RIPE NCC Halts New Local Internet Registry Accounts to Cut Administrative Costs

The governing board of the RIPE NCC has moved to temporarily block the creation of new Local Internet Registry (LIR) accounts by existing members, a policy shift that takes effect on 29 September. The restriction applies to all pending requests as well as future applications. The step represents an initial response to the operational complexity created by members holding multiple accounts, while leaving room for the broader RIPE community to weigh in on related questions surrounding IPv4 resource allocation.

What the decision means for members

Under the Board's resolution, members can no longer acquire additional LIR accounts under their existing membership. This prohibition extends to scenarios where business combinations occur, such as when one RIPE NCC member merges with or acquires another. All requests in progress—whether already submitted, under review, or pending—are now suspended indefinitely.

The policy does not mandate that members shut down or merge the LIR accounts they currently operate. There is no timeline for consolidation. Instead, the RIPE NCC intends to engage directly with members who maintain multiple accounts to identify alternative arrangements that do not require separate LIR accounts.

For members who have acquired another RIPE NCC member and believe they must preserve the target company's original LIR account, the RIPE NCC will offer guidance and assistance. However, existing policy allows resource transfers to the acquiring party's account following any merger or acquisition, making a separate account unnecessary.

The Board determined that the freeze should remain in place until policy discussions within the RIPE community reach a conclusion.

Why the Board is taking this step

Although only a small segment of the membership operates multiple LIR accounts, the administrative and technical burden of supporting them has grown substantial. With cost efficiency becoming a priority, the Board evaluated whether continuing to fund and expand this capability represented sound stewardship of member contributions.

Membership data as of 1 August 2026 reveals the limited scope of the practice: 410 members, representing 2.1 percent of the total membership, held 708 additional LIR accounts. Over the preceding two years, only 41 members had acquired 67 new additional accounts.

The operational load extends well beyond the initial setup of a new account. Managing multiple accounts demands extra effort in billing reconciliation, regulatory compliance verification, voting rights allocation, audit procedures, resource transfers, and account closures. The multiple-account model also introduces friction in systems designed to link account-level data with member-level records.

Much of this work remains manual or relies on isolated, custom-built systems, making it expensive and difficult to upgrade or expand the underlying infrastructure. The Board weighed the significant investment required to modernize these systems and concluded that with demand for new accounts declining and the organization entering a new strategic planning cycle, this was the appropriate moment to pause expansion rather than commit further resources. The Board also noted that the multiple-account model is distinctive to the RIPE NCC; other Regional Internet Registries do not offer this arrangement.

Halting new accounts will not eliminate the overhead tied to existing ones. It does, however, prevent the model from expanding while the RIPE NCC, its members, and the broader RIPE community develop a longer-term strategy.

How we reached this point

The roots of the multiple-account arrangement trace back to administrative needs: a handful of members managing distinct business units or navigating corporate restructuring required separate accounts. When IPv4 addresses became scarce, the mechanism took on new significance, as opening additional accounts offered a path to obtain further allocations. The RIPE IPv4 policy was designed to direct remaining IPv4 space to new entrants, yet the RIPE NCC's operational framework permits a single member to hold multiple LIR accounts, creating a gap between policy intent and implementation.

The central question is no longer whether members acted improperly in using an available tool. Rather, it is whether the tool remains worth supporting given its shrinking use and the complexity it introduces.

IPv4 policy and the IPv4 Waiting List

Under existing Waiting List procedures, an eligible LIR account that has never before received an IPv4 allocation from the RIPE NCC may receive one /24 block once addresses become available. Eligibility is assessed on a per-account basis.

The new restriction on additional accounts eliminates one mechanism by which an existing member could open another account to pursue a further allocation. However, the Board's action does not itself modify IPv4 allocation policy or predetermine future eligibility rules.

The Board emphasized the need for the RIPE community to address this question directly. For instance, IPv4 policy could be clarified to explicitly reserve remaining space for new members only. Conversely, the community might decide that existing members should also be eligible to request additional IPv4 space through the waiting list.

These matters belong to the RIPE Policy Development Process. The Board's decision to restrict additional accounts is not intended to constrain the range of possible outcomes.

What happens next

The Board will present this decision to the membership at the upcoming General Meeting and invites feedback. The RIPE NCC will reach out to members operating multiple LIR accounts to explore whether their requirements can be satisfied through alternative arrangements that do not require multiple accounts.

The Board's deliberations identified the eventual elimination of multiple LIR accounts as a strategic direction. The adopted resolution, however, establishes only a temporary pause, not a final determination on how or when existing accounts would be phased out. Subsequent actions will need to address the impact on members using multiple accounts, the underlying policy questions, and the financial and administrative implications of restructuring the model.

The freeze serves to halt further expansion of complexity while these questions are resolved. Given declining demand for new accounts and the imperative to deploy member funding wisely, the Board believes now is the right moment to work toward a streamlined structure while keeping IPv4 allocation decisions in the hands of the RIPE community. Ultimately, phasing out multiple LIR accounts entirely would render the distinction between members and LIRs irrelevant. Policy language referring to LIRs would align with RIPE NCC operational reality, community intentions would translate directly into procedures, and membership across any RIR would carry a consistent, unambiguous meaning.