Summary

  • APNIC's current temporary-assignment policy reserves a /21 of IPv4, a /29 of IPv6 and eight ASNs for events and other short-term uses. Assignments last no more than six months; most grants are no larger than /24 IPv4, /32 IPv6 and one ASN unless the need is greater.
  • The official resource-range list identifies 163.61.168.0/21 as the reserved IPv4 pool. A holder must return its assignment before the end date. Returned resources are exempt from normal quarantine and immediately available for another assignment.
  • APNIC's prop-156 impact assessment said ordinary quarantine helps remove Whois, route and ROA records from returned space. Its current fee page also charges 25% of the relevant Annual Fee for a three-month temporary assignment period from 7 February 2026. The fast-turnover rule sits inside a priced, purpose-bound service.

The organizer's question starts weeks before doors open: who can supply public address space for a temporary network, and whose name will be on it when the lights go out? APNIC's Part 6 answers with a pool, a clock and an account holder. Conferences, technical workshops and SIG meetings can qualify. A conference application needs a draft program at least six weeks before the event and a reason for the assignment. A workshop or SIG must show why its agenda needs the resources in technical terms.

The reserve is concrete. APNIC's range page labels 163.61.168.0/21 for temporary assignments under implemented prop-156. That is 2,048 IPv4 addresses across the reserved range, not a promise that every event receives the whole range or that all of it is simultaneously allocated. In most cases, section 15.3 caps an individual award at /24 IPv4, /32 IPv6 and one ASN unless the applicant proves a larger need. APNIC sets the period on the evidence, including time to build the event network, within the policy's six-month ceiling. An applicant can justify a request to extend the assigned period.

The holder matters as much as the prefix. Temporary assignments go to APNIC account holders. An organizer without an account can nominate an existing holder to take technical responsibility or become an Associate member. APNIC registers the assignment in Whois. The event can be brief; the public record still needs a named party who can receive the block, run it, and hand it back.

The policy draws a line around purpose. A temporary assignment cannot be used for a commercial purpose. APNIC gives a for-profit, fee-charging conference promoting proprietary services as an example of a disallowed case; a nonprofit Network Operator Group conference is an allowed example. Attendance fees alone are therefore an inadequate shortcut to classification.

APNIC can recover resources if it determines commercial use. The institution is deciding what sort of event deserves access to the pool, not merely whether the technical application is complete.

Then comes the unusual exit. Section 15.7 requires the resources back before the assignment ends. Once returned, they skip the normal quarantine process and become immediately available for further assignment. APNIC's policy removes the ordinary waiting period from this category of returned number resources.

APNIC's prop-156 record explains why that choice is consequential. In the Secretariat's assessment of an earlier version, ordinary practice was to quarantine returned addresses for at least six months to clear Whois registrations, route objects and ROAs before another delegation. The enacted text later chose an explicit exemption. The public policy identifies no individual returned event block with a lingering route or ROA; a case-level cleanup receipt for one reassignment would show whether the fast handoff also cleared the old authorization trail.