Dear colleagues, At the General Meeting on 2 November 2011, a member expressed concerns regarding the former Article 7.6/current Article 8.6 of the Standard Service Agreement, which states: "The Member shall indemnify the RIPE NCC against any and all third party claims filed against the RIPE NCC in relation to the Member's use of the RIPE NCC services." It was suggested that this provision gives unlimited liability by the membership to the RIPE NCC and, consequently, unlimited financial backing of the RIPE NCC by the members. It was said that the RIPE NCC should not ask all members to guarantee its liability in an unlimited way and it was suggested that the provision be amended as soon as possible. The RIPE NCC reviewed the provision and came to the following conclusion: This provision requests that the member must indemnify the RIPE NCC if: - A third party files claims against the RIPE NCC; and - These claims refer to this member's use of the RIPE NCC's services If the claim refers to a particular member's use of the RIPE NCC's services, then no other member has an obligation to indemnify the RIPE NCC. The aim of the provision is that an individual member should indemnify the RIPE NCC against a third party claim against that individual member. The indemnification does not carry beyond these parties (the RIPE NCC and the specified member). If a member infringes a third party's rights through the use of the RIPE NCC's services, then this member is liable for their own actions. If the RIPE NCC could not require such indemnification, then the RIPE NCC itself (i.e., the whole membership) could be obliged to compensate any third party for illegal activities of a certain member. Under legal advice, the RIPE NCC has decided to retain the clause in its current form. If a claim is filed against the RIPE NCC, the penalty or compensation can be passed on to the member specified in the claim, leaving other members unaffected. Regards, Axel Pawlik Managing Director RIPE NCC