This disclosure describes techniques for applying a policy proximate to a source of data traffic in a network. The techniques include indicating to a destination edge node that a policy relevant to the data traffic has not been applied at a source edge node. The destination edge node may send the policy to the source edge node. The source edge node may apply the policy to a subsequent packet of the data traffic. Application of the policy proximate to the source of the data traffic may conserve network resources and improve performance of the network.