The IEEE Registration Authority was formed in 1986 to register Organizationally Unique Identifiers (OUI) at the initiative of the P802 (LAN/MAN) standards group. The IEEE is recognized by ISO/IEC as the authorized Registration Authority to provide this service world-wide.

Since that time, the activities of the Registration Authority have continued to expand. In 1997, the IEEE Registration Authority assumed responsibility for the registration of EtherType Fields, as defined in the current edition of IEEE Std. 802.3.

The IEEE Registration Authority began administering Individual Address Block assignments in 1998 in an effort to preserve the OUI assignments and to offer customers with an alternative option of obtaining a smaller amount of addresses.

In 2003, the IEEE Registration Authority assumed responsibility for administering, allocating and managing the Logical Link Control (LLC) and Standard Group MAC addresses. The IEEE has become the single point of contact with respect to all information associated with LAN addresses.

In 2004, the IEEE established three registration authorities associated with IEEE 1451.4-2004: Unique Registration Numbers, IEEE Templates and TDL Items and Manufacturer_ID.

The IEEE Registration Authority formerly had administrative responsibility for the IEEE POSIX® Certification Authority.

On April 27, 2007, three additional registries were launched; the OUI-36, IEEE 802.16 Operator ID and the Provider Service Identifier (PSID)  Unlike the registries launched in 2004, each registry represents a different IEEE standard. 

The IEEE Registration Authority operates under the direction of the IEEE Standards Association Board of Governors. The IEEE Registration Authority Committee provides technical oversight for the IEEE Registration Authority Activities.