------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Second Draft of NIR Criteria : the establishment & operation of National Internet Registries in the APNIC region. Proposed by KRNIC 30th Nov. 2001 Abstract This document is the amended version of the proposed document by Paul Wilson which described indispensable points in the formation of new National Internet Registries (hereafter, NIRs). These are essential set of standards that all new & existing NIRs must meet at the initial stage and maintain afterwards. As Paul Wilson suggested, it is anticipated that all NIRs will follow the same set of guiding principles in the longer term. ?. Introduction Internet resources (such as IP addresses and Autonomous System numbers) are currently distributed through a structure of delegated Internet registry responsibility. IANA allocates address space to APNIC, as a Regional Internet Registry(RIR). Address space is further allocated by APNIC to either NIRs or to Local Internet Registries (hereafter, LIRs). While the latter assigns addresses to end-users, the NIRs fulfil functions largely identical to those of an RIR with responsibility for managing address space allocations to LIRs within a particular country. NIRs have long existed within the APNIC structure and have fulfilled an important role in distributing address space to organizations within the boundaries of their respective countries. NIRs reflect the need for procedures that take account of local cultural differences. However it is important to note that neutrality, fairness, and equitable application of APNIC's policy framework remain essential qualities. The well established registry system has been developed with the community of Internet Service Providers(ISPs) and other enterprises that require address space to operate their businesses. It has evolved over the past 10 years based on structures and procedures that are transparent and firmly established. The below list shows the existing NIRs and the countries for which they provide services: APJII - Indonesia CNNIC - China JPNIC - Japan KRNIC - Korea TWNIC - Taiwan Currently, there are two main issues : Definition of NIR criteria & Position of NIR(membership, fee, operation). Issues concerning Position of NIR(membership, fee, operation) will be discussed after Definition of NIR criteria is fixed. This document describes a number of criteria necessary for the establishment and operation of an NIR. These criteria are considered essential preconditions for the approval of new NIRs by APNIC and basic conditions for efficient operation afterwards. These provide APNIC with a set of guidelines for evaluating applications for new NIRs. ?. Principles The following two sets of numbered list are not meant to imply that any one standard is more important than another - they are all equally important for NIR operations. The numbering serves only to facilitate reading. The first set of numbered list defines prerequisites and these conditions are required to be satisfied before launching Internet resources allocation services as NIR. The other set of numbered list implies basic operational conditions for the efficient Internet resources management as NIR. For the approval of APNIC, applying organizations must keep two set of conditions, and they must submit the activity plan, inclusive of the following items. 1. Preconditions 1) The region of coverage is that of a particular country only under the broad support of any existing LIRs and the ISP community in that country The proposed NIR must operate within the borders of a particular country that is only recognized with ISO3166 code. In this country only one NIR can be established. Multiple NIRs or could possibly lead to: fragmentation of address space competition between NIRs difficulty for co-ordination and co-operation between the NIRs confusion for the community within the country Therefore, clear consensus must be demonstrated within the community that the vast majority of the ISPs and LIRs in the country are prepared to support the new NIR. The community must state that it is interested in receiving services from this new NIR and that they are convinced the new NIR can and will provide this. The community must also show that it is willing to support this new NIR vigorously, not only with their active participation in its bottom-up development but also financially. The new NIR must show that it has made every effort to contact and convince existing LIRs in their region to give their support to the establishment of a new NIR in that region has been made (For example, by way of archives of public mailing lists, web sites, records of contacts with individual LIRs). The new NIR's membership must include a significant percentage of the existing LIRs (those already receiving IP address registration services and/or other related services from an RIR and that would receive IP address registration services and/or other related services from the new NIR) within the new NIR's region of coverage. It is preferable that the entire country should be served by the new NIR. Therefore, the new NIR's membership should include a significant percentage of the ISPs within the NIR's country. However, new and existing LIRs cannot be forced to go to the new NIR and may receive service from APNIC, if preferred. However APNIC will always refer applications for membership from organizations served by NIRs to the NIR. 2) Bottom-up self governance structure for setting local policies The new NIR needs to document clearly defined procedures for the development of local IP address allocation and assignment policies. These procedures most be open and transparent and accessible to all interested parties and ensure fair representation of all constituencies within the region. These procedures should include holding at least one annual policy development meeting that is open and accessible to all interested parties. In addition to public meetings, the new NIR needs to maintain public archived mailing lists to discuss policy development. 3) Communication ability The new NIR should be capable of communicating with local community as well as APNIC. That is to say, they should have the superior ability to handle Internet resource allocation business in both local language and English. 4) Neutrality and impartiality to all interested parties All organizations that receive service from the new NIR must be treated equitably. The policies and guidelines proposed and implemented by the NIR need to ensure fair distribution of address space and impartial treatment of the members/requestors. The new NIR should be established as an independent, not-for-profit, open membership-based association. 5) Funding model The NIR needs to be set up as not-for-profit association. A budget related to the activity plan must be drawn up and published. Clear support from the organizations that will eventually have to fund the activity plan must be shown. Initial sponsorship, government grants, and private grants and/or donations are acceptable but the NIR should operate independently and eventually be solely financially supported by its membership. 2. Basic Operational Conditions for Internet Resource Management 1) Adherence to global policies regarding address space conservation, aggregation, and registration Policies need to be in place to ensure that global and RIR policies can be implemented. The specific goals of the registry system are the conservation of IP address space and aggregation of routing information. As well, local policies that are developed in addition to established global policies need to guarantee these goals. All policies need to be documented and publicly accessible. 2) Technical expertise The new NIR must be technically capable of providing registration services to the community in the country. This includes: stable Internet connectivity within the country and internationally; a public whois database server; name servers' providing in-addr.arpa reverse DNS, and enough technically capable staff to ensure appropriate service levels to the LIRs. 3) Record Keeping NIRs must maintain proper records about all registry activities. Every NIR should keep all information collected from the LIRs in the process of making a request for an IP address space allocation. This data is needed for the evaluation of subsequent requests for the same customers, for audits by the RIR and IANA and for the resolution of any questions that may arise regarding allocations. Core documents and records should be available in English. This is necessary to be consistent with the existing registry system and to communicate with the existing RIRs and IANA. In addition to that all public documentation needs to be available in English. 4) Confidentiality Information collected by a NIR in the registration process must be kept in strict confidence and it must be protected by a confidentiality policy at least equivalent to that adopted by the RIR. It is to be used for registration purposes only. It must be transmitted only to another RIR or IANA in demonstrating address space usage but will not be transmitted to any other party unless explicitly agreed to in writing by the end user. 5) Requirements Obligatory to APNIC The NIRs should observe APNIC in terms of Internet resource management policy. This is also needed for making consistency with the global policy. All NIRs have a duty to report information about their Internet resource allocation to LIRs in allocation evaluation process. The payment to APNIC will depend on NIR's position within APNIC's membership structure, and it is to be discussed with the membership in the future. It is also expected that NIRs participate in APNIC activities. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal KRNIC Proposal -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------