Summary

  • APNIC and ARIN both describe transfer pre-approval as a needs assessment that can precede a specific source and remains valid for a bounded period.
  • Later steps still matter: parties must submit or acknowledge transfer requests, satisfy current conditions and reach an authoritative registry update.
  • A registration-and-expiry ledger should preserve the approved amount, remaining balance, policy snapshot, source match, request links, fees, completion evidence, supersession and expiry.

Eligibility is not title

IPv4 scarcity makes pre-approval useful. A prospective recipient can establish need before negotiating for a particular block, reducing uncertainty about whether it qualifies. APNIC says its pre-approvals remain valid for 24 months; ARIN describes a two-year approval based on projected 24-month need.

That convenience creates a governance trap. A valid approval can be shown out of context as if it proves that a named prefix has moved. It does not. APNIC still requires the recipient to acknowledge an initiated transfer, and says the request is cancelled if acknowledgement does not arrive within 30 days. ARIN says source and recipient submit separate requests that staff later link. The transfer and the pre-approval are related records, not one event.

Treat approval as a bounded balance

The ledger begins with the issuing registry, ticket or request identifier, applicant, approval time, expiry time, approved quantity and the policy version used. It stores the exact approval response and hash. If a later approval replaces an earlier one, the ledger links both and closes the superseded balance rather than leaving two apparently usable approvals.

Each proposed transfer then debits the eligible balance without declaring it complete. Record the source organization, candidate prefix, size, applicable source and recipient policies, restriction checks, request identifiers and required settlement. APNIC, for example, requires payment before its Whois Database update and restricts transfers of addresses delegated from 103/8 for five years. ARIN applies its own source and recipient conditions. Cross-RIR work therefore needs two policy snapshots, not a generic “approved” flag.

Close on registry evidence

Completion should require the registry’s result, the resulting holder record, exact resource range and observed effective time. A paid invoice, broker message or signed agreement may be relevant evidence, but none substitutes for the authoritative registration step. Rejected, cancelled and withdrawn requests keep their own terminal states and do not silently restore or consume an approval balance.

The documented facts do not disclose private transaction terms, applicant evidence or an organization’s internal approvals. They also do not prove that Number Resource Society operates this ledger. The ledger is an editorial control design inferred from public registry procedures.

Sources