Summary

  • AFPUB-2026-GEN-005 v4 proposes four-week impact analysis, eight weeks of RPD-list discussion, a two-week chair decision window and a separate two-week Last Call.
  • The draft gives those deadlines different starting events but does not show readers how the decision window and Last Call fit together.

AFRINIC’s policy process has acquired more clocks than a station platform. The new version of “Update of PDP” gives dates to impact analysis, mailing-list discussion, meeting decisions, Last Call, appeals and proposal expiry. That is useful. A deadline can make delay visible. A pile of deadlines can also make everyone ask which clock is supposed to be running.

The official proposal record lists AFPUB-2026-GEN-005-DRAFT01 as version 4.0, submitted on 14 October 2026 and still Under Discussion. It would amend four sections of the Consolidated Policy Manual.

Start with the impact analysis. AFRINIC would publish one within four weeks of submission and at least one week before the next Public Policy Meeting. If a complete analysis cannot make that deadline, the RPD mailing list must get a reason and at least a draft. This clock has a clear starting gun: submission.

The discussion schedule has more moving parts. The proposal says a version must be available at least two weeks before a PPM. It also requires at least eight weeks of discussion on the RPD list. Those are separate requirements. The draft’s wording does not give the list period a numeric maximum; it ties the maximum to the time required for presentation at a PPM. That leaves the calendar to do interpretation work the policy text should do itself.

The chair’s decision then gets a two-week maximum once the eight-week list period and PPM presentation conditions have been met. Minutes are due within two weeks. Last Call is another two weeks, followed by a one-week window for Chairs to confirm whether consensus remains. The draft does not say whether Last Call sits inside the chair-decision window, follows it, or is the event that ends it. These are distinct clocks with distinct labels. They need a single sequence.

Version 3 of this proposal used a simpler, if looser, calendar: at least four weeks of review before a PPM, a one-year expiry for a draft, and three weeks to publish minutes. Version 4 proposes eight weeks of list discussion, six-month expiry for each proposal version and two-week minutes. An appeal pauses the six-month expiry clock; an expired version can return under its old ID. This treats each version as a timed object, not as a file that can sit forever under a familiar number.

That is real process design. The next useful edit is a timeline with named events: submission, impact-analysis publication, list-discussion start, agenda lock, PPM, Last Call, chair determination, appeal and version expiry. Mark which intervals may overlap and which one stops the next clock. Without that chart, “two weeks” is just a number wearing a tie.

Primary records: GEN-005 v4 · archived 2021 version 3 · current proposal register · AFRINIC PDP overview.