Soft Landing Recovered Space and Priority

Proposal

Amend article 5.4 of the CPM, as follows:

Current	Proposed
5.4 Soft Landing This section describes how AFRINIC shall assign, allocate, and manage IPv4 resources during the "Exhaustion Phase" which begins when AFRINIC first needs to assign or allocate IP addresses from the final /8 block of IPv4 address space.	5.4 Soft Landing This section describes how AFRINIC shall assign, allocate, and manage IPv4 resources during the "Exhaustion Phase" which begins when AFRINIC first needs to assign or allocate IP addresses from the final /8 block of IPv4 address space. Once each Soft-Landing exhaustion phase is started, it is irreversible, and recovered resources, regardless of their size, will refill the existing pool after a 6 months quarantine period. In case of conflict with other parts of the CPM in terms of Allocation Criteria, Soft-Landing articles will have the higher priority.
5.5.1.2.1 AFRINIC's minimum allocation is /22 or 1024 IPv4 addresses.	Removed (5.4.3.2 supersedes it)
5.5.1.4.1 An LIR may receive an additional allocation when about 80% of all the address space currently allocated to it has been used in valid assignments and/or sub-allocations.	Removed (5.4.6.1 supersedes it)
5.5.1.9 Utilisation Immediate utilisation of assignments should be at least 25% of the assigned space. After one year, unless special circumstances are defined, it should be at least 50%	5.5.1.9 Utilisation Immediate utilisation of assignments should be at least 25% of the assigned space. After 8 months, unless special circumstances are defined, it should be at least 50%
5.5.1.13.3.2. The LIR cannot make any sub‑allocation to the End‑User above their SAW in a 12‑month period (1 year). At the end of a calendar year from the approval of a SAW, the SAW is refreshed for one more year. In case the LIR's SAW is exhausted for a particular End‑User, approval must be sought from AFRINIC for any other sub‑allocation to the same End‑User.	5.5.1.13.3.2. The LIR cannot make any sub‑allocation to the End‑User above their SAW in a 8‑month period. At the end of an 8-month period from the approval of a SAW, the SAW is refreshed for additional 8-months. In case the LIR's SAW is exhausted for a particular End‑User, approval must be sought from AFRINIC for any other sub‑allocation to the same End‑User.
5.6.3 Additional PI Assignment	Removed (5.4.6.1 supersedes it)

 

4. References

In other regions, it has not been contemplated a reversion of the policies for exhaustion. When needed the exhaustion policies have been modified to match the updated community view.

 

Revision History

Revision History

Date	Details
6th May 2026	Version 1: AFPUB-2026-IPv4-001-DRAFT01 Initial Draft Posted to RPD

 

AFRINIC Policy Impact Assessment

 

This document records the AFRINIC operational impact assessment for the policy proposal below. Sections 1 through 3.1 have been populated. All remaining sections are included from the template and intentionally left unfilled.

 

1. DPP Details

Field	Details
Policy ID	AFPUB-2026-IPv4-001-DRAFT01
Policy Name	Soft Landing, Recovered Space and Priority
URL of Policy Proposal	Soft Landing, Recovered Space and Priority - AFPUB-2026-IPv4-001-DRAFT01
Date of Assessment	11 Jun 2026
Affected CPM Section	5.4 (Soft Landing); removes 5.5.1.2.1, 5.5.1.4.1, 5.6.3; amends 5.5.1.9, 5.5.1.13.3.2
Version of IA	v1

 

2. Previous Versions — Impact Assessments

Version	URL
v1	This is the first version

 

3. AFRINIC Staff Assessment

3.1 Staff Interpretation and Understanding of the Proposal

The policy proposals map a way forward on how the recovered IPv4 space should be managed by being cleaned and returned to the available pool, where the resources can be delegated under the prevailing Soft Landing policy rules.

 

It further acknowledges that the Soft Landing policy phases are irreversible, such that no phase 1 conditions can be applied in phase 2, and the current phase conditions shall apply to all available IPv4 space, space reserved for future use as per the policy statement and recovered space, unless another policy that states otherwise is adopted.

 

The proposal also introduces a positive change by removing some obsolete sections of the CPM (specifically 5.5.1.2.1, 5.5.1.4.1 and 5.6.3), thereby removing one of the major pain points to the current CPM since these pre-softlanding sections were conflicting with some profound conditions of the softlanding (5.4.3.2 and 5.4.6.1 in particular).

 

It also corrects projected period of needs from 12 months to 8 months in the sections 5.5.1.9 and 5.5.1.13.3.2.

 

In the case that any other condition still conflicts with the softlanding conditions, the Soft Landing section takes precedence.

• Benefit to AFRINIC: The policy clarifies the ambiguities that surrounded how the recovered space shall be handled.
• Impact on Resource Members: The policy will improve the readability of the CPM since conflicting sections will be removed.

 

3.2 Clarity of Policy Text

• At the moment, there is a /12 prefix from the Last /8 that has been reserved and Sections 5.4.7.1 and 5.4.7.2 state that the reserved /12 will be returned to the available pool once the pool is exhausted.
• The recovered IPv4 addresses contain prefixes from the last /8 as well as from the other /8s managed by AFRINIC.

 

AFRINIC will need more clarification as to:

• Whether this proposal is considering returns only covered by the last /8, i.e 102/8 or any prefix in the 3 Million recovered pool?
• The sequence of filling available pool - recovered space first as soon as policy is implemented? If yes, can it be from any /8 or limited to only from 102/8? OR

 

AFRINIC exhausts the currently available pool, then moves the reserved /12 to the pool and then once the pool is empty, populate the pool with the cleaned up recovered space.

 

3.3 Areas of Impact

3.3.1 Interaction with Existing CPM

There is still clarification required on how the proposal will work along Section 5.4.7.2 of the CPM.

 

3.3.2 Interaction with Other DPPs Under Discussion

Removing sections 5.5.1.2.1, 5.5.1.4.1 and 5.6.3 helps the integration of other policy proposal AFPUB-2026-ipv4-002-DRAFT01.

 

3.3.3 Impact on IP Numbers Registry Systems

System	Impact
WHOIS	None
RDAP	None
MyAFRINIC	None
NetSuite	None
NMRP	None
RPKI	None

 

3.3.4 Member Services Operations

• Procedures:
  • Update the current procedures to reduce the quarantine period from 12 to 6 months.
• Website & Communications: Web content updates, FAQs, announcement plan.

 

3.3.5 IT

None. Existing systems will be used.

 

3.3.6 HR

None. Existing skillsets will be used.

 

3.3.7 Legal

No legal issue

 

3.3.8 Finance

None. Subject to existing skillsets being used.

 

4. Recommendations on Policy Wording

None

 

5. Staff Clarification Requests

• A shorter quarantine period limits staff ability to perform thorough clean-up, and cannot guarantee that reissued resources will be absent from some routing registries and spam blocklists.
• Resource reclamation occurs for various reasons, including breaches of the Registration Service Agreement such as unpaid membership fees. The process may take longer when the previous holder continues BGP announcements. AFRINIC therefore recommends withholding such resources from the available pool if the 6-month period ends while routing table clean-up is ongoing, to avoid disadvantaging the new recipient.
• AFRINIC recommend a 12 months period before returning the resources to available pool for a start; which must be reduced to 6 months when the available (current + recovered) drops below /13.

 

6. Implementation Plan

• AFRINIC will require 6 months to implement the automated workflow to enhance the monitoring and clean-up procedures.