Established in October 2003, the Number Resource Organization (NRO) is a coordinating mechanism for the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) to act collectively on matters relating to the interests of the RIRs. The NRO provides global industry partners and other interested parties with a single point of contact for communication with the RIRs.

Goals • ToprotecttheunallocatedInternetnumberresourcepool• Topromoteandprotectthebottom-uppolicydevelopmentprocess• ToactasafocalpointforInternetcommunityinputintotheRIRsystem

CompositionTheNROconsistsofthefiveRIRs.EachRIR’sDirectororChiefExecutiveOfficerispartoftheNRO’sExecutiveCouncil(EC).TheEC’sfivepositionsrotateannually.Thepositionsin2009are:Chairman:Adiel A. Akplogan(AfriNIC);Secretary:Axel Pawlik(RIPENCC);Treasurer:Raúl Echeberría(LACNIC);Members:Paul Wilson(APNIC)andJohn Curran(ARIN).

NRO Mailing ListsTheNRO’sactivitiesareannouncedonthenro-announce@nro.netmailinglist.Anyonemaysubscribetothislist.SubscriptioninformationandinformationaboutotherNROmailinglistsisavailableonlineatwww.nro.net/interact.

Regional Internet Registries (RIRs)RIRsregisteranddistributeInternetnumberresources(IPv4andIPv6addressspaceandAutonomousSystem(AS)Numbers)providetoolsandservicestotheirlocalInternetcommunitiesandworktogetheronjointprojectsastheNRO.

The RIRs:

• ProvideservicesrelatedtothetechnicalcoordinationandmanagementofInternetnumberresources• ParticipateinInternetcommunitymeetingsandevents• Operateasautonomous,not-for-profitmembership-basedorganizations• FacilitatepolicydevelopmentbytheirmembersandtheInternetcommunityviaopenmeetingsandmailing

lists• Aregovernedbymember-electedExecutiveBoards• Publishpubliclyaccessibledocumentsabouttheiractivities

RIRschargefeesforservicesormembership,notforInternetnumberresourcesthemselves.Internetnumberresourcesareasharedresource,availableforusebyanyonewhoneedsthem.Internetnumberresourcesareprovidedonanon-permanentbasisforlegitimateuse.

TheRIRsdonotcoordinatetheirfees.EachRIRcommunitysetsitsownfeesandchargingschemes.

AnRIR’smembershipgenerallyconsistsofInternetServiceProviders(ISPs),telecommunicationorganizations,largecorporations,academicinstitutions,governmentsandregulators.

AfriNIC:Africa

APNIC:AsiaPacific

ARIN:Canada,manyCaribbeanandNorthAtlanticislands,andtheUnitedStates

LACNIC:LatinAmericaandtheCaribbean

RIPE NCC:Europe,theMiddleEast,partsofCentralAsia

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Policy and the NRO

TheInternetcommunitydevelopsandapprovesthepoliciesthatguidethedistributionofInternetnumberresources.TheNROandRIRsfacilitatethisprocessofbottom-uppolicydevelopment.RIRsadministerregionalpoliciesandfacilitatetheircreationusingestablishedandopenpolicydevelopmentprocesses.WorkingastheNRO,theRIRsprovideinputtoICANN’sAddressSupportingOrganization(ASO),whichthenreviewsanddevelopsrecommendationsonglobalpoliciesforratificationbyICANN’sBoardofDirectors.

Regional Policies

RIRsoperateinanopen,self-regulatorymanner,facilitatingparticipationinpolicydevelopmentbyanyinterestedparty.ThisensuresthatthepoliciesthatdirectInternetnumberresourcemanagementaredefinedbythosewhoneedandusetheresources.TheRIRsensurethatpoliciesareconsensus-basedandthattheyareappliedfairlyandconsistently.TheRIRframeworkprovidesawell-establishedcombinationofbottom-updecision-makingandglobalcooperationthathascreatedastable,open,transparentanddocumentedprocessfordevelopingInternetnumberresourcedistributionpolicies.

Anyindividualmaysubmitapolicyproposal.EachRIRholdspublicmeetingswherepolicyisdiscussedandproposalsaredeveloped.PublicmailinglistsallowanyoneintheInternetcommunitytoparticipateinthepolicydevelopmentprocesseveniftheycannotattendthemeetings.EachRIR’spolicyrelateddocumentsaremaintainedontheindividualRIRwebsites.TheNROpublishesacomparativeoverviewofallpoliciesinuseintheRIRsystem.Thisdocumentisupdatedquarterly.ToseetheRIRComparativePolicyOverview,seewww.nro.net/documents.

Global Policies

Anyonemaysubmitaglobalproposal.Forglobalpoliciestobeaccepted,theymustberatifiedbyeachRIRcommunity.TheNROExecutiveCouncil(NROEC)thenrefersthecoordinatedproposaltotheASOAddressCouncil(ASOAC).TheASOACthenreviewstheprocessbywhichtheproposalwasdevelopedand,underthetermsoftheASOMemorandumofUnderstanding(MoU),passesittotheICANNBoardofDirectorsforratificationasaglobalpolicy.

Policy Development Process

Community MeetingsEachRIRholdsopenmeetingsandmembermeetingswithinitsregion.Anyonecanattendopenmeetings.AttendancepoliciesatmembermeetingsvarybyRIRandareexplainedoneachRIR’swebsite.AllupcomingRIRmeetingsarelistedontheNROwebsiteatwww.nro.net/meetings.Upcomingmeetingsinclude:

• 5–9October2009:RIPE 59,Lisbon,Portugal• 21–23October2009: ARIN XXIV, Dearborn,Michigan,USA• 21–27November2009:AfriNIC 11, Dakar,Senegal• 24-28May2010:LACNIC XIII, TBA • 1-5March2010:APNIC 29, KualaLumpur,Malaysia

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NROHomePage:www.nro.net

NROStatistics:www.nro.net/statistics

NROMemorandumofUnderstanding:www.nro.net/documents/nro1.html

NROMailingLists:www.nro.net/interact

AfriNIC: www.afrinic.net

APNIC: www.apnic.net

ARIN: www.arin.net

LACNIC: www.lacnic.net

RIPENCC: www.ripe.net

ICANNAddressSupportingOrganization:http://aso.icann.org

Lastupdated:September2009