AFRINIC · RIR Watchdog
IPv4 Soft Landing
Start here for the proposal-by-proposal record: what changed, why it mattered, who argued for what, how positions evolved, what was decided, and where the evidence still has gaps.
Source facts
- Policy ID
- AFPUB-2026-IPv4-001-DRAFT02
- RIR
- AFRINIC
- Official status
- Ratified
- Normalized status
- Accepted
- Introduced
- Jun 16, 2026
- Last source update
- Nov 5, 2026
- Coverage
- Partial
Who actually shaped the debate?
Policy evolution
Recovered-space quarantine and scope · Draft 2 replaces draft 1's fixed six-month quarantine with a twelve-month starting period that AFRINIC may reduce, including when available space falls below a /13 or for other operational reasons. It expressly includes returned or recovered addresses from any original pool. Phase irreversibility and the priority of Soft-Landing allocation rules remain. The longer starting period responds to the first assessment's cleanup concern; neither document proves that cleanup or redelegation occurred.
Source facts −
recovered resources, regardless of their size, will refill the existing pool after a 6 months quarantine period.Source facts ↗
Source facts +
Any IPv4 resources returned or recovered thereafter, irrespective of their size or original pool, shall be returned to the “available space” pool only following a quarantine period of twelve (12) months. AFRINIC may reduce the quarantine period, for example when “available space” is below a /13 or other operational reasons.Source facts ↗
Release and replenishment of the reserved /12 · The second draft adds an express mechanism to release the final-/8 reserve and replenish it with recovered space from any available pool, including space still in quarantine. The earlier assessment asked how recovered space and the reserved /12 should enter the available pool. The second assessment describes bringing the reserve into use when an available-pool request cannot be satisfied. Those are proposal text and staff interpretation, not evidence that the reserve was actually released or that quarantined addresses were delegated.
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The sequence of filling available pool - recovered space first as soon as policy is implemented?Source facts ↗
Source facts +
Once IPv4 addresses are recovered, the /12 from the final /8 can be released and refilled with the recovered addresses from any other “available space”, even if they are under quarantine period.Source facts ↗
Staff clarification and implementation work · The first assessment requests additional clarity about the recovery pool and recommends a longer initial quarantine. The second records no outstanding staff clarification requests and changes the procedures entry to introducing an automated cleanup and monitoring tool. Both retain a six-month implementation estimate. This records the assessment's changed position and planned work; it does not establish implementation completion or eliminate the need to distinguish the proposal's wording from staff's operating interpretation.
Source facts −
Procedures: Update the current procedures to reduce the quarantine period from 12 to 6 months.Source facts ↗
Version chronology and retained status context · The first draft's own history dates initial posting to 6 May 2026, despite the archived page's conflicting 2020 submission field. Draft 2's history dates its revision to 16 June 2026 and says it addresses the impact analysis. This comparison therefore runs from draft 1 to draft 2, regardless of when the archive was discovered. The later retained draft-2 capture used here says Last call; that is a capture-specific status, not proof of ratification or a replacement for subsequent status evidence. The eight-month utilisation and SAW periods already appear in draft 1 and are substantially retained in the more formal draft-2 wording.
Source facts −
6th May 2026 Version 1: AFPUB-2026-IPv4-001-DRAFT01 Initial Draft Posted to RPDSource facts ↗
Source facts +
16th June 2026 Version 2: AFPUB-2026-GEN-001-DRAFT02 Addressing inputs from impact analysisSource facts ↗
Procedural status; unchanged proposal text · The later retained page reports consensus awaiting Board ratification, replacing last call. Both captures retain proposal version 2.0 and the operative policy wording is unchanged. This is a status update, not evidence of Board ratification or a new proposal version. The captures bound when the change was observed, not its precise decision date.
Policy ratification status · The page-level status changes from consensus awaiting Board ratification to ratified, with 25 September 2026 recorded as the AFRINIC Board ratification date. The remainder of the captured document is unchanged.
Debate timeline
Official version
2.0
Unknown · Consensus (Awaiting Ratification by Board)(Presented at AF37 24 June 2026)
Source facts ↗Official version
2.0
Accepted · RatifiedRatified by the AFRINIC Board on 25 September 2026(Presented at AF37 24 June 2026)
Source facts ↗
Entities
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Sources and coverage
Official policy sources
Public discussion archives
- afrinic-rpd
- Earliest captured
- Aug 4, 2004
- Latest captured
- Aug 25, 2026
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 11,100
- Known gaps
- 0
- www.afrinic.net
- afrinic-africann
- Earliest captured
- Aug 3, 2026
- Latest captured
- Nov 3, 2026
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 2,511
- Known gaps
- 1
- afrinic-afripv6-discuss
- Earliest captured
- Aug 17, 2015
- Latest captured
- Sep 18, 2026
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 2,538
- Known gaps
- 0
- afrinic-announce
- Earliest captured
- Aug 18, 2015
- Latest captured
- Sep 18, 2026
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 2,497
- Known gaps
- 0
- afrinic-community-discuss
- Earliest captured
- Sep 11, 2015
- Latest captured
- Dec 29, 2019
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 3,209
- Known gaps
- 0
- afrinic-dbwg
- Earliest captured
- Sep 9, 2016
- Latest captured
- Oct 21, 2026
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 700
- Known gaps
- 0
- afrinic-dnssec-ops
- Earliest captured
- Aug 18, 2015
- Latest captured
- Dec 1, 2016
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 307
- Known gaps
- 0
- afrinic-icp2-review
- Earliest captured
- Apr 10, 2025
- Latest captured
- Nov 10, 2025
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 0
- Known gaps
- 0
- afrinic-measurement-wg
- Earliest captured
- Feb 1, 2018
- Latest captured
- Nov 22, 2024
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 138
- Known gaps
- 0
- afrinic-mira
- Earliest captured
- Nov 17, 2020
- Latest captured
- Nov 22, 2024
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 0
- Known gaps
- 0
- afrinic-ois-wg
- Earliest captured
- Sep 9, 2021
- Latest captured
- Nov 22, 2024
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 0
- Known gaps
- 0
- afrinic-rpki-discuss
- Earliest captured
- Jan 15, 2016
- Latest captured
- Apr 23, 2026
- Last refresh
- Nov 6, 2026
- Coverage
- Source coverage is incomplete.
- Loading
- 154
- Known gaps
- 0
Coverage
Partial
Earliest captured: Aug 4, 2004
Latest captured: Nov 6, 2026
Freshness
Known gaps
- www.afrinic.net: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- afrinic-rpd: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- www.afrinic.net: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- afrinic-africann: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- afrinic-afripv6-discuss: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- afrinic-announce: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- afrinic-community-discuss: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- afrinic-dbwg: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- afrinic-dnssec-ops: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- afrinic-measurement-wg: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
- afrinic-rpki-discuss: Source coverage is incomplete. · The source boundary has not yet been reached.
