Summary

  • RIPE-815 requires an End User of independent Internet number resources to maintain a contract with a sponsoring LIR or RIPE NCC. When the existing sponsorship ends and no replacement exists after ten working days, RIPE NCC sends the End User a notice through the contact addresses in its database. Ten working days after that notice without a new agreement, RIPE NCC starts deregistration.
  • A sponsor's objection to the End User changing LIRs does not settle the matter. RIPE NCC accepts the new sponsoring contract with an End User-signed confirmation that states whether the former contract ended.
  • Starting deregistration is a separate event from completing it. RIPE NCC's closure procedure sets out notices, a possible four-week response window and conditional three-month period, plus changes to database maintainers, warnings, reverse delegation and RPKI certificates.

The prefix is still routed. Customers still reach the service. The End User has not changed its network. The company that sponsored its independent number resources, however, has ended the contract. That private-paper event has a public-registry consequence, and the person responsible for the network needs to know exactly when the clock starts.

Independent resources are assigned to an End User, with a sponsoring Local Internet Registry handling the contractual and registration relationship. RIPE-815, the current published procedure, says the End User must have a contract with a sponsoring LIR at all times. If that relationship ends for any reason, RIPE NCC must be told and the End User must move to another sponsoring LIR or contract directly with RIPE NCC. Preferably, the old sponsor submits notice before termination. If the termination has already happened and a new sponsor has been found, the new sponsor submits its signed contract and notifies RIPE NCC.

That handoff contains a small but consequential protection. RIPE NCC tells the former LIR about the change. If the former LIR objects to the claim that its contract has ended, RIPE NCC accepts the new sponsor's contract only with a confirmation signed by the End User. The End User states plainly whether it has terminated the previous agreement. The old intermediary is heard; it cannot decide the End User's position by assertion alone. For an operator whose address resources are embedded in a live network, that signed statement is a control document, not administrative stationery.

The first deadline is measured from RIPE NCC being informed of a terminated sponsorship. If no new contractual relationship exists after ten working days, RIPE-815 directs RIPE NCC to notify the End User at the email addresses recorded in the relevant RIPE Database object. The notice asks for a new sponsor contract or a direct agreement with RIPE NCC within ten working days from that notification. If the agreement has still not arrived after those ten working days, RIPE NCC starts deregistering the independent resources under its separate closure procedure. The public policy supplies the sequence; it does not say the address is removed on the twentieth working day.

The contact address therefore carries more weight than routine correspondence. It is where the second clock is delivered. A stale mailbox or an employee's abandoned account can cause the End User to miss the notice that matters most. RIPE-815 gives the End User a direct-contract option, so the sponsor is a replaceable intermediary in principle. Replacing it requires a timely document and an accessible contact path in practice.

The closure procedure's section B.2.2 describes what happens once deregistration is initiated for independent resources assigned through a sponsoring LIR. RIPE NCC sends an official notice to the registered contacts explaining the reason and procedure. The member is instructed to inform the End User immediately. If the member responds within four weeks, RIPE NCC provides a three-month period for the End User to take necessary action. During that period, the End User must stop announcing the resources and make no new announcements. RIPE NCC restricts maintainer attributes to its own maintainer, adds a warning to the relevant database records and revokes certificates produced by its RPKI service. Deregistration follows after that period.

If the member does not respond within four weeks, the procedure lists actions RIPE NCC may take: restricting the maintainer, warning in the database, withdrawing reverse delegation, contacting the upstream provider about possible hijacking, deleting assignment and route objects, and revoking RIPE NCC-generated RPKI certificates. Those are separate, conditional powers, not a single automatic shutdown switch. The procedure also allows RIPE NCC to omit the three-month period in specified circumstances, including where the End User was not announcing the resources or where falsified information, fraud or audit non-compliance triggered the case.

During the four-week window, evidence or arbitration can be sought; an arbitration request locks the affected database records and places a warning pending a ruling.

The distinction between the clocks matters. Ten working days plus ten working days can bring an End User into deregistration. It does not add up to the final disappearance of the registration, nor does a possible three-month period extend every case. The second procedure has its own notice, response and exception logic. An operator who plans against a single number will misunderstand either the urgency of replacing the contract or the actions RIPE NCC can take once the case proceeds.