1. Introduction and Scope

RIPE working group (WG) chairs are an essential part of the RIPE community. All WG chairs serve as volunteers. They play an important role in building trust in the processes and values agreed by the RIPE community and in enabling RIPE to meet its objective: the administrative and technical coordination for the stable operation of the Internet through a community-driven, bottom-up process.

RIPE WG chairs facilitate discussions and policy developments. They look after the wellbeing of the working group as a whole and ensure everyone feels heard.

This document describes

1. Introduction

The purpose of this document is to describe

2. Role of Working Groups in RIPE

RIPE working groups focus on specific areas of interest to the RIPE community, such as developments in technology, legislation & regulation, and operational co-operation.

RIPE working groups make their work available to the RIPE community, to the RIPE NCC, to governments, and to civil society as resources for capacity building, recommendations for best practice, policy statements, briefings, and advice.

Each working group has a charter which sets out the current focus and objectives of the WG. The charter is developed by the members of the WG together with the WG chairs. WG charters and work items should be reviewed on a regular basis.

3. Roles and Responsibilities of Working Group Chairs

RIPE WG chairs have a leadership role in the RIPE community and take on the responsibility to guide and manage a particular WG. WGs typically have two or three chairs who can share the workload and work as a team. The chairs jointly take on all the duties of leading their working group. Those duties are described in the next following sections.

3.1 Organising WG Sessions

WGs typically meet at RIPE Meetings. However, this is not a requirement. If a WG has no open work items or no agenda points, it can also skip a meeting. In addition to that, it is possible to hold online interim sessions. This can be useful if there is an urgent matter to discuss or if not all agenda items can be covered during a face-to-face meeting. The RIPE NCC can help facilitate these interim meetings Link: /community/wg/guidelines-for-ripe-working-group-interim-sessions/ .

The WG chairs are responsible for managing the working group's agenda and workload. This means identifying what should be discussed or worked on and when.

WG chairs are responsible for ensuring that voices from across the RIPE community are heard. This might mean choosing between volunteers for a particular task. When doing this, the chairs must serve the best interests of the whole RIPE community.

3.1.1 Preparing the Agenda

WG chairs need to send out a call for agenda items to the WG mailing list before each meeting. WG chairs are encouraged to actively solicit content. An agenda should be published two weeks before the meeting at the latest. WG chairs are responsible to form the agenda based on the input received. It is also their responsibility to keep those who submitted agenda items or presentations informed about the status of their submission. This should be done well in time before the meeting, so that presenters can take this into account when making travel plans.

3.1.2 Running a WG Session

During a WG session, it is the responsibility of the WG chairs to present the agenda, introduce the speakers, facilitate discussion and watch the time. WG chairs coordinate before each meeting and distribute the tasks (e.g. introducing speakers, time keeping, discussion moderation). It is recommended that at least one of the chairs is present at a WG session. Remote chairing is also possible.

3.1.3 RIPE Working Group Minutes

Minutes of WG sessions are typically provided by the RIPE secretariat (the RIPE NCC). RIPE NCC staff share draft minutes with the WG chairs after each meeting. It is the responsibility of the WG chairs to review the minutes and share them with the WG before they are marked as final on the working group's webpage.

3.2 Working Group Mailing Lists

Each RIPE WG has a mailing list, which enables the WG to continue its activities throughout the year, in between, and during, RIPE Meetings.

All mailing lists are publicly archived and open to everyone interested in the activity of the WG.

RIPE WG chairs are responsible for monitoring, managing and moderating their WG mailing list. This means they encourage and facilitate discussion and open debate. They also ensure the RIPE Code of Conduct Link: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/coc/ is followed. If there is misconduct on the list, it is the responsibility of the chairs to deal with that. This should be done in collaboration with the RIPE Code of Conduct Team. More information can be found in Mailing List Guidelines for RIPE Working Group Chairs Link: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/mailing-list-guidelines-wg-chairs/ .

3.3. RIPE Working Group Chairs and the PDP

Policy development is a formal process for the RIPE community to communicate requirements to the RIPE NCC. Usually, this activity takes place in only a few WGs. Occasionally, it happens that a particular policy proposal fits better in a different WG. For this reason, it is very important that all WG chairs are familiar with the associated with RIPE Working Group (WG) Chairs.

The document is divided into the following sections:

• WG Chairs and co-chairs
• Creating WG charters
• Updating WG charters
Policy Development Process Link: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/pdp/ and the way consensus is built to come to the best possible outcome.

In addition, the collective of all RIPE WG chairs (referred to as the WG chair collective) occasionally has to review the handling of a specific policy proposal, as a first level of appeal (more details about the WG chair collective in Section 5).

4. Working Group Chair Selection Process

Each WG selects their chairs with a clearly defined process on a regular basis. The process should be announced in advance and clearly described to the WG members in advance in order to avoid surprise and to encourage as many volunteers as possible.

RIPE WGs follow a number of best practices:

- Receive volunteer nominations directly to those WG chairs whose term is not ending (not publicly on the mailing list). This will likely encourage more nominations, especially from more less extrovert candidates

- Implement terms of no more than three years for each of the chairs

- Consider a maximum number of terms for each chair

- A selection process that also allows for online participation

5. RIPE WG Chair Collective

All WG chairs together with the RIPE Chair Team Link: /community/ripe-governance/chair/ meet regularly to exchange ideas and to provide feedback to the RIPE NCC and to discuss any other topics relevant to their role.

As a group (the WG chair collective), RIPE WG chairs have a number of closely defined responsibilities. They are described in a separate document Link: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/wgcc-definition-tasks/ .

6. Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the current WG chairs for their contributions and for reviewing an earlier version of this document.

7. References

- RIPE WG Chairs Training Link: https://academy.ripe.net/ripe-wg-chairs

- RIPE WG Interim Sessions Link: /community/wg/guidelines-for-ripe-working-group-interim-sessions/

- Mailing List Guidelines for RIPE (PDP) responsibilities

• RIPE Meeting responsibilities

2. Working Group Chairs Link: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/mailing-list-guidelines-wg-chairs/

- RIPE Working Group Chair Collective - Definitions and Tasks Link: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/wgcc-definition-tasks/

- RIPE and Co-Chairs

RIPE Working Groups operate under a co-chair model. In this, the co-chairs share the responsibility for all tasks involved in chairing their working group. The co-chairs act together to make any formal statements (for example on policy development) that are relevant to their WG.

A WG has either 2 or 3 co-chairs.

When participating in RIPE discussions, WG Chairs and co-chairs should endeavour to make it clear whether they speak on behalf of themselves, the organisations they work for, or the WG for which they are co-chair.

3. Creating Working Group Charters

i) Working Group Created from a Task Force

A WG usually emerges from a Task Force. In this case, the procedure for creating the WG charter is as follows:

The head of the Task Force creates the charter for the new WG in consultation with other members of the Task Force. Once this has been agreed, and approved by the RIPE Chair, the charter for the new WG is officially recognised.

ii) New Working Group Emerging from an Existing WG

If a new WG emerges from an existing WG, then the chairs and co-chairs of both the new and existing WG should draw up the charter for the new WG. Once this has been agreed, and approved by the RIPE Chair, the charter for the new WG is officially recognised.

4. Updating Working Group Charters

If a WG Chair needs to update the WG charter, they must have the text approved by the WG co-chairs before presenting the revised charter to the WG for their approval via the WG mailing list. The RIPE Chair has final approval of the new charter.

5.

- RIPE Code of Conduct Link: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/coc/

8. Document History

This document is an update of ripe-692 Link: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-692/ .

The RIPE Chair published a first draft to the RIPE community on 23 December 2025 Link: https://mailman.ripe.net/archives/list/ripe-list@ripe.net/thread/O7KUWIAZPF47CXZKXJR4JP3MEMHFPO3I/ .

First Draft published: 23 December 2025 Link: https://mailman.ripe.net/archives/list/ripe-list@ripe.net/thread/O7KUWIAZPF47CXZKXJR4JP3MEMHFPO3I/

Second Draft Published: 27 March 2026 Link: https://mailman.ripe.net/archives/list/ripe-list@ripe.net/message/JN3GNSRFQEL7UTKJLWF3QUX7DR5OA7SY/

Consensus declared: 29 May 2026 Link: https://mailman.ripe.net/archives/list/ripe-list@ripe.net/thread/UXFQENXSHY33SEXRYFL5LCEU2VMSQ4HX/

Final version published: 12 June 2026 (PDP) Responsibilities

WG Chairs are expected to:

• Stay up-to-date with all phases of a policy proposal relevant to their WG
• Follow discussions on the relevant WG mailing list(s)
• Guide mailing list discussions as appropriate
• Take charge of PDP milestone decisions relevant to their WG
• Ensure PDP milestone decisions keep to the timeframe as described in the document "Policy Development Process in RIPE Link: http://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/pdp "
• Inform the RIPE NCC when a policy proposal has received consensus and should become a RIPE Document

Note that these responsibilities are shared between the co-chairs.

6. RIPE Meeting Responsibilities

i) General/Plenary

WG Chairs are expected to:

• Attend RIPE Meetings or ensure that a co-chair attends the meeting

ii) Working Group Specific

WG Chairs are expected to:

• Solicit relevant content for the WG session
• Post a draft agenda for their WG session (at least 2-3 weeks before a RIPE Meeting where possible)
• Lead the WG session and encourage active participation
• Review and approve the minutes from their WG session (4-6 weeks)
• Attend WG Chair lunches during RIPE Meetings
• Attend WG Chair meetings between RIPE Meetings if needed
• Update the action list of their WG after the RIPE Meeting
• Approach the RIPE Chair with any requests to fund a speaker's attendance at a RIPE Meeting. If the request for funding is deemed appropriate by the RIPE Chair, the RIPE Chair will request funding from the RIPE NCC Managing Director. The RIPE NCC Managing Director may or may not approve such a request at their own discretion.
• Develop, maintain, and implement a procedure for the selection and removal of WG Chairs for the WG.

These responsibilities may be split between co-chairs.

Changes Since ripe-542

Minor:

• Changed to Oxford comma, because we love clarity.
• Converted to gender-neutral pronouns (they).
• Updated reference to RIPE PDP.
• Chairs get "content" not "presentations" for WG sessions.
• Added "if needed" to attending WG Chairs meetings between RIPE Meetings.

Major:

• Eliminated the chair with optional co-chair model.
• Added RIPE Chair as final approval of new charters.
• Changed new charter approval only to mailing list (was "and/or at a RIPE Meeting").
• Noted that we no longer have the WG Chair responsibility to act as final approval on all new policies (outside of their own WG).
• Removed responsibility to lead Plenary sessions, since the PC now does that.
• Removed references to the EOF Coordinator since that role does not really exist now.
• Added responsibility for WG Chairs for WG selection procedure.

Approval of Document

This document was approved by the RIPE Chair.