Changes to APNIC fees
The APNIC fee structure has been under discussion for some time, and a vote was recently held on a specific proposal to alter the APNIC fee schedule. This proposal contained two specific modifications to the current fee structure: firstly, that the APNIC fees should be set in Australian dollars using a conversion rate of 0.7889; and secondly that an increase of 7% be applied to the fees. As announced at APNIC 24, that vote was not passed, by a narrow margin.
Since APNIC 24, the APNIC EC has reviewed the result of the vote and the associated discussions during the recent meeting and by the APNIC Fees Working Group, along with the current financial environment in which we are operating, and the advice received from our consultants, KPMG. Specifically, the APNIC EC has been considering the possible adoption of one element of the recent proposal, namely that the APNIC fees should be set in Australian dollars. This possibility has been raised numerous times during previous discussions at the APNIC meeting and Fees Working Group, and received widespread support with no objections.
At its meeting of 11 October 2007, the APNIC EC completed its consideration of these matters, and has determined that APNIC will adopt a change of the fee schedule to use Australian dollars, but without the 7% fee increase.
Therefore APNIC fees will be set in Australian dollars, converting the US dollar fees into Australian dollars using the conversion rate specified in recent proposal, namely the rate used in setting the 2007 APNIC budget of 1 AUD = 0.7889 USD. You can find below a link to the new schedule of APNIC fees using Australian Dollars, effective as of 1 January 2008.
It is noted that under the APNIC Bylaws (Section 4), the APNIC EC has responsibility to establish the membership fees for APNIC. While in the past a number of changes in the fee schedule were undertaken by the EC following a vote by the APNIC Membership, such a membership vote has not been strictly necessary under our Bylaws. The respective roles and responsibilities of the EC and the Membership are set forth in the APNIC Bylaws
In this case, the EC is proceeding with the change of the currency used for APNIC fees, after consideration of the recent vote, and based upon its analysis that further variation in the exchange rate between USD and AUD would bring APNIC more uncertainty for its financial stability. The essential solution for this instability is to change the fee currency to AUD in which the dominant portion of APNIC's operation expense is paid.
The new APNIC fee schedules, which become active on 1 January 2008, are now available online:
After extensive consideration, the APNIC EC is confident that the change will have the support of the large majority of APNIC members, and will be in the very best interests of the organisation.
We thank you for your support of APNIC.
See also:
