[ncc-announce] [GM] Draft RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2025 Proposals

Dear RIPE NCC members,

We can now share three draft charging scheme models for 2025 that the Executive Board approved with the following resolution at its meeting on 25 March 2024:

The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the submission of the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2025 options to the upcoming RIPE NCC General Meeting for members to vote on.
 
- Option A  -  Charging Scheme as is with 22.58% price increase for the annual contribution per LIR account (EUR 1,900) and a 0% price increase for Independent Internet number resource assignments* (EUR 50)
- Option B  -  Charging Scheme as is with 20.97% price increase for the annual contribution per LIR account (EUR 1,875) and a 50% price increase for Independent Internet number resource assignments* (EUR 75)
- Option C  -  Charging Scheme as is with 16.13% price increase for the annual contribution per LIR account (EUR 1,800), a 50% price increase for Independent Internet number resource assignments* (EUR 75) and a new AS Numbers fee of EUR 50 per assignment

*Resources falling under this charge are IPv4 and IPv6 PI assignments; Anycast assignments; IPv4 and IPv6 IXP assignments; and Legacy IPv4 resource registrations through a sponsoring LIR.

The full draft charging scheme models are available from the GM Documentation page:
https://www.ripe.net/membership/meetings/gm/meetings/may-2024/documentation-and-archives/supporting-documents/

Although the proposed models are relatively simple, we provide a calculator where you can see exactly what you would pay under each of the proposed models:
https://www.ripe.net/documents/3757/CS2025_Member_Calculator.xlsx

The main considerations for the Executive Board in proposing these three models are:
1. The consolidation of LIR accounts, which means the burden to generate sufficient income must be met by fewer accounts
2. Increased costs due to inflation that were previously catered for by the large number of LIR accounts
3. Following the discussions last year and again this year, there appears to be no clear consensus among members on how a category-based model would work and the Board does not wish to put another category model forward at the upcoming GM that will be rejected by the members. Rather, the Board will propose a simple model that guarantees adequate funding for 2025 and 2026 - under this proposal, we expect there would be no need for a fee increase for 2026. The Board will work with the RIPE NCC on a more in-depth consultation with the members aimed at arriving at a sustainable solution for 2027 and beyond, possibly involving a new charging scheme task force. 

All three proposed models are designed to arrive at the same income of EUR 41.1 million for the RIPE NCC in 2025. This will cover all current services and activities, a 5% staff cost increase, a 2% inflation increase on all non-staff costs, and EUR 1 million for additional work relating to registry complexity and security projects aimed at ensuring the resilience of the Registry and the RIPE NCC more broadly. Any such additional work would be discussed with the membership during Activity Plan and Budget consultations and then need to be approved by the Board. This will also allow some leeway should more LIR accounts close than we expect.

It’s important to note that the RIPE NCC aims for an income budget that will provide a surplus, and this means that should we meet our budgetary targets, a surplus can be returned to members in 2026 should they so wish.

While the RIPE NCC continues to carry out cost-cutting efforts across the organisation, drastically reducing the budget at this time is not advisable due to the work that needs to be carried out, especially in relation to maintaining high-quality registry services and securing the registry and RIPE NCC systems. Cutting services or activities is not something the Board is planning to do, and such actions would take time and need full consultation with the membership. An overview of the activities and services that the membership fee covers is provided below this email.

I also urge you to see the presentation we delivered at the charging scheme open house in March so that the full context of the situation and the financial landscape we face is clear to you. The slides are available at:
https://www.ripe.net/membership/meetings/open-house/ripe-ncc-charging-scheme-2025/

Finally, I want to thank all those who have contributed to the consultation so far on the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2025. The models we present here are draft and in two weeks we will announce the final proposal that members will vote on at the GM on 22-24 May. Please discuss the draft proposal on the members-discuss at ripe.net <mailto:members-discuss at ripe.net> list - any input received by 19 April can be incorporated if possible into the final models we propose. And make sure to register for the GM so that you can vote on the charging scheme that will apply for you and all members next year:
https://my.ripe.net/#/meetings/active 

Simon-Jan Haytink
Chief Financial Officer
RIPE NCC

Services and Activities Covered by the Member Fee

- A trusted, efficient, accurate and resilient registry that guarantees uniqueness of resources held by members
- Neutral information services uninfluenced by commercial or government interests that allow both the RIPE NCC and the community to carry out useful research into the Internet
- Engagement activities, including RIPE and regional meetings, that build an active membership and community and that contribute to the overall good of the Internet
- A voice and influence for the membership in key decision-making fora, including with governments and regulators
- Protection of the Joint Internet Number Registry as developed by the Internet community
- Learning and development activities that help to address skills shortages and contribute to an educated membership
- Support for the Policy Development Process (PDP)
- An authoritative registry of routing information provided by RPKI and the RIPE Database
- K-root and DNS services
- A dedicated staff with considerable expertise contributing to all of the above
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