Summary

  • RIPE NCC lets an eligible resource holder request a voluntary transfer lock on a whole allocation or assignment for six, twelve or twenty-four months. It starts on approval and ends at the agreed date.
  • During the lock, RIPE NCC does not process transfer requests. The holder cannot revoke an implemented lock because a buyer appears; the active locks are publicly listed.

The anti-theft switch also closes the cash drawer

An IPv4 holder wants a stronger answer to a forged transfer request than an anxious check of the inbox. RIPE NCC offers one: ask the registry to refuse transfer processing for a specified resource and term. In its published policy, RIPE-806, the lock is an agreement between the holder and the registry. The start and end dates are explicit. Requests to transfer the locked resource during that interval are not processed.

The holder picks the resources, but cannot cut a whole allocation into a conveniently tradable slice after the fact. RIPE NCC's operational procedure accepts only an entire allocation or assignment. It offers terms of six, twelve or twenty-four months. Eligible IPv4, IPv6 and ASNs can be locked; legacy resources and LIR suballocations or assignments sit outside this policy. The lock takes effect when RIPE NCC approves it, not when a manager first decides to ask.

That approval is the commercial hinge. The procedure calls an implemented lock irrevocable. It expires automatically at the agreed end; a fresh lock needs a fresh request. A seller who receives a better bid in month four cannot trade a six-month lock for a faster closing date merely by signing another form. The registry's active-lock list gives a counterparty a public place to see the constraint before negotiating a timetable.

RIPE NCC asks a legal entity for recent registration documents, an authorized signature and proof of signing authority. An LIR submits through its portal; an End User goes through its sponsoring LIR. That paperwork is the mechanism's strength: someone with account access alone should not casually immobilize an asset. It is also the point at which a board should know who is buying the protection and who is surrendering the sale option.

This lock is separate from the ordinary twenty-four-month transfer restriction on newly received scarce resources. One follows receipt under transfer policy; the other is voluntarily requested for named eligible holdings. Confusing the two can produce a false closing date. The public policy also allows defined exceptions where law or a merger or acquisition makes enforcement impracticable. Those exceptions have to be documented in the procedure tied to the agreement.

The registry does not publish a price for the option the holder gives up. No price is needed to see the trade: a buyer can offer money today, yet the registry will not process an ordinary transfer until the chosen term expires. The holder should ask whether the risk being fenced out is worth freezing the entire eligible block through the next financing, asset sale or corporate change. Protection is a decision; so is lost flexibility.

Sources