FAQs
The ASO is one of three supporting organizations called for in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Bylaws to be “formed through community consensus.”
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The ASO’s purpose is to review and develop recommendations on Internet Protocol (IP) address policy and to advise the ICANN Board on policy issues relating to the operation, assignment, and management of IP addresses.
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The ASO Address Council (ASO AC) consists of the 15 members of the NRO Number Council (NRO NC). The NRO NC is an elected body of 15 volunteers and is called for in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Bylaws.
Fifteen volunteers, three from each of the five Regional Internet Registry (RIR) communities, serve on the ASO AC. Each RIR community elects two representatives and the governing body of each RIR appoints a third in-region individual.
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Anybody who has an interest in Internet number resources can serve on the ASO AC. ASO AC members do not need to be a member of a Regional Internet Registry (RIR) but must reside in the region of the RIR that select them to serve.
Each RIR community appoints two ASO AC members through an open and transparent nomination and election process in its respective region. Each RIR’s Executive Board also appoints one member to the ASO AC.
You can find out more about each election process on each RIR’s website: ARIN | AFRINIC | APNIC | LACNIC | RIPE NCC
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As outlined in the ICANN – ASO MoU, the ASO AC:
- Oversees the Global Policy Development Process (GPDP).
- Provides recommendations to the ICANN Board of Directors concerning the recognition of new RIRs.
- Defines procedures to appoint Directors to serve in the ASO’s two seats (Seat 9 and Seat 10) on the ICANN Board of Directors and to serve on other ICANN bodies.
- Provides advice to the ICANN Board of Directors on Internet number resource allocation policy, in conjunction with the RIRs.
- Develops procedures for conducting business in support of their responsibilities, in particular for the appointment of an ASO AC Chair and definition of the Chair’s responsibilities.
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What is the relationship between the ASO and the NRO
The ASO is one of the three Supporting Organizations (SOs) called for in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Bylaws, and is charged with reviewing and developing recommendations on Internet Protocol (IP) address policy and advises the ICANN Board on policy issues relating to the operation, assignment, and management of IP addresses.
The NRO, as the coordinating body for the five RIRs , fulfils the role, responsibilities and functions of the ASO. These functions and responsibilities are outlined in the ICANN-ASO Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The NRO provides secretariat support for the ASO, acts as a coordinating mechanism for the five RIRs and participates, as the ASO, in the ICANN Empowered Community.
The NRO has a Number Council (NRO NC) which serves as the ASO Address Council (ASO AC) within the ICANN structure.
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The Number Resource Organization Executive Council (NRO EC) consists of one person from each Regional Internet Registry (RIR). The Board of each RIR is responsible for appointing this person (see section 6 of the NRO MoU).
The NRO EC performs the functions of the ASO and participates in the ICANN Empowered Community as the ASO. The NRO’s activities are governed by the NRO MoU.
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No. The policies by which Internet number resources are managed and distributed is proposed, discussed and accepted (or rejected) by each Regional Internet Registry (RIR) community, using its respective open and transparent policy development process (PDP).
Global policies govern how Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), the organization charged with performing the IANA functions, issues Internet number resources to the RIRs. These policies must also be accepted (or rejected) by each Regional Internet Registry (RIR) community following the global policy development process (GPDP).
The ASO (acting as the Number Resource Organization Executive Council – NRO EC) and the ASO Address Council (ASO AC), as bodies, do not propose, discuss and accept (or reject) policy.
However, both the ASO (NRO EC) and the ASO AC play a role in the GPDP. Once a global policy has been proposed, the policy must first go through the regional PDP within each of the five RIR regions, where an identical version of the policy proposal must be ratified.
When consensus is reached to accept a Global Policy Proposal within all five RIRs, each RIR’s version of the Global Policy Proposal is merged together into a single policy statement. This task is performed by the ASO AC. An identical version of the global policy proposal must then be ratified by each RIR community.
The NRO EC then refers the coordinated Global Policy Proposal to the ASO AC. The ASO AC reviews the process by which the global policy proposal was ratified and, as outlined in Attachment A of the ASO MoU, passes it to the ICANN Board of Directors for ratification as a global policy.
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The ICANN Empowered Community is the mechanism through which ICANN’s SOs and Advisory Committees (ACs) can organize, under California law, to legally enforce their community powers and hold ICANN accountable for its actions.
As an ICANN Supporting Organization (SO), the ASO participates in the Empowered Community as outlined in the ASO Procedures for Empowered Community Powers. The ASO acts as the Decisional Participant.
As per the ASO MoU, the ASO Address Council (AC) define procedures to select individuals to serve on other ICANN bodies, namely in ICANN Board Seats 9 and 10. The Decisional Participant Representative would therefore consult the ASO AC if the Empowered Community exercised the following powers:
- Recall the entire ICANN Board
- Appoint and remove individual ICANN Board directors (other than the President)
As the Decisional Participant Representative, the Chair of the NRO EC is legally obliged to act whether or not input from the ASO AC is received in the event of these two community powers being exercised. The Chair of the NRO EC acts only on the basis of consensus of all five NRO EC members.
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The policies by which Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), the organization charged with performing the IANA functions, issues Internet number resources to the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are proposed, discussed and accepted by the global numbers community using the Global Policy Development Process (GPDP).
The policies by which the RIRs distributes Internet number resources (IPv4, IPv6 and Autonomous System Numbers) to their members are proposed, discussed and accepted by each RIR’s regional community using defined regional policy development processes.
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Global policies govern how Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), the organization charged with performing the IANA functions, issues Internet number resources to the RIRs. Anyone may propose a global policy.
Once a global policy has been proposed, the policy must first go through the regional policy development process (PDP) within each of the five Regional Internet Registry (RIR) regions. An identical version of the policy proposal must be accept and ratified by all five regions.
If you would like to propose a global policy proposal, it can be submitted to any of the five RIRs through their respective PDP. Proposals can also be submitted directly to the Address Supporting Organization Address Council (ASO AC) at aso-policy [at] aso.icann.org.
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Anyone, anywhere can participate in the following ways:
- Participate in your local Regional Internet Registry’s (RIR) policy development process (PDP) or in the global policy development process (GPDP).
- Stand as a candidate for the ASO Address Council (ASO AC) during your local RIR’s ASO AC elections.
- Observe the monthly ASO AC teleconferences.
- Attend ASO sessions during the ICANN Meetings remotely or in person.
- Stand as a candidate in the Seat 9/10 ICANN Board elections or as candidate for the ICANN Board Nominating Committee (NomCom) representative elections.
Last modified on 04/04/2020