Mergers, Acquisitions, Takeovers and Closures of Organisations Operating an
LIR
Kamran Khalid
Nurani Nimpuno
Sabrina Wilmot
Document ID: ripe-301
Date: February 2004
Obsoletes: ripe-185, ripe-241
_________________________________________________________________
Abstract
This document provides guidelines to Local Internet Registries
(LIRs) on the steps to take when the organisation operating an LIR
changes ownership (due to a merger, sale or takeover) or stops
serving entirely as an LIR.
_________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 LIR Ownership Change
2.1 IP Address Space
2.2 Service Agreement
2.3 Change in Operating Organisation
2.4 Contact Person(s)
2.5 RegID
2.6 Transfers of Address Allocations
2.7 Takeover fee
3.0 Closing an LIR
3.1 Further Assignments
3.2 Finance
3.3 Transfers of Address Allocations from a Closing LIR
3.4 Open Address Space Requests
3.5 End Users Keeping Address Assignments
3.6 Continued Internet Connectivity to End Users
3.7 Discontinued Internet Connectivity to End Users
3.8 Database Responsibilities
3.9 Unassigned Address Space
4.0 When an LIR is Closed by the RIPE NCC
1.0 Introduction
When an organisation or company operating an LIR changes ownership
status or stops serving as an LIR there are financial, IP address
space and RIPE Database issues that need resolving. Therefore, the
RIPE NCC must always be contacted when an LIR changes ownership or
closes.
2.0 LIR Ownership Change
In the case of an LIR ownership change, the LIR should contact the
RIPE NCC at lir-help@ripe.net.
Only registered LIR contact person(s) can discuss the change of an
LIR ownership with the RIPE NCC.
The following steps are required to change the organisation
operating an LIR:
1. Clarify the type of change:
? A takeover of one LIR by another LIR, closing one of the LIRs.
? A takeover of one LIR by another LIR, both remain open.
? A takeover of an LIR by a non-LIR.
2. Outline the details of the change, stating:
? The reason for the change of organisation.
? The name of the company/companies involved.
? The number of LIRs affected by the change.
? The RegID(s) of the LIR(s) affected by the change.
3. Present the following documents to the RIPE NCC:
? Confirmation from all parties agreeing to the change (See section 2.3).
? Updated list of contact person(s) (See section 2.4).
? Updated billing e-mail contact details, including any changes to VAT number.
? A new service agreement, if applicable (See section 2.2).
? Legal documentation supporting the name change, if applicable (See section 2.2).
? Overview of utilisation in all allocations (See section 2.6).
2.1 IP Address Space
Following any type of change (such as mergers, acquisitions or
takeovers) of an organisation operating an LIR, the RIPE NCC will
review the status of any IP address allocations that are held by
the new organisation.
2.2 Service Agreement
When an organisation operating an LIR changes ownership, a new
service agreement may need to be signed. The RIPE NCC will need to
request a new service agreement from the new owners if:
? The organisation operating the LIR changes name, or
? The LIR wishes to change their RegID.
The registration documentation from the relevant Chamber of
Commerce, or its country equivalent, supporting the name change
must be submitted to the RIPE NCC.
The Standard RIPE NCC Service Agreement is available from the RIPE
Document Store at:
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/service-agreement.html
If the organisation operating the LIR does not change its name and
keeps the original RegID, the LIR can continue operating
under the same service agreement.
2.3 Change in Operating Organisation
In cases where an organisation operating an LIR takes over one or
more LIRs, confirmation of the takeover from all parties involved
or their legal successors must be included.
2.4 Contact Person(s)
It is very important to notify the RIPE NCC, if there is a change of
contact person(s). This is essential, as only registered contact person(s) can
submit Internet resource requests to the RIPE NCC and provide
updates to our internal registry files.
If the contact person(s) of the affected LIR has changed, the RIPE
NCC may adjust the Assignment Window of the LIR until the contact
person(s) is up-to-date with RIPE NCC procedures and RIPE
community policies.
If there are no current registered contacts remaining with the LIR,
a fax signed by the Managing Director of the LIR on
organisation letterhead is required to implement these
changes. These changes should include the new registered contact
person(s) for the LIR.
2.5 RegID
It is not necessary to obtain a new Registry Identifier (RegID) if
the name of the organisation that operates the LIR changes. The
RegID is merely an internal identifier used by the RIPE NCC to
distinguish the various LIRs. It does not have to correspond to the
legal name of the organisation operating the LIR.
If an LIR insists on changing their RegID, a fee corresponding to
the sign-up fee for a new LIR will be charged to cover
additional administrative work generated. Please see the current version of the RIPE NCC
Charging Scheme available from the RIPE Document Store at:
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/charging.html
2.6 Transfers of Address Allocations
All transfers of address allocations from one LIR to another LIR
(or to a non-LIR) require approval by the RIPE NCC. It is expected
that all database objects relating to this allocation be correct
and up-to-date before the transfer occurs. Transferred allocations
containing a large amount of unassigned address space may be set
aside and kept by the RIPE NCC until the other allocations held by
the LIR are considered fully used (about 80%). Once the LIR has
reached full utilisation in its other allocations, the reserved
allocations will be made available to the LIR. For further details
on allocation policy, please refer to the document "IPv4 Address
Allocation and Assignment Policies in the RIPE NCC Service Region"
available from the RIPE Document Store at:
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ipv4-policies.html
2.7 Takeover Fee
In cases where an organisation operating an LIR takes over one or more LIRs, a takeover fee is
due for every LIR taken over (e.g. if three LIRs are taken over, the fee is paid three times). All
current outstanding invoices for the LIRs being taken over will also have to be paid in full.
The transfer of address allocations also incurs a takeover fee and does not vary according to the
amount of address space being transferred (e.g. if three allocations are being transferred from
LIR A to LIR B, the fee is only paid once).
3.0 Closing an LIR
In the case of a closure of an LIR, the RIPE NCC should be contacted at least three months
prior to the required closure date at lir-help@ripe.net.
Only registered LIR contact person(s) can discuss a closure of an
LIR with the RIPE NCC. In case of bankruptcy, the court-appointed
administrator may take over these responsibilities.
To cease operations, an LIR is required to take the following four
steps:
1. Send the RIPE NCC a written request to officially close the
LIR. State the reasons for closure of the LIR and state the
intention to return the unassigned address space.
2. Provide the RIPE NCC with documentation of all IP
assignments made from address space allocated by the
RIPE NCC.
3. Provide a list of any End Users that have expressed a need to
keep their assigned IP address space and/or Autonomous System
Number (ASN). Contact information such as e-mail addresses of
these End Users should be included. (See section 3.7)
4. Verify that the contents of the RIPE Database are
up-to-date. A closing LIR is responsible for removing any objects
entered by them in the RIPE Database that are no longer
valid. Please send a confirmation to the RIPE NCC that all
obsolete and invalid objects have been removed. (See section 3.8)
3.1 Further Assignments
A closing LIR is not allowed to make any further assignments from
its address space allocations.
3.2 Finance
An LIR will continue to be billed for services until a formal
request to be closed is sent by a registered contact person(s) of
the LIR.
In cases of mergers, the LIR whose allocation has been transferred
to another LIR will continue to be billed until any inconsistencies
are resolved.
3.3 Transfers of Address Allocations from a Closing LIR
If an LIR wishes to transfer its allocations to another existing
LIR, it must provide the documentation about all assignments to the
LIR receiving the transferred allocation. As outlined above, all
transfers require approval by the RIPE NCC and all database objects
must be valid and up-to-date.
3.4 Open Address Space Requests
As soon as the LIR decides to close, it should halt any open
requests for IP address space and refer the End Users to the list
of LIRs. This will prevent the customer from having to renumber at
a later date. This list is available at:
http://www.ripe.net/lir/registries/indices/index.html
3.5 End Users Keeping Address Assignments
A closing LIR should always encourage its End Users to renumber
into an address allocation held by another LIR. This way, customer
assignments can then be routed as part of the other LIR's
allocation. Organisations in receipt of a Provider Aggregatable
(PA) assignment should note that a new provider will not be able to
announce an aggregate block. They may, therefore, have problems
getting their addresses routed.
For more information, please see the RIPE documents "Smallest RIPE
NCC Allocation / Assignment Sizes" and "Provider Independent versus
Provider Aggregatable Address Space" available from the RIPE
Document Store at:
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/smallest-alloc-sizes.html
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/pi-pa.html
The LIR should also supply the RIPE NCC with a list of
Assignments kept by End users in the following format:
Inetnum Range Size Date Netname
193.0.0.0 - 193.0.1.255 512 19950101 RIPE-NCC
3.6 Continued Internet Connectivity to End Users
The End Users can continue to use the address space already
assigned to them by the closing LIR. The LIR will continue to
provide Internet connectivity to its End Users as an Internet
Service Provider (ISP). Assignments made by an LIR that has closed
are valid for as long as the original criteria under which they
were assigned remain valid. (See section 3.8)
3.7 Discontinued Internet Connectivity to End Users
If the LIR will no longer provide Internet connectivity to End
Users with assigned address space, this address space
should be retrieved from the End Users by the LIR as they
renumber. It is the LIR's responsibility to help its End Users with
renumbering.
3.8 Database Responsibilities
LIRs are responsible for the accuracy of the data they enter into
the RIPE Database. In the case of a closure of an LIR, the LIR
should remove any objects in the RIPE Database that are no longer
valid. This includes inetnum, aut-num and domain objects with
obsolete information.
In cases where End Users of an LIR keep the address space assigned
to them after the LIR closes, the LIR maintainer in the database
objects representing these assignments needs to be removed and
replaced by the RIPE NCC maintainer. The LIR should
provide the RIPE NCC with a list of relevant database objects
agreeing to the RIPE NCC overwriting the current LIR maintainer.
3.9 Unassigned Address Space
Unassigned address space will be returned to the RIPE NCC and will
revert back to the public pool of IP address space. It can be
assigned by the RIPE NCC as necessary. Should an LIR decide to
close and reopen at a later date, it must repeat all formal steps
required to establish a new LIR.
4.0 When an LIR is Closed by the RIPE NCC
The RIPE NCC may decide to close an LIR that stops paying its bills
to the RIPE NCC and/or cannot be contacted by the RIPE NCC for a
significant period of time. Moreover, if an LIR consistently
violates the policies established by the Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority (IANA) or the RIPE community, in spite of multiple
warnings, it may be closed.
The RIPE NCC will send the LIR a message to notify it of its
closure. The LIR must then provide documentation to the RIPE NCC
regarding its allocated address space and follow the other
procedures for closing an LIR as stated in section 3.0.
If the LIR does not provide the RIPE NCC with the proper
Documentation, the RIPE NCC will determine which address space
should be returned to the public pool of IP address space.