RIPE Policy Folks - I have no comments to make with regards to the merits of policy proposal 2012-01, but will comment for sake of clarity on the use of the words "sell" and "sold" in the proposal. In the policies in the ARIN region, we have made use of the term "transfer" for this purpose, although one can argue that "sell" and "sold" is equally accurate. The challenge with using the word "sell" is simply that for many readers it carries the connotation of 'free and clear' transfer of property to another. I do not know, (nor intend to assert) what transfer of number resources in the RIPE region means, but in the ARIN region we hold that there are multiple parties with rights to each number resource, and this includes the resource holder (who has the right of exclusive use) but also includes the community (who has the right of visibility into the public portion of the registration, the right to set policies by which the resource may be transferred or reclaimed, etc.) We've had parties come to ARIN and indicate that they have "bought" or "sold" their address blocks, and we have to point out that they may indeed have sold their particular rights to the address block, but that any transfer in our region must comply with the community policies, and ask that they put a transfer request (agreed to by the seller) so that we may transfer the number resources to the new registrant. In short, using terms like "sell" and "sold" in the policy text may create the impression for some readers that Internet number resources are just widgets to be bought and sold as desired, but that error is may be unavoidable in any case given the circumstances. I do not believe that the use of "sell" or "sold" is incorrect, but simply of question of personal judgement as to whether the improved readability is worth the connotations that some readers will draw as a result. FYI, /John John Curran President and CEO ARIN