AFRINIC’s transfer policy: the door only opens inwards
On 4 February 2026 AFRINIC’s Board ratified a transfer policy under which the addresses AFRINIC has issued cannot be transferred to another region. AFRINIC’s own assessment said what the rule is for: AFRINIC “will not lose its current resource members to other RIRs in outgoing transfers”. A registry that cannot lose its members has no reason to serve them.
What the policy says
The policy lets addresses in and keeps them from leaving.
In AFRINIC’s own summary, “AFRINIC-issued IPv4 cannot be transferred out of the region”: only legacy resources and resources that were transferred in from other regions may leave. A network that received its addresses from AFRINIC can sell its business, move its customers or change its mind about its registry, and its addresses stay where AFRINIC is.
Lu Heng’s Note 71
What does a policy manual confess about what an institution thinks it is?
Why AFRINIC wanted it
AFRINIC said why itself.
Its assessment of the proposal put the consequence plainly: “AFRINIC will not lose its current resource members to other RIRs in outgoing transfers.” Its legal assessment called the choice “purely and simply a business decision”. That is a registry counting its members as stock it does not intend to lose.
Lu Heng’s Note 41
On Power, Legitimacy, and the AFRINIC Lock-In — When Control Targets Your Assets
Where does power actually come from, if not from the vote?
A “governance mandate” no law gives
AFRINIC presents the policy as strengthening its “governance mandate”.
No law gives a private registry that mandate. A registry exists to keep an accurate record of who holds which addresses: recording a transfer is its job, and forbidding one is not. The addresses belong to the networks that run on them.
Lu Heng’s Note 19
Why RIRs Do Not Have Authority — and Why “Community Sovereignty” Breaks the System
What is the difference between authority and cooperation, and which one do registries have?
Why the exit matters
The freedom to leave is what keeps a registry honest.
A network that can take its addresses elsewhere has a registry that must earn its fees; a network that cannot has a landlord. In Lu Heng’s Bill of Rights: “Without portability, coordination becomes lock-in. Without exit, service becomes power.” We ask for every member what the customer of any service has: the right to change provider and keep what is theirs.
Lu Heng’s Note 72
The Bill of Rights of Uniqueness Coordination
Which rights keep networks running, records accurate, and exit real?