<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">Dear Ronald,</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">Thank you for your question. We have an internal code of conduct that applies to all staff and has a section on conflicts of interest. This covers these kinds of situations.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">Violating the code of conduct could result in an employee being dismissed - this would obviously depend on the details of the case. Certainly, anything involving the transfer market and especially the use of inside or confidential information would be taken seriously.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">Regarding whether there is a RIPE policy that covers this, it would be out of scope for community policy to determine internal staffing matters at the RIPE NCC.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">Regards,</span><div class=""><font color="#000000" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class=""><br class=""></span></font><div class=""><font color="#000000" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">Felipe Victolla Silveira</span></font></div><div class=""><font color="#000000" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">Chief Operations Officer</span></font></div><div class=""><font color="#000000" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">RIPE NCC<br class=""></span></font><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 19 Aug 2019, at 01:07, Ronald F. Guilmette <<a href="mailto:rfg@tristatelogic.com" class="">rfg@tristatelogic.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="">Please forgive me if this question is deemed inappropriate for this<br class="">specific mailing list and working group. This seems to be the most<br class="">appropriate WG for my question.<br class=""><br class="">I hope also that no one will take any offense nor any unstated<br class="">implication from my question. I intend to put this question also<br class="">to the communities of each and every one of the five global<br class="">Regional Internet Registries. Nothing should be inferred from<br class="">the fact that I am starting this process in the RIPE region.<br class=""><br class="">My question is a simple one: Are policies in place, within the RIPE<br class="">region, which prohibit RIPE NCC staff members from participating in<br class="">the current open market for IP addresses?<br class=""><br class="">I do believe that everyone on this mailing list must be well and truly<br class="">aware of that fact that the buying, selling, and trading of IPv4 addresses<br class="">is nowadays a lucrative and growing business. It should also be altogether<br class="">clear and apparent that RIPE NCC staff could, if permitted to do so,<br class="">leverage their significant and special ``insider'' knowledge to gain<br class="">some advantage in this market, relative to other market participants.<br class="">Thus, I wish to know simply if such participation is or is not currently<br class="">prohibited or allowed by current applicable staff policy.<br class=""><br class="">To reiterate, nothing at all should be inferred from my question. I am<br class="">most assuredly not making any allegations nor even any vague implications<br class="">by my question. This general question came up in an unrelated context,<br class="">and now I just want to know whether or not each of the five regions have<br class="">policies in place with respect to staff participation in the burgeoning<br class="">IP address market.<br class=""><br class=""><br class="">Regards,<br class="">rfg<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></body></html>