Summary

  • ARIN says some IPv4 transfer recipients have been unaware that they must wait 12 months before acting as a source for another transfer. Its Registration Services staff explain the restriction during the incoming transaction.
  • NRPM 8.3 and 8.4 put the lookback under source conditions. ARIN has asked whether the recipient sections should warn buyers and whether an early outbound request should prompt a resource review.

The transfer papers arrive; the clock is filed in a different drawer. In its ARIN 58 implementation report, ARIN says some organizations receiving IPv4 space did not realize they would be unable to serve as a source for the next 12 months. Registry staff now deliver that explanation during the transfer process.

The current policy manual shows why it is easy to miss. Section 8.3 places a 12-month lookback on the source organization: it must not have received a transfer, allocation or assignment from ARIN in that period. The recipient conditions discuss qualification, policy coverage and a possible 90-day waiting-list consequence. They do not spell out the recipient's later turn as a source. Section 8.4 uses the same filing logic for inter-RIR transfers involving a source in ARIN's region. ARIN's transfer quick guide also puts the year-long restriction in its source discussion.

This is an organization-level condition at the approval of a later outbound transfer, with policy-defined exceptions for certain M&A, common-control and renumbering cases. A buyer planning a second deal has to read tomorrow's role while signing today's. ARIN has asked the community whether the recipient clauses should say so plainly. It also asked whether an attempted early source transfer should trigger an NRPM 12 resource review. ARIN left both questions open. The first fix can be printed where the buyer is already looking.