[address-policy-wg] can deadbeat LIRs reverse IPv4 exhaustion?

Dear Jim, all,

I would just like to provide some clarification regarding your point below.


On 07/02/2019 11:14, Jim Reid wrote:
>
>> On 7 Feb 2019, at 07:59, Carlos Friaças via address-policy-wg <address-policy-wg at ripe.net> wrote:
>>
>> Even when the pools reach ZERO, if 1000 LIRs stop paying fees (and that's only one example/route), the "runout" will be temporarily reverted, and handing out IPv4 addresses will be again, in theory, possible.
> How is that possible? Once the pools reach zero, there are no more addresses to hand out.
>
> An RIR can't conjure up IPv4 address space out of thin air. If it was able to do that, we could just continue forever with business as usual and allocate v4 until the heat death of the universe.
>
> Besides, there’s no mechanism or policy for the NCC to recover addresses from LIRs that don’t pay their bills. If such mechanisms or policies existed, they’d be unworkable. There’s no way of knowing for sure that those addresses weren’t being used. So if they were reclaimed, the addresses couldn’t be allocated to someone else.
>
>
>
Section 9.0 of the IPv4 policy states that an LIR may be closed if it 
does not pay money it owes to the RIPE NCC. The policy also states that 
the RIPE NCC takes on responsibility for the address space of LIRs that 
are closed:
https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-708#9

Based on the policy, we have existing procedures to de-register IPv4 
address space and re-issue the addresses. Our procedure in these cases 
includes announcement checks and a quarantine period to minimise 
routablity issues for future resource holders.

In fact, many of the allocations we are currently making have gone 
through such a recycling process.
We expect that we will continue to receive IPv4 addresses due to LIR 
closures and other reasons for some time after the current IPv4 pool has 
been exhausted.

Kind regards,

Marco Schmidt
Policy Officer
RIPE NCC