Inter-RIR Resource Transfers v2

Proposal

 1.0 Summary of the problem being addressed by this proposal

This proposal allows establishing the mechanism to allow transfers of resources (IPv4, IPv6, ASNs) between to/from other regions and to align AfriNIC with a market that already exists and in which we are lagging behind, which is negative for the region.

 

 2.0 Summary of how this proposal addresses the problem

In recent years, and with the exhaustion of IPv4, several regions have solved this problem, not only through transfers within the region itself, but between different regions. This allows to facilitate a dynamic in the market and by increasing the offer, reducing prices.

However, an inter-RIR mechanism has not been established in AfriNIC, which is leading the region to a situation of discrimination and scarcity of addresses, not only in the RIR itself, but in the region's market, which avoids even that new businesses can be established in the region, due to the lack of addresses.

On the other hand, the fact that there is no inter-RIR policy does not prevent transfers "under the table" and, therefore, assumes that there are resources from which the history of their registration is lost, which is one of the main functions of AfriNIC.

As a protection measure, it is considered that these transfers should only be allowed from AfriNIC to other regions, in the case of IPv4 and ASN, if they are legacy resources, regardless of the origin of the resources that come from other regions. This also has the advantage of allowing these resources to emerge and incorporate them into the RIRs system. 

Additionally, it is important to highlight that the deployment of IPv6, in some cases, may require small blocks of IPv4 addresses for transition mechanisms, or significantly increase the costs thereof, and many AfriNIC entities could, therefore, be in serious disadvantage if they do not have access to a global market, as it is currently the case.

There is no doubt that accepting this type of transfer also has its risks, and it is possible that an initial price increase will be generated, which would quickly be aligned with the rest of the global market, as is usually the case with equivalent markets.

 

 3.0 Proposal

New article 13.0 of the CPM, as follows:

Current

Proposed

13.0 Inter-RIR Resource Transfers  Resources can be transferred from AFRINIC to other RIRs whose policies provide for inter-RIR transfers, and from those RIRs to AFRINIC according to the following provisions:  In the case of IPv4, the minimum size that can be transferred will be /24. In the case of IPv6, the minimum size that can be transferred will be /48. If the resource to be transferred is IPv4 or ASN and it is transferred from AFRINIC to another RIR, it can only be transferred if it is a legacy resource in accordance with AFRINIC classification of legacy resources. The resources coming from distributions or assignments of IPv6 of AFRINIC, may not be transferred until 2 years have passed since their distribution or assignment. For an entity to receive a transfer, it must first pass through the process of justification of the need for the resource, according to the policies in force, before AFRINIC or the corresponding RIR (depending on the transfer direction). AFRINIC or the corresponding RIR (depending on the direction of the transfer), will verify the custodianship of the resource to be transferred and that it is not involved in any dispute. Both the entity that transfers, and the entity that receives, must submit to AFRINIC a copy of the legal document that supports the operation. Each entity, both the one that transfers and the one that receives, will be subject to the policies and conditions of membership of the corresponding RIR. AFRINIC will record in a public transfers log, all the relevant data of the transferred resource. Once the transfer is completed, AFRINIC will modify the information of the transferred resource to reflect the change of resource holder. The transferred blocks (as well as their sub-blocks), can’t be subsequently transferred during a period of one year, counting from the date of the registration of the operation in the log. The incoming legacy resources, once transferred, will no longer be considered as legacy.

 

 4.0 Revision History

Date	Details
26 October 2018	Version 1: AFPUB-2018-GEN-003-DRAFT01 Initial Draft Posted to rpd
20 November 2018	Version 2: AFPUB-2018-GEN-003-DRAFT01 -  13f changed “ownership” to “custodianship” -  13j changed “owner” to “resource holder” -  13i changed to “AFRINIC will record in a public transfers log, all the relevant data of the transferred resource.”

 

 5.0 References            

There are Inter-RIR policies in APNIC, ARIN and RIPE, which have widely demonstrated their effectiveness and have not presented problems to the respective communities, quite the contrary.

LACNIC is discussing an equivalent proposal.

 

According to the existing evidence, the ARIN region appears as the origin of the transfer of the largest number of addresses to the other regions that have resource transfer policies.

• https://ripe77.ripe.net/presentations/145-18-0903-NRO-Statistics-2018.pdf

 

 

Staff Assessment