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                        Dear SIG members,
The proposal, 'Ensuring efficient use of historical AS numbers', has
been sent to the Policy SIG for review. It will be presented at the
Policy SIG at APNIC 28 in Beijing, China, 25-28 August 2009. The
proposal's history can be found at:
http://www.apnic.net/policy/proposals/prop-075
We invite you to review and comment on the proposal on the mailing list
before the meeting.
The comment period on the mailing list before an APNIC meeting is an
important part of the policy development process. We encourage you to
express your views on the proposal:
- Do you support or oppose this proposal?
         - Does this proposal solve a problem you are experiencing? If
           so, tell the community about your situation.
         - Do you see any disadvantages in this proposal?
         - Is there anything in the proposal that is not clear?
         - What changes could be made to this proposal to make it more
           effective?
Randy, Jian and Ching-Heng
________________________________________________________________________
prop-075-v001: Ensuring efficient use of historical AS numbers
________________________________________________________________________
Author:    Guangliang Pan
Version:   1
Date:      24 July 2009
1.  Introduction
----------------
This is a policy proposal to recover unused historical AS numbers for
eventual reassignment to other APNIC account holders.
2. Definitions
--------------
Historical AS numbers:     Historical resources AS numbers that were
                            registered under early registry policies
                            without formal agreements. For more
                            information, see section 2 of "Policies for
                            historical Internet resources in the APNIC
                            Whois Database" [1].
Unused AS numbers:         Any AS number which has not appeared in the
                            global routing tables for some specified
                            period of time, as determined by the Routing
                            Information Service (RIS) or other agreed
                            means.
3.  Summary of current problem
------------------------------
APNIC has 115 historical AS numbers which transfered to APNIC during the
Early Registry Transfer (ERX) project. The full list is available from:
http://www.apnic.net/erx
Currently, around 45% of the historical AS numbers registered in the
APNIC Whois Database do not appear in the global routing tables.
Assuming these AS numbers remain unused, these AS numbers
could be made available for redistribution to other networks.
While APNIC has the ability to reclaim unused AS numbers assigned under
current policies [2], there is no equivalent policy for historical AS
numbers.
In 2004, to help address the decreasing size of the unallocated IPv4
pool, the APNIC community adopted a policy to recover unused
historical IPv4 addresses:
http://www.apnic.net/policy/proposals/prop-017
This proposal would allow a similar mechanism to exist for historical AS 
numbers.
4.  Situation in other RIRs
---------------------------
No similar policy exists in other regions.
5.  Details of the proposal
---------------------------
It is proposed that APNIC recover and reassign historical AS numbers
that have not been used for a reasonable period of time.
Please see Appendix A for the administrative procedure that would be
used to carry out this policy.
6.  Advantages and disadvantages of the proposal
------------------------------------------------
6.1 Advantages
This proposal would release unused AS numbers back into the
     unassigned pool.
6.2 Disadvantages
This proposal would result in a minor increase in the workload
     of APNIC hostmasters.
7.  Effect on APNIC members
---------------------------
There is no direct impact to normal APNIC members.
8.  Effect on NIRs
------------------
NIRs are encouraged to help APNIC reclaim unused historical AS numbers
within their economies.
9.  References
---------------
[1] "Policies for historical Internet resources in the APNIC Whois
     Database"
     http://www.apnic.net/policy/historical-resource-polices.html
[2] Section 8, Return of unused ASNs, "Policies for Autonomous System
     number management in the Asia Pacific region"
     http://www.apnic.net/asn-policy#8
10. Appendix A: Administrative procedure for historical AS number
     reclamation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1. The APNIC Secretariat will identify unused historical AS numbers
         and generate a list.
2. The APNIC Secretariat will notify organizations responsible for
        unused historical AS numbers by all available means and contact
        the associated NIR if applicable.
The APNIC Secretariat will use all available contact details from
        APNIC records. Responses will be tracked using dedicated return
        email addresses and APNIC's request tracking system.
3. Responses to these notifications will be handled using one of
        three possible options:
A. If a response is received and AS number holder agrees to
           return the AS number:
- The AS number will be reclaimed.
B. If a response is received and AS number holder does not agree
           to return the AS number:
- The holder retains the AS number.
           - All future handling of the historical AS number
             will be guided by the "Policies for historical Internet
             resources in the APNIC Whois Database"[1] at:
http://www.apnic.net/policy/historical-resource-polices.html
C. If no response is received after 3 contacts in 3 months (or if
            only error responses or bounces are received):
- The AS number will be reclaimed.
4. All reclaimed AS numbers will be removed from public APNIC Whois
        Database and kept in the APNIC unallocated pool for 12 months
        before redistribution to other networks.

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