Summary

  • RIPE NCC’s 2027 schedule keeps an annual fee of €1,894 per LIR account, includes the first ASN assigned to that account and continues separate charges for additional ASNs and specified resource registrations.
  • The published totals do not show how accounts, ASNs and direct-contract Legacy IPv4 registrations are distributed together, so the fee table cannot establish a typical member’s change.

A schedule with more than one counting unit

Start with an LIR account, not an IP block. Under RIPE NCC’s 2027 Charging Scheme, an account carries an annual fee of €1,894. The General Meeting selected Model A, the one-LIR-account, one-fee model. That sets the broad annual structure; it does not turn every other line into an account charge.

The ASN rule illustrates the distinction. The first ASN assignment registered to an LIR account is included in the annual fee. Each additional assignment costs €50. In 2026, the scheme charged €50 per ASN assignment. A member can therefore see one account-level increase and one ASN-related decrease in the same comparison, while still paying for additional ASNs.

Other items use different units. The €75 charge for an independent Internet number resource assignment continues for IPv4 and IPv6 PI, Anycast, and IPv4 and IPv6 IXP assignments. It is a charge on a specified assignment, not a fee on every address inside an allocation. Nor should it be combined indiscriminately with the LIR annual fee when asking what a particular member owes.

A narrow example shows why the units matter. An unchanged account with exactly one eligible ASN had two relevant recurring lines in 2026: €1,800 for the account and €50 for the ASN. Under the 2027 scheme, the account line is €1,894 and that first ASN is included. Across those two lines, the difference is €44. For an account with no ASN assignment, the account-fee line alone rises by €94. Neither comparison includes independent assignments, sign-up charges, Legacy resources or any other invoice item; neither is a representative member profile.

Legacy IPv4 follows its contractual path

The schedule also separates Legacy IPv4 registrations by how they are held. A registration through a sponsoring LIR remains €75. Starting in 2027, a registration under a direct contract with RIPE NCC is also €75; the 2026 scheme listed no registration charge for that direct-contract line. A direct Legacy holder’s annual fee equals the LIR annual fee, €1,894 in 2027.

For one unchanged direct-contract holder with N registered Legacy IPv4 resources, the two lines discussed here change by €94 plus €75 for each such resource, before other items. This is a formula for a stated case, not a claim about how many holders or resources fall into it. The sponsored-LIR and direct-contract routes are not interchangeable categories.

What the public totals do not resolve

RIPE NCC’s August 2026 member update reports 20,687 LIR accounts and 19,977 members. Those aggregate figures are not a joined inventory of accounts, their ASN counts, independent assignments and Legacy IPv4 registrations by contract type. They cannot tell us how many members have one or several accounts, where additional ASNs sit, or how many direct-contract legacy registrations will attract the new line.

The distinction matters for readers trying to move from a published tariff to an estimate of incidence. A tariff explains the rule. A population estimate requires the distribution of the things the rule counts. Without that distribution, neither the account total nor the member total identifies which operators face which combination.

The practical improvement need not expose account-level records. RIPE NCC could publish a carefully scoped calculator with the relevant units and exclusions, or anonymized impact bands with their denominators. Members could then test their own account and resource inventory without a public list of who holds what. Until such evidence exists, the defensible conclusion is about the schedule, not the distribution of its costs.

Sources