Dear Nick,
 
The requirement in the current policy (ripe-733) [1] that “After one year the utilisation of the new assignment must be at least 50%, unless special circumstances are defined" is implemented the way Marco previously explained: the 50% utilisation refers to an estimated projection, which must be supported by the documentation provided by the IXP when requesting an assignment larger than the minimum size.
 
This requirement was first introduced in the ripe-604 [2] policy document, after the approval of proposal 2013-03 [3], to maintain the need evaluation for IXP assignments. The RIPE NCC Impact Analysis [4] on proposal 2013-03 was: “It is the RIPE NCC’s understanding that Internet Exchange Point assignments larger than /24 would be based on documented calculations that allow the utilisation to be estimated one year after the date of assignment. This utilisation should be at least 50% of the assignment. “
 
The requirements for returning the unused space to the IXP pool are described in paragraph 6.1.5 of the current policy: “IXPs holding other PI IPv4 space for their peering LAN (i.e. they are seeking a larger assignment), and any IPv4 space assigned from this pool that is no longer in use, must be returned to the pool within 180 days of disuse or a new assignment.“
 
I hope this helps.
 
Kind regards,
Angela Dall’Ara
Policy Officer
RIPE NCC
 
[1] https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-733
[2] https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-604
[3] https://www.ripe.net/participate/policies/proposals/2013-03
[4] https://www.ripe.net/participate/policies/proposals/2013-03#impact-analysis
On 04/07/2023 20:33, Matthias Wichtlhuber wrote:
Hi Nick,

Marco or Angela from RIPE should be able to answer this question. I have no insights into this beyond what was communicated by RIPE on this list.

Regards,
Matthias

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Dr.-Ing. Matthias Wichtlhuber
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________________________________________
Von: Nick Hilliard <nick@foobar.org>
Gesendet: Dienstag, 4. Juli 2023 20:18:55
An: Matthias Wichtlhuber
Cc: RIPE Address Policy Working Group
Betreff: Re: AW: [address-policy-wg] 2023-01 Review Phase (Reducing IXP IPv4 assignment default size to a /26)

Matthias Wichtlhuber wrote on 30/06/2023 10:58:

When receiving requests for more than a /24, the RIPE NCC checks that
the IXP will need more than 50% of the assignment within one year. If
their growth rate is too slow and we expect that it will take more than
a year to exceed that utilisation threshold, we suggest that they
postpone their request.

Thus, this issue is not urgent and can be discussed separately. I hope that answers open questions.

Hi Matthias

Let me ask the question in a different way.  The policy says:


After one year, utilisation of the new assignment must be at least 50%, unless special circumstances are defined.

If the IXP is using less than 50% after one year, what happens?  Will
the assignment be deassigned?

If the answer is "yes, the assignment will be deassigned", does the RIPE
NCC apply some form of threshold to determine whether or not to
deassign?  I.e. if the assignment less than exactly 50%, or is there a
practical slop factor in there?

Nick