Draft: NRO NC Election Process v1

Scope

This document serves to describe existing processes and lay out additional processes related to the election of representatives from the RIPE community to the Number Resource Organization (NRO) Numbering Council (NC). Members of the NRO NC also fill seats on the Address Supporting Organization (ASO) Address Council (AC) to ICANN.

Each RIR community selects two people to serve on the NRO NC. Each RIR’s Executive Board also appoints one person from its respective region to the NRO NC. The RIPE NCC’s Executive Board processes related to the appointment and dismissal of the appointed NRO NC member are not within the scope of this document.

This document includes:

1. Background
2. NRO NC Member Accountabilities
3. The Election Process
4. Candidate Eligibility 
5. Voter Eligibility
6. Term Limits
7. Resignation
8. Dismissal of an Elected Member

1. Background

Election Process

The NRO NC election process was discussed by the LIR Working Group at RIPE 34 and RIPE 35. Consensus was reached on the basic principles of the process:

• It must be open, transparent and simple
• Each person receives one vote
• Voting must be open to the RIPE community and not restricted to RIPE NCC members only

Voting

Voting was initially restricted to attendees physically present at the RIPE Meeting. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the completely virtual RIPE Meetings, the NRO NC election was opened to registered online participants at RIPE 82. Since RIPE 82, all RIPE Meeting attendees who have registered to vote in the NRO NC election and checked-in for the meeting by the deadline are eligible to vote.

IANA Numbering Services Review Committee

The IANA Numbering Services Review Committee (IANA RC) is composed of qualified representatives from each RIR region and each region has equal representation. There are two representatives from each region along with an RIR staff member appointed to serve on the IANA RC. 

Each RIR community uses established open, transparent, and bottom-up mechanisms to select their IANA RC representatives and define their terms. 

The RIPE community agreed in September 2015 that the two elected representatives to the NRO NC would also serve as the community representatives on the IANA RC. The term of service on the IANA RC will correspond with the term on the NRO NC. By being elected to the NRO NC, the representative will also serve on the IANA RC. Resignation or dismissal from the NRO NC will automatically result in the resignation or removal of the representative from the IANA RC. 

The RIPE NCC staff member on the IANA RC is appointed by the RIPE NCC Executive Board.

2. NRO NC Member Accountabilities

NRO NC members are expected to:

• Serve on the NRO NC which also serves as the ASO AC
• Adhere to the RIPE Code of Conduct
• Elected members are also expected to serve as representatives of the RIPE community for the IANA Numbering Services Review Committee (IANA RC)

The ASO AC / NRO NC’s responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Undertaking a role in the Global Policy Development Process (GPDP) and ensuring that policy has been followed
• Providing recommendations to the Board of ICANN concerning the recognition of new RIRs
• Defining procedures for the selection of individuals to serve on other ICANN bodies, in particular on the ICANN Board, and implementing any new roles assigned to the Address Council in such procedures
• Selecting individuals to serve on ICANN’s Board in Seats 9 and 10
• Providing advice to the ICANN Board on Internet number resource allocation policy in conjunction with the ASO/NRO

3. The Election Process

The RIPE NCC will send an announcement of the upcoming elections 60 days prior to the RIPE Meeting during which the elections will take place. However, in some cases, the 60-day notice might not be possible, for instance, if an elected NRO NC member steps down. 

The RIPE NCC, as the secretariat, will publish a timeline with the important dates and deadlines, along with the nomination process for candidates and registration process for voters. 

Nominations and expressions of support for candidates will be published at latest three weeks before the election, along with candidate biographies and statements of motivation. Further, candidates may present themselves before the election during a session of the RIPE Meeting.

The candidate with the highest number of votes will be elected. 

If both seats on the NRO NC need to be filled, and the number of candidates exceeds the number of seats available, instant run-off voting will be used to fill both seats using a single candidate list.

If there is only one confirmed candidate, or as many candidates as empty seats, instead of the voting process, the RIPE Chair will ask the community for an acclamation of the candidate’s election to the role at a Plenary session at the RIPE Meeting during which the elections are supposed to take place.

In case there are no confirmed candidates following the call for nominations, the RIPE Chair can make an interim appointment on behalf of the RIPE community. A new call for nominations should be issued before the next RIPE Meeting, at which time a fresh election can be held.

4. Candidate Eligibility

Anyone can nominate themselves or be nominated to stand as a candidate. Nominees must accept the nomination in order to be confirmed as candidates.  

It is expected that candidates are active members of the RIPE community, engaged in community activities and will reply to questions that they might receive related to their candidacy.

Nomination Process

Any individual residing within the RIPE NCC service region is eligible for nomination, except Regional Internet Registry (RIR) staff members. Self-nominations are permitted.

Nominations must include:

• Name of nominee
• Nominee's country of residence
• Nominee's organisation or employer
• Nominee's email address
• Motivation for nomination
• Name of nominating individual
• Nominator's organisation or employer

All nominees will be contacted by the RIPE NCC to confirm their nomination to the NRO NC. If a nominee cannot be contacted via email or does not respond to emails sent by the RIPE NCC, their nomination will be rejected. Nominees must confirm their acceptance at the latest by the given deadline to publish the list of confirmed candidates.

Nominees become confirmed candidates after:

• Accepting the nomination in writing
• Submitting a certified copy of an official identification document, in order to verify their identity
• Agreeing to adhere to the RIPE Code of Conduct

These documents must be submitted to the RIPE NCC no later than two weeks before the election. Nominees who do not meet these criteria will be disqualified. 

Candidates can also submit a biography, photograph of themselves and a statement of motivation which will be published no later than two weeks before the election.

Any statements of support for candidates will also be published online. 

RIPE Code of Conduct

The RIPE Code of Conduct applies. Violation of the Code of Conduct can result in disqualification from the election process or dismissal from the NRO NC.

5. Voter Eligibility

All RIPE Meeting attendees (except Regional Internet Registry staff) are eligible to vote. This includes those attending in-person and remotely. They must be registered for the RIPE Meeting. Additionally, they must have registered to vote in the NRO NC election and be checked in.

6. Term Limits

A standard term is three years, starting on 1 January of the first year to the term and ending three years later on 31 December. There is no limit to the maximum number of terms that a member can serve.

7. Resignation

A member elected to the NRO NC can resign before the end of their term by officially notifying the ASO AC, the NRO Secretariat, the ICANN Secretary and the RIPE NCC.

This also automatically amounts to a resignation from the IANA RC and ASO AC.

If a member resigns before the end of their term, a new election will be held at the next possible opportunity. In this case, it might not be possible to announce the election 60 days in advance. The RIPE Chair will decide in consultation with the RIPE NCC if there is sufficient notice to hold an election or if an interim appointment is needed until the next possible election.  

The interim appointee will step down once a fresh election is held. The end date of the original term remains unchanged, and a new election will be held when the term ends.

8. Dismissal of an Elected NRO NC Member

In the unlikely event that a member elected to the NRO NC fails to carry out their responsibilities outlined in the NRO NC Members Responsibilities section (e.g. for a period of one year they remain unresponsive and do not participate in any of the ASO AC/NRO NC meetings), as a last resort, the RIPE Chair, on behalf of the RIPE community, can recall them from their appointment and ask them to step down. Violations of the RIPE Code of Conduct could result in the dismissal of an elected member.

The process to be followed by the RIPE NCC Executive Board in case the NRO NC member appointed by them fails to carry out their responsibilities is outside the scope of this document.