In *policy* matters, like "under which rules does the RIPE NCC hand out IP addresses", the RIPE *community* decides, by following the policy development process the community has given itself. The NCC acts as the secretariat that manages the resources according to these policies.
Well, even a bit more complicated than that - Sometimes, policy directives rule into the contractual relationship of a member with the NCC in which case the membership must vote on a change in the contract. rgds, Sascha Luck
