Summary

  • RIPE’s 12 October version 2 of proposal 2026-01 says a qualifying holder may receive its first ASN without a needs justification and should register the routing policy once the number is in use.
  • RIPE NCC’s impact analysis says it will notify requesters on approval, but does not expect to monitor the later registration proactively. The proposal remains open for review through 10 November.

A record after the request

RIPE’s first-ASN proposal has acquired a second clock. Version 2, published on 12 October, would remove the needs justification for a limited class of first-ASN requests, then place the routing-policy record at a later point: once the assigned ASN is in use. That timing is the main change from version 1, according to the Address Policy Working Group’s review notice.

The distinction matters because the current policy asks for routing policy when an ASN is requested and requires a network to be multihomed. The proposed exception is narrower than “anyone may obtain an ASN.” The RIPE NCC’s impact analysis interprets it as applying to a legitimate holder of a prefix distributed directly by the registry, including permanent policy transfers or mergers and acquisitions, but excluding temporary transfers or assignments. The requester must have no existing ASN, or only legacy ASNs or ASNs received through temporary arrangements, under the NCC’s reading.

For an eligible first ASN, the draft would not require the routing policy in the RIPE Database at the moment of request. Its proposed wording says that the policy should be registered once the number is in use. The existing tests for additional ASNs remain: a new external routing policy for a multihomed network, with ASNs already held by the requester in use. The relief therefore concerns the first request, not a general right to accumulate identifiers.

The impact analysis makes the hand-off after approval unusually explicit. RIPE NCC Registration Services expects to inform requesters about the later database entry when the ASN is approved, but does not expect to proactively monitor compliance once the ASN becomes active. Updated policy details may still arise during audits, registry checks or a later request for another ASN. The NCC also says it will continue its ASN clean-up work and follow up on patterns such as repeatedly requesting, returning or transferring a first ASN.

This is a proposed change in the timing and assurance of a record, not evidence that any current holder has failed to document a route. RIPE NCC forecasts a slight rise in ASN and IPv6 PI requests, no significant effect on fragmentation or aggregation, medium software work to update its request form and track use of the exception, and low impact on RIPE Database services. Those are conditional projections based on available data, not observed results.

Proposal 2026-01 is open in the Review Phase. The 12 October notice invites comments through 10 November, after which the working-group chairs will determine whether rough consensus exists. Until then, neither the new first-ASN path nor its later registration expectation is operative policy.

Sources