In 2008, the RIPE community accepted the policy "Contractual Requirements for Provider Independent Resource Holders in the RIPE NCC Service Region".
The implementation of this policy involves establishing contracts for 34,000 existing independent resources assigned within the RIPE NCC service region. The implementation was split into three phases:
An independent resource is considered resolved when:
The RIPE NCC previously contacted Sponsoring LIRs and End Users separately for each resource assigned. After evaluating our processes in previous phases, we improved efficiency in Phase 3 by streamlining the way we contact End Users. Where possible, we group independent resources per End User. This way, we approach each End User once regarding all their independent resources with no contract in place. We have also intensified efforts to reach out to as many End Users as possible.
As described in the policy proposal, the RIPE NCC is implementing 2007-01 on a "reasonable effort" basis:
"The RIPE NCC will contact the resource holders based on their contact details registered in the RIPE Database. Different levels of contact details ("admin-c:", "tech-c:", "mnt-by:", etc.) will be used to ensure reasonable attempts are made to reach the resource holder. The method of contact will be email."
End Users are sent emails automatically. One email is sent to establish contact and then a reminder email is sent one month later. If we receive no response from the End User, we begin the deregistration process.
A resource can take up to six months to resolve. An End User has three months to respond to our emails and, if we receive no response, it takes an additional three months to complete the deregistration process.
Submitting the necessary documents to the RIPE NCC is easy:
You can ask for it in your ongoing emails with the RIPE NCC.
A team of IP Resource Analysts will review your request and escalate it to the Registration Services Management Team if necessary. The Registration Services Management Team will explore all options in an effort to come to a satisfactory solution.
If no agreement can be reached after escalation, the End User's potential sponsoring LIR can object to the RIPE NCC's decision via the Arbiters Panel.