APNIC EC Teleconference - Wednesday 24 December 2003

Minutes

Start: 11:10 am (UTC+10)

Present:

Agenda:

  1. Agenda bashing
  2. Minutes from last meeting (18 November 2003)
  3. Financial report for November 2003
  4. Approval for APNIC 17 Consensus Policy Decisions
  5. IPv6 policy issue
  6. Report from WSIS
  7. ICANN status
  8. Payment to ICANN
  9. AOB

  1. Agenda bashing

    2. The following topics are also to be discussed:

    • Governmental relations.

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  2. Minutes from last meeting (18 November 2003)

    • The minutes from the meeting on 18 November 2003 were discussed and approved subject to an amendment removing reference to Kuo Wu attending the WSIS meeting.

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  3. Financial report for November 2003

    • The financial report for November 2003 has been circulated. The actual expenses have been revised. Expenses are now expected to be about 1.4 over budget (based on mid-year budget). Revenue will also be above budget by approximately two percent.
    • There will be one more financial report for 2003, which will report the entire year's activity.
    • There has been a significant realised foreign exchange loss because of the fluctuation of the USD exchange rate.
    • It was noted that to have achieved a balanced budget this year has been a good performance.
    • It was noted that November showed the highest net gain in members for nearly three years. The new members are predominantly coming from India, Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan. However, the net growth for Hong Kong has been low as there have been many closures.
    • It was suggested that membership levels seems to show price sensitivity in some areas - that organisations become members when the price drops in their area (due to exchange rate fluctuations).
    • It was noted that the auditors may request some changes to the year-end report, when they examine the books in January.
    • It was also noted that this budget was revised mid-year in response to the exchange rate changes.

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  4. Approval for APNIC 17 Consensus Policy Decisions

    • A document has been circulated summarising the policy proposals that are pending EC approval.
    • It was explained that under the new policy development process, member consensus decisions are announced to the mailing list for a two month period. At the end of that discussion period the EC must consider whether the proposals should be approved.
    • The proposals were reviewed individually.

    prop-001-v001: Policy process modification

    • There were no objections to the proposal received on the mailing list. The EC endorsed the consensus of the AMM.

    prop-002-v001: Documentation policy

    • There were no objections to the proposal received on the mailing list. The EC endorsed the consensus of the AMM.

    prop-004-v001: Lame Delegation cleanup revised

    • There were no objections to the proposal received on the mailing list. The EC endorsed the consensus of the AMM.

    prop-005-v001: IPv6 address space management

      • It was noted that this proposal raises the question of how to do global policy. ARIN have approved a slightly different proposal, LACNIC have not discussed the issue, and RIPE are considering a slightly different proposal again. This indicates that coordination is not complete and that the EC may have difficulty endorsing the proposal.
    • It was suggested that there is, through the ASO, a structure for global policy development. However, there are some difficulties in making the process work when the regional consensus positions diverge.
    • It was clarified that the proposals in ARIN and APNIC were each for separate regional pools to be allocated, but that the size of the pools proposed is different. It was suggested that it would not be desirable for IANA to allocate different sized pools to the various RIRs.
    • The EC recognised the consensus from the original meeting, but agreed that the decision could not be endorsed until there had been sufficient additional coordination between the RIRs to address the divergence of issues.
    • The EC directed the APNIC Secretariat to refer this issue to the EC of the NRO.

    Action ec-03-074: Paul Wilson to refer proposal-005-v001 to the NRO for further coordination.

    prop-006-v001: Supporting historical resource transfers

    • It was clarified that existing historical resource holders are currently able to update their records autonomously without becoming APNIC members.
    • It was noted that it may be necessary in future to address the anomalous situation that allows non-fee paying organisations to maintain registrations in the APNIC database. It was suggested that it may be appropriate to consider this issue after the ERX project has been completed, so that a full analysis can be conducted.
    • It was noted that it may be necessary to enure that all future proposals should include an "NIR considerations" section.
    • It was also suggested that it would be beneficial to also include a "global policy considerations" section.
    • There were no objections to the proposal received on the mailing list. The EC endorsed the consensus of the AMM.

    prop-007-v001: Privacy of customer assignment records

    • There were no objections to the proposal received on the mailing list. The EC endorsed the consensus of the AMM.
    • It was noted that the APNIC Secretariat technical department will provide a status report of progress on this issue at APNIC 17 and will indicate when they are likely to be ready for full implementation.

    prop-008-v001: IANA IPv4 resource request procedures

    • This proposal has been coordinated more effectively than the IPv6 proposal, in that there a single agreed document that has been discussed at each RIR.
    • There were no objections to the proposal received on the mailing list. The EC endorsed the consensus of the AMM.

    prop-010-v001: Protecting resource records in APNIC Whois Database

    • There were no objections to the proposal received on the mailing list. The EC endorsed the consensus of the AMM.
    • It was suggested that a part of the enduring value of an RIR is that the databases they provide be accurate. Therefore, while changes to database behaviour should be matters of policy, it should be possible for the RIR to react quickly to emerging problems, provided that the change is then taken through the policy development process for subsequent endorsement.

    prop-011-v001: IXP assignments

    • There were no objections to the proposal received on the mailing list. The EC endorsed the consensus of the AMM.

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  5. IPv6 policy issue

    • No discussion. This issue has already been dealt with in prior discussion.

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  6. Report from WSIS

    • The second phase of WSIS has now started. Between now and the next meeting (in two years' time in Tunisia) the declaration and action plan that emerged from phase one will be further discussed.
    • It was noted that the word "intergovernmental" was removed from the Internet governance paragraph of draft declaration before it was finalised. This issue has now been described as something that should be open to all stakeholders, including (but not exclusive to) governments.
    • The main implications for the RIRs of the WSIS process will come from the action plan, which calls for a working group to examine various aspects of Internet Governance.
    • Currently, the working group is undefined. The participation and composition of the working group is still to be determined.
    • The next PrepCom will be held in March 2004.
    • It was suggested that both APNIC and the NRO should be visible throughout the process. It was argued that it is important to emphasise the regionalism of the RIR process, and the fact that the RIRs are independent bodies with different identities and concerns reflecting those of their constituencies.
    • There was a discussion as to which body would host the Working Group. It was explained that there seems to be no prospect of either the ITU or ICANN hosting it. The RIRs were asked whether they had any suggestions for which body should host the Working Group.
    • It was noted that throughout the PrepCom process, the RIRs have supported ICANN. However, at the same time, the RIRs have also ensured that they are seen as separate from, and not dependent on, ICANN.
    • It was noted that it necessary to understand the negative perception of ICANN among many of the WSIS delegates. This stems from the perception of ICANN as a private corporation, which is considered by many to be pro-US, but anti- all other governments.
    • It was noted that it is necessary for the EC to provide more explicit guidance to PW in relation to how he should be publicly representing APNIC's support for ICANN.
    • It was noted that the Japanese government is supporting the current Internet governance structure. A representative of the Japanese government approached JPNIC for an expression of support for their position and noted that the private sector in Japan is willing to participate in the WSIS Working Group process.
    • It was suggested that it would be helpful for EC members to contact government delegates to the WSIS in each of their respective countries. It was also suggested that it may be helpful to encourage members to also approach their delegates.
    • It was suggested that it would be useful for APNIC to prepare materials that could be provided to each of the government delegates throughout the region. Although it may be premature now, it could be possible to directly lobby those delegates for the inclusion of the NRO in the Working Group.
    • PW recently spent time with John Earls at RIPE regional meeting in Dubai. PW asked John Earl to conduct a government survey or consultation process.

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  7. ICANN status

    • No formal response has been received from ICANN in relation to the NRO letter. There were informal discussions with Paul Twomey on this matter at the WSIS meeting in Geneva. He has promised to prepare a formal response, specifically addressing the issues raised by the RIRs.

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  8. Payment to ICANN

    • ICANN has asked for a further fifty percent payment of this year's dues. However, it was argued that APNIC has gone as far as it can with ex gratia payments and that it is time to conclude the negotiations.
    • It was agreed that the EC wishes to conclude the Evolution and Reform negotiations before any further payments can be made.

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  9. AOB

    10. Governmental relations

    • Advice has been received that the Korean Government is now legislating about Internet governance, and Internet resource management. Clarification is required as to the exact nature of the legislation.
    • It was suggested that APNIC write to the head of KRNIC and ask for a briefing as to the nature of the legislative moves and to offer assistance to KRNIC to provide input to the Korean government which ensures that any legislation they make is properly informed.
    • It was agreed that this letter should come from the Chair of the EC.
    • It was noted that KRNIC used to be a part of the government and that they retain a very close relationship.

    Action ec-03-075: EC Chair to write to head of KRNIC to seek more information about the position of the Korean government and to offer help in providing information to the legislators.

    APNIC 18

    • A proposal has been received from Fiji and it is expected that there will also be a proposal from Nepal.

    Timing of member category re-evaluation

    • It was noted that the way a new membership works now is that they pay a $625 fee on first joining and a $2,500 fee on the first IP resource application. It was noted that if APNIC now also applied an immediate upgrade fee, then members would be paying three major fees in quick succession, which may be unfair to new members.
    • Therefore it was suggested that if an immediate re-evaluation of the category was introduced then it may be necessary to reduce the resource application fee.
    • It was noted that there are discussions now of lowering the minimum allocation size, which may also have an effect on the number of members in the lower member categories.
    • It was suggested that it will be necessary for the Secretariat to investigate the impact of these changes on the current registration system.
    • It was explained that this topic originally arose due to concerns about the financial situation. The financial situation has now stabilised and so there is no urgency to continue with this proposal. Therefore, it the EC agreed not to proceed with this proposal.

    ITU membership

    • It was noted that APNIC's ITU memberships are due for renewal, and as the EC approved a one-year membership only, it should consider this matter.
    • It was noted that APNIC joined the ITU for a number of reasons, with an intention to establish a relationship and explore the benefits. While ITU membership does provide some benefits, it is also costly.
    • It was agreed that APNIC should not renew its ITU memberships at this time, although it may consider membership again in future.

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    Next meeting

    • Next meeting 16 January 2004, 11am (UTC+10).

    Meeting closed 1:10 pm

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