Version 1.0
Scope
This document describes the operational rules of the 2025 RIPE NomCom. These rules are mostly taken directly from ripe-788. All text literally copied from ripe-788 is indicated like this in the remainder of this document.
Confidentiality
All deliberations and supporting information that relates to specific nominees, candidates, and confirmed candidates are confidential.
The nominating committee and confirming body members will be exposed to confidential information as a result of their deliberations, their interactions with those they consult, and from those who provide requested supporting information. All members and all other participants are expected to handle this information in a manner consistent with its sensitivity.
It is consistent with this rule for current nominating committee members who have served on prior nominating committees to advise the current committee on deliberations and results of the prior committee, as necessary and appropriate.
The list of nominees willing to be considered for positions under review in the current nominating committee cycle is not confidential. The nominating committee may disclose a list of names of nominees who are willing to be considered for positions under review to the community, in order to obtain feedback from the community on these nominees.
The list of nominees disclosed for a specific position should contain only the names of nominees who are willing to be considered for the position under review.
The nominating committee may choose not to include some names in the disclosed list, at their discretion.
The nominating committee may disclose an updated list, at its discretion. For example, the nominating committee might disclose an updated list if it identifies errors/omissions in a previously disclosed version of the disclosed list, or if the nominating committee finds it necessary to call for additional nominees, and these nominees indicate a willingness to be considered before the nominating committee has completed its deliberations.
Nominees may choose to ask people to provide feedback to the nominating committee but should not encourage any public statements of support. Nominating committees should consider nominee-encouraged lobbying and campaigning to be unacceptable behavior.
RIPE community members are encouraged to provide feedback on nominees to the nominating committee but should not post statements of support/non-support for nominees in any public forum.
Nominating Committee Operation
The following rules apply to the operation of the nominating committee. If necessary, a paragraph discussing the interpretation of each rule is included.
The rules are organized approximately in the order in which they would be invoked.
Discretion
All rules and special circumstances not otherwise specified are at the discretion of the committee.
Exceptional circumstances will occasionally arise during the normal operation of the nominating committee. This rule is intended to foster the continued forward progress of the committee.
Any member of the committee may propose a rule for adoption by the committee. The rule must be approved by the committee according to its established voting mechanism.
All members of the committee should consider whether the exception is worthy of mention in the next revision of this document and follow-up accordingly.
Milestones
The Chair must establish a set of nominating committee milestones for the candidate selection and confirmation process.
There is a defined time period during which the candidate selection and confirmation process must be completed. The Chair must establish a set of milestones that, if met in a timely fashion, will result in the completion of the process on time. The Chair should allow time for iterating the activities of the committee if one or more candidates are not confirmed.
The Chair should ensure that all committee members are aware of the milestones.
Discussion Rules
The chair will lead the discussions pragmatically. In case formality is needed it will be based on Roberts Rules of Order.
Voting Mechanism
The Chair must establish a voting mechanism.
The committee must be able to objectively determine when a decision has been made during its deliberations. The criteria for determining closure must be established and known to all members of the nominating committee.
In teleconferences and physical meetings the chair will call a vote and determine the outcome pragmatically, based on Roberts Rules of Order if necessary.
The chair may choose to use polling tools for votes as long as voting behavior is visible to the committee.
The chair may call a vote by e-mail setting a deadline for casting votes. Committee members will send their vote to the committee mailing list for all members to see. After the deadline the chair will tally the votes and announce the result. If any committee member challenges the result of such a vote it will be repeated in a teleconference or physical meeting.
There will be no secret votes. While all votes will be seen by the committee, voting behavior will be strictly confidential within the committee.
During the selection process the collaboration web site may be used to collect input from members of the committee.
Voting Quorum
At least a quorum of committee members must participate in a vote.
Only voting volunteers vote on a candidate selection. For a candidate selection vote, a quorum is comprised of at least seven of the voting volunteers.
At all other times, a quorum is present if at least 75% of the nominating committee members are participating.
Deliberations
All members of the nominating committee may participate in all deliberations.
The emphasis of this rule is that no member can be explicitly excluded from any deliberation. However, a member may individually choose not to participate in a deliberation.