MANRS Community Charter

1. Definitions

1.1 Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (hereafter referred to as ‘MANRS’) was founded by the Internet Society and is now an activity of the Global Cyber Alliance aimed to improve the resilience and security of the BGP-based global routing system through the adoption of industry recognized best practices.

1.2 The MANRS Participants are organizations that have met and continue to meet the participation requirements and have been audited and approved by the MANRS Secretariat. The categories of MANRS Participants and the participation requirements are defined by the MANRS Programs and associated MANRS documents, called Actions. The MANRS Participants are organizations that participate in the Internet global inter-domain routing system, such as network operators, Internet eXchange Points (IXPs), Content Delivery Networks (CDN) or Cloud providers, or organizations that contribute to the security of the Internet global inter-domain routing system by other means, such as network equipment vendors. MANRS Participant representatives are individuals who act on behalf of a MANRS participant organization. 

1.3 The MANRS Community is composed of the (representatives of) MANRS Participants, organizations, and individuals supporting MANRS, its mission, and objectives. The latter group can be technologists, researchers, members of civil society, and policymakers. Participation in the MANRS community is completely open; people can participate by subscribing to the MANRS community mailing list. Participation in the MANRS community takes various forms, from a mailing list discussion to virtual or hybrid events. People participate in the MANRS community activities in their personal capacity.

1.4 The MANRS Steering Committee is a group that represents the MANRS Participants and is composed of individuals elected by the MANRS Participants and has responsibilities outlined in section 3.

1.5 The MANRS Secretariat is the administrative personnel supporting the MANRS activities, and has responsibilities outlined in section 6. The Global Cyber Alliance currently provides the MANRS Secretariat.

1.6 The MANRS Partners and Sponsors are those organizations that provide substantial support to MANRS through funding, training, promotion and/or in other beneficial ways.

1.7 The Global Cyber Alliance is a US 501(c)3 tax-exempt charitable organization incorporated in the United States and a nonprofit in the U.K. and Belgium, with primary legal headquarters at 31 Tech Valley Drive, East Greenbush, NY 12061, United States.

1.8 The Internet Society is a US 501(c)3 tax-exempt charitable organization incorporated in the District of Columbia and headquartered at 11710 Plaza America Drive, Suite 400, Reston, VA 20190, United States. 

1.9 The MANRS Actions are MANRS normative documents that define the requirements and the minimum conformance criteria for MANRS Participants, based on the routing security best practices identified by the MANRS Community.

1.10 The MANRS Development Process (MDP) is a consensus-based process by which MANRS documents are created and revised.

2. MANRS Participants

2.1 The MANRS Participants shall have the following responsibilities:

2.1.1 Commit to MANRS by implementing relevant MANRS Actions and by maintaining continuous conformance to these Actions.

2.1.2 Support and promote the mission of MANRS and its objectives.

2.1.3 Elect members of the MANRS Steering Committee, subject to Article 5.4;

2.1.4 Recall members of the MANRS Steering Committee, subject to Article 4.6;

2.1.5 Approve changes to the Charter, subject to Article 7.2;

2.1.6 Approve MANRS Actions and other normative documents, as defined in the MDP;

2.2 An organization does not need to be incorporated to be a MANRS Participant, but any other organization over which it exercises significant control must have a distinct legal personality to be considered a separate MANRS Participant.

2.3 Each MANRS Participant shall nominate at least one individual as primary representative and may also nominate secondary representatives.

2.4 The MANRS Participants shall have a mailing list ([email protected]) to facilitate communication amongst all MANRS Participants that shall be provided and maintained by the MANRS Secretariat. It is composed of primary representatives of each Participant.

2.5 The MANRS Participants shall hold at least one Annual Meeting, open to the whole MANRS Community, – normally in the fourth quarter of each year – that shall be held online to facilitate participation. Additional meetings may be organized at the request of the MANRS Steering Committee or upon request of at least 5% of the total number of MANRS Participants, which may be face-to-face or online.

2.6 The organization of meetings shall be the responsibility of the MANRS Secretariat. Invitations will be sent at least 14 days before the date of a meeting.

3. MANRS Community

3.1 Members of the MANRS Community engage in the following activities:

3.1.1 Propose and actively participate in community activities.

3.1.2 Participate in the development of MANRS standards via the MANRS Development Process.

4. MANRS Steering Committee

4.1 The MANRS Steering Committee shall have the following roles and responsibilities:

4.1.1 Is responsible for the proposal, development, approval, and technical quality of the MANRS Programs and Activities.

4.1.2 Has assigned duties in the MANRS Development Process (MDP).

4.1.3 Is consulted by the Secretariat on matters of general strategy of MANRS, its business development, such as significant development of the MANRS Observatory, the MANRS website, significant changes of the scope or operations of the Secretariat, or significant changes of terms and conditions of participation in MANRS.

4.1.4 Is informed by the Secretariat on all relevant organizational and technical aspects of MANRS.

4.1.5 Serves as an appeal body in respect of Secretariat decisions on the outcome of the audit process and suspension and termination of organizations from MANRS participation that fail to meet the minimum conformance criteria.

4.1.6. May communicate on behalf of MANRS about issues of relevance or concern to the MANRS Community.

4.1.7. May develop and agree on procedures for specific cases that, once ratified, will be publicly available. 

4.2 The Steering Committee shall be composed of up to eleven members, nine of whom shall be elected by the MANRS Participants.  The founding organization (the Internet Society) may appoint one member, at its discretion, annually.  The Secretariat appoints one member, ex officio. All members are voting members. 

4.3 Each elected member shall serve in an individual capacity for a term of three years (subject to Article 4.4), with their terms being staggered so that every year the terms of one-third of these members expire. A general election shall be held in October each year and terms of office shall commence starting on 1 January of the following year and ending three years later on 31 December. A person may only serve on the Steering Committee in any capacity for a maximum of three consecutive terms.

4.4 In the event that an elected member resigns, is recalled, or is no longer capable of performing their duties, an interim appointment may be made by the Steering Committee until the seat is filled at the next general election.  

4.5 An elected member who misses three or more consecutive Steering Committee meetings may be recalled by the decision of the Steering Committee. A member who meets these conditions may be removed if three-fifths of members excluding the member under the consideration. This decision will be announced to the MANRS Participants.

4.6 An elected member may be recalled if at least 5% of the total number of MANRS Participants request it. A recall vote is held during a general election. The member is recalled by a simple majority. 

4.7 The Steering Committee shall appoint a Chair and Deputy Chair from amongst their numbers following each general election, who shall serve until the next general election the following year. A person may serve any number of terms as Chair or Deputy Chair whilst they remain a member of the Steering Committee.

4.8 In the temporary absence of the Chair, the Deputy Chair shall assume the position. If both Chair and Deputy Chair are temporarily absent or yet to be appointed, another member of the Steering Committee may assume the position. The order of precedence is determined by whoever has served the longest continuous period, and in the event of two or more members having served the same amount of time, the member elected first will take precedence.

4.9 If either the Chair or Deputy Chair resigns from the position, are no longer capable of performing their duties, or are recalled as a member of the Steering Committee, the remaining members shall appoint a replacement who shall serve until the next general election.

4.10 The Steering Committee shall meet at least once per quarter, which shall be conducted online to facilitate participation. Additional meetings may be organised, which may be face-to-face or online.

4.11 The organization of meetings shall be the responsibility of the MANRS Secretariat, who shall circulate the agenda at least 72 hours before the meeting.

4.12 Meetings shall only be open to Steering Committee members and representatives of the MANRS Secretariat, although the Steering Committee may invite other persons to participate in parts of its meetings as guests.

4.13 Minutes of meetings shall only be available to Steering Committee members and the MANRS Secretariat as confidential and sensitive issues relating to organizations and individuals may be discussed, but a summary of the discussions and decisions taken shall be circulated to the MANRS Participants.

4.14 Decision making shall normally be through consensus, although failing this each Steering Committee member has one vote. A member may authorize another member to cast a proxy vote on their behalf, but this must be notified in advance of the meeting, and no member may vote on behalf of more than one other member.

4.15 A poll may be requested by any Steering Committee member, either at a meeting or via electronic poll. Decisions shall be made by simple majority, with the Chair having a casting vote in the event of a tie. The quorum required for valid decisions shall be five votes (not including any casting vote).

4.16 The Steering Committee will have a mailing list ([email protected]) to facilitate communication amongst Steering Committee members and with the MANRS Secretariat, that shall be provided and maintained by the MANRS Secretariat.

5. Steering Committee Elections

5.1 The organization of elections shall be the responsibility of the MANRS Secretariat, who shall notify the MANRS Participants of vacant positions and call for nominations at least 31 days prior to the date of an election. A designated Election Chair shall be appointed to support impartial oversight of the process.

5.2 Prospective candidates may either self-nominate or be nominated by any MANRS Participant up until 3 days before the scheduled date of the election.

5.3 If the number of nominated candidates does not exceed the number of vacant positions, they shall be declared elected unopposed. If there are more nominated candidates than vacant positions, a secret ballot shall be held using a secure online voting method. The ballot shall remain open for a period of 72 hours.

5.4 Each MANRS Participant, provided their MANRS participation has not been suspended, may cast one vote per vacant position (i.e. if there are three vacant positions they may cast a total of three votes). They may not cast more than one vote per candidate.

5.5 When a ballot is held, the candidates receiving the highest number of votes in accordance with the number of vacant positions shall be declared elected. If there is a tie for one or more vacant positions, a further run-off election will be held between those candidates only.

5.6 The MANRS Secretariat will appoint a third-party voting system that will be tested in advance to ensure technical readiness. The ballot will remain open for a defined period, during which eligible participants may vote.

5.7 The election of candidates is subject to the confirmation of the Global Cyber Alliance. In the event that a vacant position cannot be filled for whatever reason, the Global Cyber Alliance may make an appointment for all or part of the term of office.

5.8. The results will be reviewed by the Elections Chair for validity. Once verified, the election results will be announced to the MANRS Community.

6. MANRS Secretariat

6.1 The daily operations of MANRS shall be performed by the MANRS Secretariat, including the auditing processes.

6.2. The MANRS Secretariat shall have the following responsibilities:

6.2.1 Support and execute the MDP

6.2.2. Provide for secretarial support for MANRS activities (e.g. mailing list, webspace)

6.2.3. Perform audit of the MANRS Participants, approval for joining MANRS as well as suspension or termination of participation of MANRS Participants that fail to meet the minimum conformance criteria, following a publicly available procedure approved by the Steering Committee.

6.2.4. Define and execute business development of the initiative

6.2.5. Support sustainable operations

7. Implementation and Amendment of Charter

7.1 This Charter shall be effective from 24 April 2025.

7.2 This Charter may be amended using the MANRS Development Process, with voting during the MANRS Last Call, where no less than two thirds of the votes cast are in favor of the amendment.

7.3 Amendments to this Charter are subject to the confirmation of the Global Cyber Alliance before taking effect.

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Version 1.8, 7 September 2021