happens effectively.

8.2 Events Risk Assessment

Hisham gave a presentation on event risk assessments and what we can do to ensure safety for all attendees. He explained that a new health, safety and security page would be posted on the RIPE 92 website, which is more comprehensive and covers the areas where we saw we could make improvements or improve clarity around. He also talked about different risk scenarios and mitigations.

The Board was pleased to see this work had been carried out. Mirjam advised people to read the RIPE Labs article on the RIPE Code of Conduct Team survey that was also intended to ensure a safe environment for attendees of RIPE meetings.

8.3 Inform the Board on Training Courses in their Countries

Hisham said there was a request from the Board to be notified when training courses take place in their countries so they can promote the training sessions in the local community. Hisham said this is being done, and the Board acknowledged that they are receiving relevant communications when appropriate.

9. Governance of the Root Server System and Operation of K-root

Florian Obser, RIPE NCC Principal Systems Engineer, gave a presentation describing in detail the technical side of K-root operations. There were many questions and comments about the technical setup of K-root that Florian was able to give clarity on. The Board thanked Florian and his team for excellently providing this valuable service.

Hans Petter asked the Board if they were in agreement that the RIPE NCC would continue to provide the K-root service, and the Board gave a resounding yes. Hans Petter also noted that the ICANN Board is currently discussing governance of root server operations based on the recommendations from the Root Server System Governance Working Group, which have been discussed in a previous Board Meeting. The RIPE NCC participation in a future governance structure would become a topic for the Board in the future.

10. AOB

The Board asked about the well-being of staff that are affected by the conflict in the Middle East, and it was explained that they are taken care of.

It was noted that further AOB items the Board wished to bring up were addressed during discussions on the agenda topics.

The Board thanked all those who presented and gave updates. Ondřej closed the meeting at 15:47 (UTC+1).

Resolutions

Resolution EB#191-R-01
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the minutes of EB#189 and #EB190.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

Resolution EB#191-R-02
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the submission of the audited RIPE NCC Financial Report 2025 to the upcoming RIPE NCC General Meeting for its adoption.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

Resolution EB#191-R-03
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the RIPE NCC Annual Report 2025 and directs its publication for the upcoming General Meeting.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

Resolution EB#191-R-04
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the draft agenda for the RIPE NCC General Meeting in May 2026.

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.

Status 11/12/2025: Ongoing. The document on goals of the RIPE NCC reserves was finalised and discussed during EB#189 in topic 3.1. The Board agreed with the document and the intention to publish it as a RIPE Document.

Status 27/03/2026: Ongoing, a RIPE Document on the goals of the RIPE NCC Reserves is being drafted.

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.

Status 11/12/2025: Ongoing. As part of the transition plan, the Board conducted a self-evaluation during EB#189 at topic 9 and a training session is planned for January 2026.

Status 27/03/2026: Ongoing, The Board discussed the governance structure in topic 7 of EB#191 and agreed to change to a one-tier model. Following this decision, amendments to the Articles of Association will be proposed at the next meeting.

New action items

Action EB458 / 27/03/2026 / HPH
To identify possible cost savings for the years 2027-2031 and review where cost efficiencies/reductions can be made.