Address Supporting Organization

Type:	Supporting Organization
Industry:	IP Addresses
Founded:	1999
Website:	ASO.ICANN.org

The Address Supporting Organization (ASO) is mandated with reviewing and developing recommendations for policies on Internet Protocol addresses and advising the ICANN Board on issues related to their operation, assignment, and management.

Overview

Established in 1999, the ASO is one of three Supporting Organizations (SOs) called for in the ICANN Bylaws. It brought ICANN into the policymaking over global address space issues already underway among the Internet registries of Asia/Pacific, North America, and Europe. The ASO oversees IP address policy development with the help of the Number Resource Organization (NRO). While they are closely linked, the ASO and the NRO have different responsibilities. The NRO was established in 2003 to coordinate the world’s Regional Internet Registries (RIRs). The RIRs manage the distribution of Internet number resources (IP address space and Autonomous System Numbers) within their respective regions. There are five autonomous RIRs:

• AFRINIC
• APNIC
• ARIN
• LACNIC
• RIPE NCC

Each of the RIRs independently elects 3 volunteers to form the 15-member NRO Number Council (NC), which also serves as the ASO Address Council within the ICANN structure.

Policy Process

ASO Policy Progress (Image from ICANN.org)

Global policies govern how Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) issue Internet number resources to the RIRs, which then distribute them among their members based on regional policies.

Global Policies

The ASO does not directly develop policy on Internet number resources but instead ensures that each RIR follows its Policy Development Processes. Global policies are made when there is agreement among all of the RIRs according to their policy development processes and ICANN and require specific actions on the part of PTI to be implemented.

GPDP

The global numbers community uses the Global Policy Development Process (GPDP) to guide the PTI on what actions to take. The steps of the GPDP are as follows:

1. Anyone can submit a global policy proposal to one of the RIR policy fora (via a mail list or public policy meeting) or the ASO AC directly.
2. The members of the AC will then request that the global policy proposal be placed on the agenda for the next open policy meeting in each region.
3. After consideration of the proposal at each of the RIR meetings, the staff of the RIRs will work together with the policy proposer to document the common elements.
4. The common text will be ratified by each RIR.
5. The ratified common text is forwarded to the ASO AC, which will either

   a. pass it to the ICANN Board for ratification as a global policy, or

   b. advise the NRO Executive Council that the Address Council has concerns and that the proposal requires further review within the public policy development process, or

   c. request the NRO Executive Council for a time extension.

6. If the AC passes the proposal onto ICANN Board, the directors will review it and consult with the AC or RIRs through the NRO as well as other ICANN bodies, if necessary.
7. After 60 days, the ICANN Board will

   a. accept the proposal by a simple majority vote, or

   b. reject the proposed policy by a supermajority (2/3) vote, or

   c. by a simple majority vote request changes to the proposed policy, or

   d. take no action, in which case the proposal becomes global policy.

8. If the ICANN Board rejects the proposal, it must provide the ASO a document of its reasoning and concerns within 60 days.
9. After deliberation among the RIRs, the NRO Executive Council can indicate to the ASO that it should submit a modified or the same proposal to the ICANN Board.
10. The resubmitted proposal becomes global policy unless the ICANN Board rejects it by a supermajority (2/3) vote; if it is rejected, the RIRs and ICANN enter into mediation.

Regional Policies

Each RIR distributes Internet number resources to its members according to policies that have been defined by its regional community. Each RIR community proposes, discusses, accepts, or rejects policies using a consensus-based policy development process. Anyone can submit a policy proposal for consideration as RIR membership is not required. Every RIR has its own regional policy development policy. However, there are several aspects that all of the RIR PDPs have in common:

1. RIRs facilitate the policy development process; they do not propose, develop, reject, or accept policy proposals.
2. Discussions on public mailings lists and at meetings are an important part of the policy-making process.
3. Community consensus is required for a proposal to become policy or for an amendment to an existing policy. Any arguments or objections must be addressed before a proposal/amendment is adopted.
4. Every RIR is bound to execute the policies that have been developed by its community.

ASO History

In July 1999, when the three Regional Internet Registries which existed then, APNIC, ARIN, and RIPE NCC submitted their proposal for the creation of the ASO on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding; which allows for the creation of a body such as the ASO as an extension of the NRO.

ICANN approved the proposal at its meeting in Chile, and the ASO was subsequently created in October 1999, when the representatives of APNIC, ARIN, RIPE NCC, and ICANN signed the MoU. LACNIC was later recognized as the 4th RIR and it signed the agreement on October 30th, 2002. The Memorandum of Understanding was modified in October 2004, and signed by ICANN and the NRO, which signed on behalf of all the RIRs. When ICANN decided to recognize AfriNIC as the fifth global RIR the representatives of AfriNIC signed the MoU, and it was incorporated as the 5th NRO member.

ASO Address Council

The main responsibilities of the ASO Address Council are:

1. Fulfilling its role in the global policy development process based on the requirements included in this process;
2. Maintaining communication with ICANN and providing recommendations related to various policies and RIR recognition;
3. Ensuring full support, guidance, and advice for ICANN's Board related to the allocation policy for number resource;
4. The development of procedures for business management and support their responsibilities especially in the case of Address Council Chair.

Address Council Members

The council consists of 15 members, with three members from each of the five RIRs, with two being selected by each RIR's regional policy forum and one selected by each RIR Executive Board.

AC Member	RIR	Start Date	End Date
Wafa Dahmani*	AFRINIC	Jan 2021	31 Dec 2021
Mike Silber (Vice Chair)	AFRINIC	Jan 2020	31 Dec 2022
Saul Stein	AFRINIC	Jan 2021	31 Dec 2023
Shubham Saran	APNIC	Jan 2021	31 Dec 2022
Nicole Chan*	APNIC	Jan 2022	31 Dec 2022
Di Ma	APNIC	Jan 2022	31 Dec 2023
Kevin Blumberg* (Chair)	ARIN	Jan 2021	31 Dec 2023
Martin Hannigan	ARIN	Jan 2020	31 Dec 2022
Louie Lee	ARIN	Jan 2019	31 Dec 2021
Esteban Lescano*	LACNIC	1April 2020	31 Mar 2021
Ricardo Patara	LACNIC	Jan 2019	31 Dec 2021
Jorge Villa	LACNIC	Jan 2021	31 Dec 2023
Herve Clement* (Vice Chair)	RIPE NCC	Jan 2021	31 Dec 2023
Nurani Nimpuno	RIPE NCC	Jan 2019	31 Dec 2021
James Kennedy	RIPE NCC	Jun 2021	31 Dec 2022

*Board-appointed member to the ASO AC

ICANN Board members

Consistent with the ASO Memorandum of Understanding and ICANN Bylaws, the Address Supporting Organization Address Council (ASO AC) is responsible for appointing seats nine and ten to the ICANN Board of Directors. For more information about the selection processes for current and previous appointments please follow the link.

Related Pages

• NRO
• GNSO
• ccNSO

Address Supporting Organization. Advises the Board with respect to policy issues relating to the operation, assignment, and management of Internet addresses (ICANN Bylaws).

Number Resource Organization