Nick,

Thanks for your note. The wording of "current account holder" is intended to apply at any time - i.e. a new account holder is a "current account holder".

As to whether this is a "first step to a global trading scheme" is really up to others - if you are of the opinion that such a mechanism is appropriate, then the course is open to introduce policy proposals in each of the address forums to such an effect. In this case the policy proposal is more modestly limited to APNIC current account holders.

regards,

Geoff

Nick Hannaford wrote:

Geoff,

I appreciate your proposal and subsequent clarification as I had the same questions as Philip.

Whilst I understand this is just an intra-APNIC exchange mechanism, it appears to be limited to "current APNIC account holders".

Does this mean we are 'closing the door' on new members being able to trade IPv4?

Otherwise, if it is open to new members, there may (or may not) be an issue where a satellite office of an ISP, from another non Asia-Pac region, can join APNIC thus being eligible to 'acquire' existing APNIC (ie Asia-Pac) addressing which could be used elsewhere.

I suggest we may want to do some form of clarification on who is eligible _or_ look at this as a first step to a possible global trading scheme.

Regards, Nick