Dear Colleagues Please find below the NRO announcement on the 4th draft Service Level Agreement for the IANA Numbering Services. The announcement is available at: https://www.nro.net/news/updated-4th-draft-sla-for-the-iana-numbering-servic... Athina Fragkouli Head of Legal RIPE NCC ----------- UPDATED FOURTH DRAFT SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT FOR THE IANA NUMBERING SERVICES (SLAv4) AND CALL TO ICANN TO MOVE FORWARD WITH SIGNING THE SLA 25 February 2016 Background On 15 January 2015, the Consolidated RIR IANA Stewardship Proposal (CRISP) Team submitted the Internet Number Community Proposal to the request for proposals issued by the IANA Stewardship Coordination Group (ICG). One of the key elements of the Internet Number Community proposal is to replace the current NTIA IANA agreement with a new contract, a Service Level Agreement (SLA), between the IANA Numbering Services Operator and the five RIRs. A first draft of the SLA was published on 1 May 2015 and opened for public comments until 14 June 2015. The first draft of the SLA is available at: https://www.nro.net/sla-v1 A second draft of the SLA was published on 6 August 2015 and opened for public comments until 31 August 2015. The second draft of the SLA is available at: https://www.nro.net/sla-v2 A third draft of the SLA was published on 30 October 2015 and invited ICANN legal staff to provide comments by November 30th 2015. The third draft of the SLA is available at https://www.nro.net/sla-v3 Fourth Draft SLA As a result of ICANN comments on the third draft of the SLA and a clarification call on Tuesday January 26th (https://www.nro.net/pipermail/ianaxfer/2016-February/000725.html) a fourth draft of the SLA has been produced and available at https://www.nro.net/sla For the sake of clarity, you can find a track changes version of SLAv4 against the third draft at: https://www.nro.net/sla-track-changes Additionally, a document with the comments on SLAv3 and the legal team responses is available at: https://www.nro.net/slav3-comments In accordance with the transparency commitment with the community, we share the exchange of a clear track of comments between ICANN and RIR staff working towards a final SLA document. About the Fourth Draft SLA The fourth draft of the SLA has been developed by a team consisting of individuals from different RIRs. It responds to the principles included in the Internet Number Community proposal and is based on the already existing provisions of the NTIA IANA agreement. The content of SLAv4 is the result of consideration of public comments received during the public comment period on the second draft SLA as well as informational meetings with ICANN staff regarding the operational provisions of the SLA and ICANN’s written comments regarding the third draft SLA. It remains written in such a way that it can be signed as part of the implementation of the IANA transition when this occurs or before, without pre-judging the outcome of the ICG coordinated proposal. The SLA includes legally important provisions, such as those that regulate the five RIRs acting together and being responsible collectively in its dealings with ICANN under the SLA. It includes background and definitions. The SLA also includes explanatory footnotes that reference the source of each article according to the Internet Number Community proposal principles or the NTIA IANA agreement. Next Steps The RIRs thank the community and ICANN staff for its thoughtful comments and now publish this SLAv4 in the interest of transparency and keeping the community apprised of progress being made on the SLA. We trust that all comments and concerns have been addressed and that the current draft, SLAv4, represents a mutually acceptable SLA that is consistent with the principles found within the Internet Number Community proposal. We invite ICANN staff to take the appropriate steps so that we can move forward with signing of this SLA as soon as possible, preferably during the ICANN 55 Meeting in Marrakech Morocco.