Summary

  • AFRINIC’s current policy index lists three proposals ratified on 25 September 2026 and awaiting implementation: two change IPv4 allocation or recovery rules; the third requires hierarchical names for newly created AS-SETs.
  • Their stated delivery paths differ. One IPv4 workflow is estimated at six months, a utilisation amendment is planned within 30 days, and the AS-SET change depends on WHOIS and MyAFRINIC work after version 2. One detail page still carries an older status for the AS-SET proposal.

Analysis

The date is shared; the work is not. AFRINIC’s current policy index places three policies in the same “Ratified” column, each marked “Awaiting Implementation.” Read together, they reach into two different operational systems: the rules for distributing a scarce address pool and the database controls that shape how networks describe routing policy.

The first IPv4 proposal, AFPUB-2026-IPv4-001-DRAFT02, addresses resources returned or recovered by AFRINIC. It treats Soft Landing as irreversible and says recovered resources normally pass through a 12-month quarantine before joining available space, while allowing AFRINIC to shorten that period. Its staff assessment calls for automated cleanup and monitoring and estimates six months for that workflow. This is a rule about how recovered supply re-enters the pool, not evidence that a particular block has already been released or withheld.

The second, AFPUB-2026-IPv4-002-DRAFT02, keeps the 90% utilisation threshold as the baseline for prior allocations and assignments. It adds a route for documented, verifiable exceptions when an operator needs additional space for a key technical purpose that existing resources cannot practically serve. The examples include redundancy, high availability, IPv6 transition and expansion to new sites. AFRINIC’s staff plan says implementation should occur within 30 days of ratification.

The third proposal, AFPUB-2026-ASN-001-DRAFT02, addresses name collisions in Internet Routing Registry data. New AS-SETs would use hierarchical names, beginning with an ASN. Existing non-hierarchical sets may continue and do not have to be renamed, including when edited. Unlike the two IPv4 changes, this one requires changes to the WHOIS and MyAFRINIC interfaces. AFRINIC’s staff plan says it will be prioritised after MyAFRINIC v2, which was then expected to go live on 15 November. That is a projected sequence, not confirmation that the new rule is live.

There is a public-record wrinkle. The central index now records the AS-SET proposal as ratified on 25 September, but its detail page still says “Consensus (Awaiting Ratification by Board)” and “Under Discussion.” The two IPv4 proposal pages explicitly show the Board’s 25 September ratification. Readers should therefore distinguish the current index from stale fields on one proposal page; the discrepancy is not proof that implementation has occurred or that the Board decision failed.

AFRINIC’s Consolidated Policy Manual separates meeting consensus, Last Call, Board ratification and implementation. It says the implementation date should be less than six months after Last Call unless a waiver is requested. The index’s “Awaiting Implementation” label matters: approval gives the rules institutional status, but operators still need to know when the relevant workflow or software actually changes.

Sources