APNIC 56 Policy Proposals

September 6, 2023

APNIC56 is in Kyoto, Japan September 7 – 14. This year there are four new policies being proposed and an edit to a policy previously discussed several times.

prop-148 revolves around leasing and whether the RIRs, specifically APNIC, should put anti-leasing terms into effect. This Prop has had four previous versions. Not all criticisms of prior versions have been addressed in this version. The author states that the other RIRs do not allow leasing as justification for space. This position effectively disallows IPv4 leasing in general. Further, the author poses that if a member, who validly justified space in the past, is no longer using the delegation for the justified purpose (i.e. leasing) this violates policy and the address space should be revoked and returned to the RIR. Discussion on this proposal varied from minor support to opposition. Most of those in support nevertheless believe there needs to be further clarification on leasing in general. Distinctions are made between leasing broadly and those with “legitimate” business cases (for example, businesses may also lease subnets smaller than a /24 to customers who may have a business internet service).

prop-152 speaks about reducing the minimum delegation from /23 to /24. More precisely, the author would like to make this change once the current pool of 2,792,192 (the final 0.3% of the 103/8 pool) of IPv4 addresses is depleted. An interesting note within the discussion of this proposal is APNIC’s recent reclamation of 700,000 addresses. APNIC has gone through their entire database and reached out to all IPv4 owners in order to clean up and reclaim any unused IPv4 addresses to be later delegated to those on the waitlist. This policy proposes that any new space be delegated to only new account holders, including NIR Members.

prop-153 is a proposal where the author is looking to clarify and improve on the proposal process. Specifically, changes to Step 1 of the Policy Development Process (PDP) where the deadline for proposal submissions is not clear.

prop-154 discusses decreasing IXP’s delegation size from /22 to /26. The main reason: it is unlikely an IXP will need to use the full 512 addresses and by reducing the allocation amount there is more available for those in need. If an IXP needs further space down the line they will be eligible for a /22, provided they return the original delegation. The discussion board for this policy was filled with many differing views on whether IXPs are generally under-utilizing the space or will need more to grow into.

prop-155 seems to be universally supported by those that commented on the discussion board. The proposal points out that it is made more difficult by APNIC policy to receive an IPv6 PI assignment if a member has no other address space. If they already have IPv4 they require little to no justification to receive IPv6. 

Regarding APNIC Executive Council, there will be a special meeting of APNIC members on September 14 2023 at 14:30 (UTC+9). During this time, APNIC will be conducting its ordinary business meeting regarding budgets and reports. At this time, they will also be open to questions and feedback on the APNIC EC and Secretariat. The five Resolutions being proposed are all regarding the running for, and regulation of, the Executive Council (“EC”). A quick summary of the resolutions is listed below.

• In order to be elected to the EC the nominee must:
  • Maintain a primary residence within the APNIC serviced region;
  • Have registered for and attended three of the seven most recent APNIC conferences prior to the current election;
  • If an EC member, for any reason, becomes ineligible to serve as a director under the Commonwealth of Australia, their term will immediately end.
• Any individual who falls under the following categories is ineligible to be nominated for the EC:
  • APNIC employee or any of its related corporate bodies;
  • Employees, or board members, of another RIR or ICANN;
  • There can only be one newly elected official from the same country within the APNIC region. If more than two individuals from the same economy are running then:
    • The member with most votes is elected;
    • The member(s) with fewer votes will be deemed ineligible and excluded from the election.
• Any individual involved in litigation or proceeding with APNIC in court (or equivalent tribunal) anywhere in the world, is ineligible to be nominated or stand for election to the EC
• Only one individual from an organization may be elected to the EC.
• The EC will be establishing an Electoral Committee to oversee the nominations during each EC election. Further, the Electoral committee:
  • Will be appointed by the EC and will have between three and seven members at all times;
  • Will determine the eligibility of each nominee in the relevant election;
    • And can exclude nominees due to their ineligibility, or non-compliance with the Code of Conduct
  •  May, with consent of the EC, delegate any of its powers to an independent organization
  • All nominees for the EC must agree to the following as part of their nomination:
    • Waive any and all claims they may have against the EC or its members, other than situations where the EC has acted in bad faith;
    • Submit to the decisions of the EX, which are final and binding.

All to be voted on by members in attendance of the meeting.