RIPE NCC Billing Procedure and Fee Schedule 2003
Mireille Ent, Jochem de Ruig
Document ID: ripe-262
Date: 4 November 2002
Obsoletes: ripe-260
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. General Information
2.1 Contact details
2.2 Bank details
2.3 Tax information
3. Fee Schedule 2003
3.1 Fee schedule 2003
3.2 Determination of minimum registry size
4. Payment
4.1 General
4.2 Billing procedure
4.3 Payment possibilities
5. Related RIPE Documents:
* RIPE NCC General Terms and Conditions
* RIPE NCC Clearing House Procedure
1. Introduction
This document outlines the billing and payment procedure for members
of the RIPE NCC and contains additional related information about the
RIPE NCC. This document should be read in conjunction with the "RIPE
NCC General Terms and Conditions" and the "RIPE NCC Clearing House
Procedure".
A RIPE NCC member is defined as a Local Internet Registry (LIR) that
receives services from the RIPE NCC and is yearly invoiced a service
fee. The services of the RIPE NCC contain the distribution of Internet
resources in the RIPE NCC service region. More information about
setting up an LIR can be read in the RIPE Document "Procedure for
Becoming a Member of the RIPE NCC".
Finance-related questions and/or requests for more information should
be addressed to the RIPE NCC Finance Department by sending an e-mail
to <billing@ripe.net>. Please see section 2, "General Information", of
this document for more details.
2. General Information
2.1 Contact details
Postal Address:
RIPE NCC
P.O. Box 10096
1001 EB Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Office Location:
RIPE NCC
Singel 258
1016 AB Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Email: billing@ripe.net
Phone: +31 20 535 4444
Fax: +31 20 535 4447
2.2 Bank details
Account Number: NL37ABNA0618139087
Account Holder: RIPE NCC
Bank: ABN-AMRO Bank
Bank address: Dam 2
PO Box 3935
1001 AS, Amsterdam
The Netherlands
SWIFT Code: ABNANL2A
2.3 Tax information
The RIPE NCC is an association and subject to the Dutch Tax Law. The
RIPE NCC is subject to Value Added Tax (VAT) in the Netherlands and,
due to an agreement with the Dutch Tax Authority, is not subject to
Corporate Income Tax (CIT). More information about this agreement can
be found in the "RIPE NCC Clearing House Procedure".
The RIPE NCC Dutch VAT number is NL806268220 B01. The following VAT
rules apply to our members:
* Non EU members --> no VAT
*EU members with a VAT number --> No VAT * (VAT is taxable in the
country of origin of the member)
EU members without VAT number --> VAT (VAT is taxable in the
Netherlands) NL
* members --> VAT (VAT taxable in the Netherlands)
A certificate concerning the RIPE NCC VAT capacity ("Certificate
Concerning the Capacity of the Taxpayer") can be obtained by
contacting <billing@ripe.net>.
Please note that the RIPE NCC does not interfere with the local tax
regulations of the member's country of origin.
3. Fee Schedule 2003
3.1 Fee schedule 2003
To begin receiving services from the RIPE NCC, the LIRs are invoiced a
membership fee for the year at issue. When becoming a member, a
one-time sign-up fee is included in the first invoice. Yearly, each
LIR is assigned a category (i.e. SMALL, MEDIUM or LARGE). The yearly
service fee is based on this category. New members are automatically
assigned category SMALL, unless requested differently. The category is
determined by the age and number of allocations received by the LIR
from the RIPE NCC. The RIPE NCC has defined a charging model algorithm
to determine the category. (See section 3.2, "Determination of minimum
registry size".)
In addition to the categories SMALL, MEDIUM and LARGE, there is
another billing category called ENTERPRISE. This category applies to
LIRs that only assign addresses to their own organisations' networks
and not to customers. The yearly fees are determined by the membership
at the annual General Meeting (GM) of the RIPE NCC.
The 2003 fee schedule is as follows:
LIR billing category Fee
SMALL EUR 2,750 / year
MEDIUM EUR 3,750 / year
LARGE EUR 5,400 / year
ENTERPRISE EUR 2,750 / year
LIR sign-up fee: EUR 2,500
Registries established during the course of the year are charged as
follows:
Fee
LIR category
established
during: SMALL MEDIUM LARGE
1st quarter sign-up fee + full yearly fee: EUR 5,250 EUR 6,250 EUR 7,900
2nd quarter sign-up fee + 3/4 yearly fee: EUR 4,565 EUR 5,325 EUR 6,550
3rd quarter sign-up fee + 1/2 yearly fee: EUR 3,875 EUR 4,375 EUR 5,200
4th quarter sign-up fee + 1/4 yearly fee: EUR 3,200 EUR 3,450 EUR 3,850
3.2 Determination of minimum registry size
To determine a registry's size, a measure N(reg) is defined that
produces a value in the range {0,1,2,...,100}. N(reg) is a
simplification of the charging measure discussed in Appendix C of
ripe-143 and is described briefly below.
Let k(reg,i) be the number of addresses allocated to the
registry "reg" in year i.
Let w(i) = i - 1992.
Define use(reg) = sum(i in 1993 to 1999) k(reg,i) * w(i).
Let MAX = max{use(reg)} be the maximum use measured for
all registries.
The normalised usage for a registry "reg" is then defined
as:
N(reg) = (use(reg) * 1000) / MAX
Based on this measure rounded to the nearest integer, three distinct
groups of registries could be clearly identified. Those with:
N(reg) <= 10 (SMALL)
11 <= N(reg) <= 102 (MEDIUM)
102 < N(reg) (LARGE)
4. Payment
4.1 General
Invoices are sent annually at the beginning of November prior to the
year at issue via postal mail to the billing address as stated in the
registry file. A copy of the invoice is sent by e-mail to the LIR
billing contact. Payment is due 30 days after date of invoice.
By prior arrangement (i.e. before sending the invoice for the year at
issue) it is possible to be billed half-yearly or quarterly. In this
case an extra EUR 50 service charge applies to each invoice. Note that
during the year at issue it is not possible to change the billing
scheme from yearly to half-yearly or quarterly. However, changing the
billing scheme during the year at issue from quarterly or half-yearly
to yearly is possible.
To make sure the invoices and reminders arrive at the finance
department of the registry, it is important to keep the registry file
up-to-date. It is the responsibility of the registry to inform the
RIPE NCC Finance Department of any changes to the billing address or
billing contact. The registry will be held liable for late payment as
a result of incorrect billing details. A copy of the registry file can
be asked for by contacting <billing@ripe.net>.
4.2 Billing procedure
As stated, invoices are sent annually at the beginning of November
prior to the year at issue via postal mail to the billing address as
stated in the registry file. A copy of the invoice is sent by e-mail
to the LIR billing contact. Payment is due 30 days after
date of invoice.
First reminder - phase1
The first reminder is sent via postal mail and e-mail 30 days after
date of invoice. Both the LIR billing contact and the LIR technical
contact receive the reminder by e-mail. By sending the first reminder,
the registry enters phase 1. This has no direct consequence on the
service level of the registry. However, the fact that the payment has
not been received is noted in the registry file.
Second reminder - phase 2
If the RIPE NCC does not receive payment within 60 days of the date of
invoice, a second reminder is sent to the registry. Interest on the
outstanding invoice is added at the current rate of interest and a
late payment charge of 100 EUR is included in this reminder. When the
second reminder is sent the registry enters phase 2. At this time the
RIPE NCC will not approve any address space requests, including
allocations, until the registry has contacted the RIPE NCC Billing
Department.
Third reminder - phase 3
When payment has not reached the RIPE NCC within 90 days of the date
of invoice, a third reminder is sent to the registry. When a third
reminder is sent, the registry enters phase 3. Interest on the
outstanding invoice is added at the current rate of interest and the
service level of the registry is at this point set to NONE, which
means the registry is no longer able to receive the services of RIPE
NCC. When the LIR makes address space requests while in phase 3 the
Hostmaster robot bounces the requests and prompts the registry to
contact the RIPE NCC Billing Department. Another consequence for the
registry in phase 3 is that the DNS delegations corresponding to the
allocations the registry has received from the in-addr.arpa subtree
are temporarily removed.
Pending closure - phase 4
When the RIPE NCC does not receive any response to the reminders from
the registry and the registry fails to make the payment within 120
days, the RIPE NCC starts the process of closing the registry. The
registry then enters phase 4. At this time the DNS delegations are
permanently removed.
The registry is permanently closed after 210 days (i.e. 7 months)
after the invoice date. The RIPE NCC then reclaims any unassigned
address space. The RIPE NCC contacts the registry to have any assigned
address space returned. If the registry cannot be contacted the RIPE
NCC will contact the upstream providers and will ask them to stop
routing the address blocks allocated to the registry.
Registries being in the process of a pending closure or registries
that have been permanently closed must pay the outstanding amounts
(invoices, billing charges and interest) as well as a new sign-up fee
in order to re-open the registry.
Short overview of phases:
Entering Phase 1 (30 days after invoice): first reminder received, no
direct consequences.
Entering Phase 2 (60 days after invoice): second reminder received,
100 EUR late payment charge.
Entering Phase 3 (90 days after invoice): thir reminder received,
service level lowered to NONE, DNS delegations temporarily removed.
Entering Phase 4 (120 days after invoice): DNS delegations permanently
removed, pending closure.
Payment time frame
<-----------|--------------|------------------|--------------|------------|--->
Invoice 30 days 60 days 90 days 120 days 210 days
First Reminder Second Reminder Third Reminder
Entering Entering Entering Entering *Closed
PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 PHASE 4
*no direct *100 EUR *service level *DNS delegations
consequence late payment lowered to permanently
charge none removed
*DNS delegations *Pending
temporarily Closure
removed
4.3 Payment possibilities
Payment may be done by bank transfer or by credit card. The currency
used is EUR. Payment by credit card can be made via secure payment
transaction at:
https://www.ripe.net/cgi-bin/regpayment.pl
or by sending the credit card details by fax to the RIPE NCC Finance
Department. Please note that when paying by credit card, the credit
card company's commission is charged as well. In section 2, "General
Information", one can find the bank details and fax number. Always
mention the payment reference (i.e. customer number and invoice
number) when making a bank transfer or sending a credit card charging
request. Note that it is preferred mentioning the registry ID with the
payment reference as well.
Please contact <billing@ripe.net>when a confirmation of payment
reception is required.
5. Related RIPE Documents
* RIPE NCC General Terms and Conditions
* RIPE NCC Clearing House Procedure
* RIPE NCC Activities, Expenditures, and Charging Scheme 2003
* RIPE NCC Financial Report 2000
* RIPE NCC Financial Report 1999
* RIPE NCC Financial Report 1998