Dear RIPE NCC members, For 2026, we are submitting a draft charging scheme with no changes compared to 2025. The draft document is available at: https://www.ripe.net/membership/gm/meetings/may-2025/documentation-and-archi... Last year, we submitted a 2025 charging scheme with a significant increase to the membership fee and to PI charges, and new charges were introduced for ASNs. We indicated that the charging scheme would be sufficient for 2025 and for 2026, so we do not need to increase fees for 2026. This creates short-term stability, which in turn gives time for the Executive Board-initiated member-driven Charging Scheme Task Force to execute their work on recommending principles for a new charging scheme model. The intended result is to build a new charging model based on consensus and with input from the membership that will come into effect in 2027. We also believe that if we propose changes for the 2026 charging scheme, this could negatively impact the work the task force is carrying out. The task force is working to address issues with the current model, so having debate around proposed changes for 2026 rather than on the draft report submitted by the task force could be counterproductive. All work from the task force, including the minutes of each meeting, is available at: https://www.ripe.net/membership/mail/member-and-community-consultations/char... Finally, following the increases to fees for PI and the newly-introduced fees for ASNs this year, we have heard feedback from many holders of these resources that this required extra administration on their part. Making unnecessary changes in these areas could cause a burden for the part of our membership holding PI and ASN resources. The Charging Scheme 2026 will arrive at the exact same amount of income of EUR 41.1M for the RIPE NCC in 2026. This is sufficient to cover all current services and activities, a 4% staff costs increase and a 1.5% inflation increase on all non-staff costs. This is under the assumption that the cost budget will remain unchanged from 2025 to 2026, meaning that this high-level calculation does not incorporate any efficiency or cost-saving efforts. The result would be a cost budget equal to the 2026 income budget of EUR 41.1 M. In the 2025 income budget, we used 20,000 LIR accounts (equal to the number of members) to calculate total LIR fee income, and we will do the same for 2026. This is expected to provide some space as at the time of writing we have 21,029 active LIR accounts. We are working under the assumption that we will not have a solution for our members in (as defined by our banks) Ultra High Risk Countries. If we would be in a position to collect these funds, this would mean a considerable extra inflow of membership funds. If the result of that would be an operational surplus over 2026, this surplus as every year would be part of the redistribution vote. If you have any questions or comments about the draft charging scheme, please bring them to the members-discuss mailing list where our Executive Board members will also be following discussions. Kind regards, Simon-Jan Haytink Chief Financial Officer RIPE NCC Services and Activities Covered by the Member Fee - A trusted, efficient, accurate and resilient registry that guarantees uniqueness of resources held by members - Neutral information services uninfluenced by commercial or government interests that allow both the RIPE NCC and the community to carry out useful research into the Internet - Engagement activities, including RIPE and regional meetings, that build an active membership and community and that contribute to the overall good of the Internet - A voice and influence for the membership in key decision-making fora, including with governments and regulators - Protection of the Joint Internet Number Registry as developed by the Internet community - Learning and development activities that help to address skills shortages and contribute to an educated membership - Support for the Policy Development Process (PDP) - An authoritative registry of routing information provided by RPKI and the RIPE Database - K-root and DNS services - A dedicated staff with considerable expertise contributing to all of the above