Get to Know the Draft Policies Up for Discussion at ARIN 55

By Eddie Diego – Policy Analyst

ARIN 55 is almost here, and we can’t wait to gather both in person and virtually! Since ARIN 54 took place last fall, four Draft Policies have been added to the docket, bringing us to a total of eight Draft Policies to be presented at ARIN 55. There are no Recommended Draft Policies on the docket.

To help you prepare to engage in these important conversations, here’s a look at the Draft Policies up for discussion during the ARIN 55 Public Policy and Members Meeting, taking place 27-30 April in Charlotte, North Carolina, and online. Policies will be discussed on Monday, 28 April, and Tuesday, 29 April, so be sure to mark your calendar and register today if you’d like to participate either on site in Charlotte or from home via Zoom.

Draft Policies

Draft Policies are works in progress managed by Advisory Council (AC) shepherds and presented to the community for feedback. They can be moved to the Recommended Draft Policy stage of the Policy Development Process (PDP) after the AC determines they are ready to be presented to the community for final comments and consensus.

ARIN-2023-8: Reduce 4.1.8 Maximum Allocation. To reduce wait times on the IPv4 Waiting List, this Draft Policy would reduce the maximum IPv4 block size from a /22 to a /24. Additionally, it states that organizations that have at any point held any IPv4 space, other than special use space received under section 4.4 or 4.10, are not eligible to apply for placement on the IPv4 Waiting List.

ARIN-2024-5: Rewrite of NRPM Section 4.4 Micro-Allocation. This Draft Policy intends to overhaul section 4.4 to modernize and clarify requirements for critical Internet infrastructure, Internet exchange points, and root and ccTLD policy.

ARIN-2024-7: Addition of Definitions for General and Special Purpose IP Addresses. This Draft Policy intends to add clear definitions for “Special Purpose” and “General Purpose” IP addresses. Specifically, “Special Purpose IPv4 Address,” “General Purpose IPv4 Address,” “Special Purpose IPv6 Address,” and “General Purpose IPv6 Address.”

ARIN-2024-10: Registration Requirements and Timing of Requirements With Retirement of Section 4.2.3.7.2. This Draft Policy aims to clarify and modernize reallocation requirements in section 4 by referencing standards in section 3.2, and by extending the reallocation timing from seven days to 14 days.

ARIN-2024-11: IPv4 Transition Efficiency Reallocation Policy (ITERP). Section 4.10 of the NRPM reserves IPv4 addresses to facilitate IPv6 deployment and transition. This Draft Policy would allow Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to reassign an IPv4 /29 or /28 to downstream customers under section 4.10 for IPv6 transition.

ARIN-2025-1: Clarify ISP and LIR Definitions and References to Address Ambiguity in NRPM Text. This Draft Policy notes that although Local Internet Registries (LIRs) and ISPs are treated similarly in the NRPM, only LIRs are defined in section 2 while ISPs are not. This Draft Policy adds a definition for ISP and updates the NRPM language to reference “LIR/ISP” where applicable.

ARIN-2025-2: Clarify 8.5.1 Registration Services Agreement. ARIN business practice is not intended to be codified in the NRPM. However, section 8.5.1 requires organizations processing a resource transfer to sign a current Registration Services Agreement (RSA) and defines “current” as “within the last two versions.” This Draft Policy removes “within the last two versions” from the NRPM.

ARIN-2025-3: Change Section 9 Out Of Region Use Minimum Criteria. Current ARIN policy allows IPv4 addresses to be used outside the ARIN service region if the organization is already using an IPv4 /22 (or equivalent aggregate) within the ARIN service region. This Draft Policy reduces the requirement from a /22 to a /24.

Participate in Our Policy Discussions

ARIN policy belongs to the community, and we encourage everyone to participate in policy discussions. We look forward to hearing your voice and ideas during ARIN 55, and we hope these simple explanations of the policy proposals on the agenda help you feel informed enough to speak up and share your opinions — or ask any questions of our AC shepherds.

For our virtual participants, you must join the meeting via Zoom as a registered attendee to participate in policy discussions. The livestream will be available on YouTube to all who wish to view the proceedings.

Contribute to the Future of Internet Policy

If you’d like to submit your own Internet number resource policy proposal, fill out our brief template and email it to [email protected]. Don’t stress about wording your proposal perfectly — our AC will work with you to polish it so it can move through the PDP.

Additional resources on the PDP can be found on the following webpages:

• Public Policy Mailing List (PPML)
• ARIN Advisory Council
• Current Number Resource Policy Manual (NRPM)

We’ll see you at ARIN 55!

Post written by:

Eddie Diego
Policy Analyst

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