Dear members and RIPE NCC, Although I can understand part of the motivation for such a change in billing schedule, notifying us with just ±45 days before sending the actual 1 year fee invoice is *unacceptable*! I do understand and support any measure to limit multiple LIRs, but companies plan such expenses in advance. *I do not support this tight schedule on going to an annual billing plan for the LIRs who are old enough and behave correctly. Even if you come in January and provide a transition plan, it should allow us at least 6-12 months before transitioning. Also I think that the invoicing on a annual billing plan should be done in the second half of the year. This way things would be fair, as we are charging our customers after we provide the service and not before. * Such a decision should have been taken through a voting process not like this through an email on 21th of December before Christmas. Is this the gift Santa left us with you? I also feel angry on RIPE NCC management, as it seems that no real decisions (like this one) are being taken democratically through voting, and just unessential issues are proposed for voting at GM. Also I don't understand how you can complain about late payments as the base of LIR's is continually expanding and your expenses are kind of linear. Another argument I can provide you is that you redistribute excess contribution yearly, meaning this excess payments we make are cash flow for you. As you are keeping some extra money you don't need (as RIPE is a non-profit organization) you should not complain so much on this late payments issue. You already have part of our annual fee from the last year payments. With respect and gratitude, -- On 12/21/18 22:16, Patrick Velder wrote:
+1
It's another step to prevent people opening multiple LIRs.
On 21.12.18 15:55, Dominic Schallert wrote:
Dear all, while I appreciate the efforts in reducing accounting complexity and organizational overhead at RIPE NCC, I’m not sure if this step of removing the possiblity for quarterly and half-yearly payment is beneficial looking at the vast amount of smaller, single-account LIRs.
Just my opinion.
Kind regards, Dominic
Am 21.12.2018 um 15:34 schrieb Gwen van Berne <gvanberne@ripe.net <mailto:gvanberne@ripe.net>>:
Dear RIPE NCC members,
We would like to notify you about changes to our billing processes that will come into effect for 2019. Invoicing will take place one month later than usual on 18 February 2019 to ensure you have time to plan for the changes listed below.
1. Move to annual billing schedule only On 13 December, the RIPE NCC Executive Board resolved to move the billing process for members to an annual scheme only.
This change to annual billing only is aimed at reducing complexity for our members, eliminating repeated late payments and reminders, and also bringing efficiencies to our processes. With the increasing number of LIR accounts, the quarterly payments schedule has put a heavy burden on our administration. This option also means that members often have to be notified several times per year about late invoice payments.
For members with only one LIR account, we will design a transition plan for those with cash flow limitations and who therefore have difficulty meeting the payment schedule. We will provide details about this in January 2019.
2. No longer sending annual separate account statements In line with our efforts to make our billing processes more efficient and member-friendly, we will no longer send the annual account statement to members separately from the invoice. This has caused confusion in the past for members who are receiving financial statements before the invoice is available to pay. The annual invoice will include all charging details, including the membership contribution and, when applicable, independent resources, legacy resources and the redistribution from 2018. More details on the calculation for the redistribution will be communicated in January 2019.
We will notify all billing contacts about the changes to our billing processes.
The full billing procedure for 2019 is available at: https://www.ripe.net/participate/member-support/payment/ripe-ncc-billing-pro...
There is a webpage that provides additional information on our billing procedure and also gives further details that are useful for members in Russia and Ukraine: https://www.ripe.net/participate/member-support/payment/ripe-ncc-billing-pro...
We are confident that these changes will simplify the billing process and we trust that you will support our efforts to increase efficiencies at the RIPE NCC. If you have questions or you want to request support from us, please contact <billing@ripe.net>.
Kind regards,
Gwen van Berne Chief Financial Officer RIPE NCC
