Guide for Submitting a Complaint

1. How to submit a complaint

If you believe that the Code of Conduct has been breached, please report this to the LACNIC Ethics Committee by sending an email with the requested information to a member of the Committee or to all its members. If the form is enabled, you must complete it.

All reports will be treated with confidentiality. 

If you believe that someone is in physical danger, or if an incident requires immediate response, first notify the appropriate authorities, or contact one of the Trusted Leaders.

2. What should the complaint include?

You can send your complaint to a specific member of the Committee by selecting their email address on the site https://www.lacnic.net/ethics-committee or to all its members at comite-etica [at] lacnic [.] net

The report must include the following information:

  1. Full name
  2. E-mail
  3. Phone number
  4. Individual or group complaint. Indicate if it is one or the other. In the latter case, you must list the other complainants.
  5. Person affected by the incident or witness. Indicate if you are the person affected by the incident and/or if you wish to report an episode that you witnessed.
  6. Status of the incident. Indicate whether the incident is ongoing or has concluded. 
  7. Reported behavior. Indicate the reported behavior(s) that fit the specific case, namely: inappropriate behavior, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination.
  8. Person or people Involved. List the name(s) (real, nicknames or pseudonyms) of the person/people who, in your opinion, violated the Community Code of Conduct.
  9. Witnesses. List witnesses if there are any.
  10. Description of the incident. Indicate the date and location of the incident, whether it is ongoing or not, how it affected you, and include additional background information such as public records, files, mailing list links, etc). 

3. What you need to know to file a complaint

a. What happens when a complaint is submitted to the Ethics Committee?

After submitting a complaint to the Ethics Committee, you will receive an email confirming receipt of the complaint. The Ethics Committee may then contact you to request additional information.

If the Committee determines that the complaint can proceed, it must notify the complainant that the complaint will be addressed and inform him/her of the next steps and the timeline for the process. This communication will mention the authority of the Ethics Committee to apply the criteria contained in the Code of Conduct which, at its sole discretion, best apply to the reported situation. 

If it is determined that a member of the community has behaved inappropriately, the Ethics Committee will take the action it deems appropriate, including a) warning the person accused (low severity), b) suspending the person accused (medium severity), or c) temporarily or permanently expelling the person accused from the physical or virtual space in which such member is participating (high severity). 

The Ethics Committee may also suspend the accused preventively in the following cases:

  1. if it considers that there are risks for the complainant, witnesses or others involved,
  2. if the defendant persists in the misconduct despite the request for cessation and/or,
  3. if it is notified of another situation that warrants preventive suspension and it is presented with evidence.

After confirming receipt of the complaint, the Ethics Committee will have a maximum of 60 days to issue a resolution.

The Ethics Committee will inform the complainant of the progress made in the review, follow-up, and resolution of the complaint. 

b. Appeal

A person accused may appeal all the resolutions. A person who files a complaint may only appeal the resolutions of the Ethics Committee if they provide new information to support their request for reconsideration. To request the review of a decision, please contact the Ethics Committee

c. Expression of Agreement: Authority of the Ethics Committee 

By sending this complaint, you expressly agree that the Ethics Committee has the authority to apply the criteria contained in the Code of Conduct which, at its sole discretion, best apply to the reported situation. 

d. Truthful information and treatment of malicious complaints

When sending the complaint, the complainant declares that the information included therein is true, complete, and accurate. If it is proven that this was not the case and/or that a malicious or fabricated complaint was submitted, the person who submitted the complaint may be penalized by the Ethics Committee.

e. Personal Data Protection and Habeas Data Action 

In accordance with Uruguayan Act No. 18,331 on the Protection of Personal Data and Habeas Data Action, the data provided by the complainant will be included in the Ethics Committee database, which will be processed solely for the purpose of receiving and processing the complaint regarding an alleged violation of the LACNIC Community Code of Conduct and may also be used as background information on future complaints. 

Personal data of every person involved will be treated with the appropriate level of protection, taking the security measures needed to avoid their unauthorized modification, loss, treatment or access by third parties. LACNIC is responsible for this database, so the address where the interested party can exercise their right to access, rectify, update, be included in, or excluded from the database is Rambla República de México 6125 or o via mail by contacting infoprivacidad@lacnic.net.

f. Confidentiality of the complaint

All complaints will be handled and analyzed by LACNIC's Ethics Committee in confidentiality. However, the Committee will not be obliged to maintain confidentiality in those cases in which it suspects the existence of a crime and will proceed to file the complaint and/or forward the information to the competent authorities.

g. Ethics Committee

The names of the current members of the Ethics Committee are available at the following link.

h. Conflict of interests

In the case of a conflict of interest, the existing processes that regulate incompatibilities will be followed.