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                                      RIPE NCC

                            General Terms and Conditions






                                 Document: ripe-173


                Except where otherwise agreed in writing, these Gen-
                eral Terms and Conditions shall apply to all agree-
                ments and understandings between RIPE NCC and pri-
                vate individuals or legal entities that make use of
                the services offered by RIPE NCC.


    Article 1 - Definitions

                In these General Terms and Conditions, the following
                terms shall be understood to have the meanings
                assigned to them below:

                Contributor

                     a  private person or legal entity that has
                     entered into a Service Agreement with RIPE NCC,
                     and has paid the sign-up fee, service fee
                     and/or charges

                RIPE NCC

                     Reseaux IP Europeens Network Coordination Cen-
                     tre, an association organised and existing
                     under the laws of the Netherlands, and having
                     its registered office in Amsterdam, the Nether-
                     lands;

                RIPE NCC services

                     the services as specified in the Service Agree-
                     ment;

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                Service Agreement

                     an agreement entered into between RIPE NCC and
                     a Contributor, pursuant to which RIPE NCC
                     places itself under an obligation to provide
                     the RIPE NCC services and the Contributor takes
                     on the commitment to pay for those services;

                Telecommunications Infrastructure

                     the infrastructure which facilitates the car-
                     riage of signals between defined network termi-
                     nation points via cable connections, microwave
                     systems, optical or other electro-magnetic
                     means.

                Internet Identifiers

                     Any Internet numbers distributed via Regional
                     Internet Registries. Currently these are IPv4
                     address space and Autonomous System Numbers.


    Article 2 - General

                2.1   A Service Agreement or other agreement between
                RIPE NCC and a Contributor shall come into effect by
                means of an offer and an acceptance.

                2.2   In the event that the prospective Contributor
                has communicated that it intends to accept the Ser-
                vice Agreement, it shall ensure that at least two
                hard copies of the Service Agreement, signed by a
                duly authorised representative, are sent to RIPE NCC
                within a period of one month of the communication to
                RIPE NCC. Upon receipt of said hard copies, RIPE NCC
                shall sign said hard copies and return one hard copy
                of the Service Agreement to the Contributor.

                2.3   RIPE NCC reserves the right to amend and/or
                supplement these General Terms and Conditions. RIPE
                NCC shall notify the Contributor at least one month
                prior to any such amendment or supplement coming
                into effect.


    Article 3 - Rights and Obligations

                3.1   RIPE NCC shall do everything within its power
                to supply the service(s) in accordance with the Ser-
                vice Agreement or any ensuing agreement.


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                3.2   The fees and additional costs due for the ser-
                vices shall be invoiced to the Contributor in accor-
                dance with the provisions contained in the Service
                Agreement.


    Article 4 - Payment

                4.1   The Contributor shall owe RIPE NCC a service
                fee and a sign-up fee. The sign-up fee shall be due
                only when the Contributor concludes its first Ser-
                vice Agreement with RIPE NCC.  In the case of addi-
                tional services, the Contributor shall owe RIPE NCC
                a fee which shall be in accordance with the RIPE NCC
                rates in force at that time.

                4.2   The Contributor's obligation to perform its
                payment commitments shall commence on the day on
                which the Service Agreement is concluded.

                4.3   Payment shall be made by the Contributor to
                RIPE NCC within 30 days of the invoice date, failing
                which the Contributor shall be in default with no
                notice of default being required.

                4.4   With effect from the day on which the Contrib-
                utor defaults on its payment obligations, the Con-
                tributor shall owe RIPE NCC the statutory rate of
                interest on the amounts unpaid and reimburse RIPE
                NCC for the extra-judicial collection costs, without
                prejudice to any other of RIPE NCC's rights which it
                may invoke against the Contributor in connection
                with the latter's failure to effect (timely) pay-
                ment.

                4.5   The Contributor may not postpone its payment
                obligations or offset any of its own claims against
                RIPE NCC.


    Article 5 - Clearing House

                5.1   If RIPE NCC achieves a positive operating
                result in any given financial year, the Contributors
                shall be accorded a discount on their service fee
                for the year in question, which shall be proportion-
                ate to the amount of their individual service fee.

                5.2   The aforementioned discount on the service fee
                shall be booked to a current account which RIPE NCC
                shall open and maintain for each of its Contribu-
                tors. Whilst the Service Agreement continues to
                exist, the Contributors shall not be entitled to
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                receive payment of any positive balance which these
                accounts may contain. The Contributor will also not
                earn any interest on any positive balance that these
                accounts may contain.

                5.3   In so far as RIPE NCC achieves a negative
                operating result in any given year, once the finan-
                cial year has ended and the annual figures have been
                adopted, this shall be charged on a proportional
                basis against the current accounts of the Contribu-
                tors. The Contributors shall not be obliged to make
                up any negative balance in their current accounts
                with RIPE NCC.

                5.4   The aggregate balance in the current accounts
                of the Contributors may equal a maximum of three
                times the total amount of services fees to which
                RIPE NCC is entitled in the relevant financial year.
                If and when the aforesaid maximum is reached, the
                excess amount shall be paid to the Contributors in
                proportion to the the level of their current
                account.

                5.5 If a Service Agreement with a Contributor comes
                to an end, any positive balance in favour of the
                Contributor shall be paid to the Contributor within
                6 months of the annual accounts for the relevant
                year having been adopted. Any claim on the part of
                an ex-Contributor relating to its current account
                relationship with RIPE NCC shall be subordinated to
                the claims of RIPE NCC's other creditors.


    Article 6 - Liability

                6.1   The Contributor shall be liable for all
                aspects of its use of the service(s) offered by RIPE
                NCC. The Contributor shall also be liable for all
                aspects of its use and all that ensues from its use
                of the Internet identifiers.

                6.2   RIPE NCC shall accept no liability for any
                direct or indirect damages, including damages to the
                Contributor's business, loss of profit, damages to
                third parties, personal injury or damages to prop-
                erty, except in cases involving an intentional act
                or omission or gross negligence on the part of RIPE
                NCC.

                6.3   RIPE NCC shall, in any event, not be liable
                for damages caused by a failure to make an Internet
                identifier number available (on time), or for dam-
                ages in any way connected with the use of an
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                Internet identifier.

                6.4   The Contributor shall indemnify RIPE NCC
                against any and all third-party claims filed against
                RIPE NCC in relation to the Contributors use of the
                RIPE NCC service(s).

                6.5   The RIPE NCC without accepting any claim, only
                undertakes honour any claim up to a maximum amount
                equivalent to the Contributors annual contribution.


    Article 7 - Term and Termination

                7.1   The Service Agreement and any ensuing agree-
                ments shall have been concluded for the term speci-
                fied in the relevant agreement.

                7.2   Without prejudice to the provisions contained
                in the Service Agreement or any ensuing agreement,
                RIPE NCC shall be entitled to terminate said Agree-
                ment or ensuing agreement with immediate effect,
                without being liable to pay damages to the Contribu-
                tor and without prejudice to RIPE NCC's right to
                claim (additional) damages from the Contributor:

                *    if an application has been or is filed for the
                     Contributor's bankruptcy or for a suspension of
                     payments (moratorium);

                *    if the Contributor goes into liquidation or
                     becomes insolvent;

                *    if the Contributor in any way acts or neglects
                     to act such as to cause damage to the name,
                     trade marks or intellectual property rights of
                     RIPE NCC;

                *    if the Contributor fails to observe any rule of
                     applicable law which should be adhered to by
                     the Contributor and which, in the opinion of
                     RIPE NCC, is of such a nature as to justify
                     immediate termination;

                *    if the Contributor is in default of payment as
                     outlined in Article 4.3., and in additional
                     fails to pay such fees and/or costs within 14
                     days after the date of default; or

                *    on the day on which the Contributor's member-
                     ship of the RIPE NCC association terminates.


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                7.3   Upon termination of the Service Agreement, the
                Contributor shall return at first request any unas-
                signed (unassigned as in accordance with the Euro-
                pean Internet Registry Policies and Procedures docu-
                ment) Internet identifiers to RIPE NCC.


    Article 8 - Force Majeure

                8.1   If, as a result of a shortage of Internet
                identifiers,RIPE NCC is unable to deliver these num-
                bers to the Contributor (on time), this failure may
                not be held against RIPE NCC if the shortage is the
                result of the late - or total absence of - delivery
                of these Internet identifiers by a third party.

                8.2   RIPE NCC shall, in so far as not already cov-
                ered by the term, not be responsible for defects,
                delays or shortage in case of force majeure where,
                force majeure shall also be understood to include:
                industrial action, strikes, occupations and sit-ins,
                blockades, embargoes, governmental measures, war,
                revolutions or comparable situations, power fail-
                ures, defects in electronic lines of communication,
                fire, explosions, damage caused by water, floods and
                earthquakes.

                8.3   RIPE NCC shall be neither responsible nor
                liable for the correct or incorrect operation of the
                (external) Telecommunications Infrastructure and
                related peripheral equipment along and over which
                the RIPE NCC service(s) must necessarily be carried.


    Article 9 - Governing Law and Competent Court

                9.1   All agreements between RIPE NCC and the Con-
                tributor shall be governed by the laws of the
                Netherlands.

                9.2   Any disputes which may arise from the Service
                Agreement or any ensuing agreement shall be settled
                in accordance with the arbitration procedure as
                adopted by the Executive Board after consultation
                with the members.


    Article 10 - Miscellaneous

                10.1  Without RIPE NCC's prior written consent, the
                Contributor shall not be permitted to assign to
                third parties any rights and obligations arising
                from these General Terms and Conditions, the Service
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                Agreement or any ensuing agreements.

                10.2  If any provision contained in these General
                Terms and Conditions is held to be invalid by a
                court of law, this shall not in any way affect the
                validity of the remaining provisions.















































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