ARIN’s two-stage conflict test, explained

Summary

Tina Morris’s ARIN election questionnaire says her AWS team works with ARIN Registration Services as a customer and participates in the IPv4 transfer market. ARIN’s public candidate page rates her “Qualified and Additional Recommended Skills.”
That assessment is an eligibility and qualifications decision. A separate Board rule handles a trustee’s interest in a particular ARIN transaction or a policy with a disparate and unusual effect on an associated business.

One word, two different decisions

ARIN uses “conflict” for two decisions: whether a person may stand for election and whether a sitting trustee should leave a particular Board discussion. Morris’s questionnaire puts both questions on the same public record.

Morris is ARIN’s current Vice Chair and is seeking another Board term. Her candidate page lists Amazon Web Services as her affiliation. In the conflict section, she says a perceived conflict could arise because her team frequently works with ARIN Registration Services as a customer and an active participant in the IPv4 Transfer Market. She says she does not anticipate a conflict; if a real or perceived one arises, she would discuss it with fellow trustees and recuse herself from discussion or voting as appropriate.

Her answer records a relationship and a proposed response. ARIN’s rules assign the Board a separate review when a specific transaction or policy reaches its agenda.

The first gate is about eligibility

ARIN’s Nomination and Appointment Conflict of Interest Requirements name roles that may disqualify a candidate: ARIN staff, except the President acting in that capacity; service on another RIR’s governing board; staff service at another RIR; an NRO Number Council representative from another RIR; or ICANN staff or Board service. The list does not name employment by an organization that uses ARIN Registration Services or participates in the IPv4 transfer market as a standalone bar. ARIN’s Bylaws direct the Board to determine candidacy-related conflicts and make those determinations public.

The election process gives the Assessment Firm responsibility for assessing Board nominees. It lists “Qualified,” “Qualified and Additional Recommended Skills,” and “Not Qualified” as the assessment categories; an irresolvable conflict is one reason for the last category. Morris’s profile carries the middle label. Her rating confirms eligibility and additional recommended skills; any later conflict is decided under the Board’s matter-specific rule.

Operating experience gives a trustee useful context; a specific proposal can still create a distinct benefit for an associated company. If every customer relationship barred a candidate, ARIN would screen out people with registry experience. If candidacy approval exempted a trustee from later review, the second control would vanish.

The second gate is attached to the matter

ARIN’s Board Conflict of Interest Statement defines a personal interest through direct or indirect financial benefit or a disparate benefit to a trustee or an associated company. It says ordinary policy effects shared by trustees’ companies do not, by themselves, count as a personal interest. A policy can qualify when it has a disparate and unusual impact on an associated business.

The Board, excluding the trustee with the potential conflict, makes the final determination about whether a conflict exists and how to proceed. If it finds one, the Chair may exclude the trustee from the substantive discussion or decision. The trustee can first provide information that helps the Board.

The same August 2024 minutes record Morris asking what happens when a trustee does not see a conflict; General Counsel replied that the Board itself could find one. On a later agenda item about the Registration Services Agreement and legacy-holder rights, General Counsel invited clarifying questions before Hank Kilmer left. The minutes record Kilmer’s departure at 3:06 p.m. Mountain Time. Morris then said ARIN had created two classes of customers by providing legacy holders basic registry services for free and urged the Board to look for ways to bring all companies under agreement. The Board continued the substantive discussion.

The candidate screen looks at the person and the listed roles. The transaction rule looks at what a proposal would give an associated business and which trustees can decide it.

The minutes capture Morris’s position on the RSA and legacy-holder question, yet identify no AWS-specific effect, conflict ruling about her, or vote; an item-specific effect assessment and vote record would show how ARIN applied its rule.

ARIN’s 2026 ballot closed on 30 October, with results scheduled for publication by 6 November. The result will determine who holds the seat. The next conflict test, if one arises, belongs to the agenda and the Board’s record.