.au Licensing Rules Review (2025)

The .au Licensing Rules set out the requirements and processes that govern the .au domain, including who can hold a .au domain name licence, and what name they can register.

The Rules ensure that a licensing system is established which

• Is transparent, responsive, accountable, accessible, and efficient;
• Improves the utility of the .au country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for all Australians;
• Promotes consumer protection, fair trading and competition;
• Provides those protections necessary to maintain the integrity, stability, utility and public confidence in, the .au ccTLD;
• Expresses licence terms and conditions in objective and not subjective terms;
• Implements clear, predictable and reliable complaint processes; and
• Preserves the fundamental principles of:
  • No Proprietary Rights in a domain name,
  • First Come, First Served, and
  • No Hierarchy of Rights.

auDA periodically reviews the .au Domain Administration Rules: Licensing (.au Licensing Rules) so they reflect community expectations and remain effective over time.

In September 2025, the auDA Board appointed an external Policy Advisory Panel to undertake a review of the Rules. The Terms of Reference for the Review were developed taking into account problems or issues that have been raised from a range of sources, including stakeholder feedback, compliance data, and government or advisory body reports.

The Terms of Reference required the Panel to examine issues relating to the effective and fair operation of the .au Licensing Rules, including:

1. Allocation rules for the com.au and net.au namespaces.
2. Domain name monetisation in the com.au and net.au namespaces (currently prohibited in the org.au, asn.au, id.au, edu.au and the State and Territory Namespaces).
3. Contested .au direct domain names (auDA will provide the Panel with the outcome of a survey of contested .au direct domain name holders for consideration as a submission to the review).
4. Fraudulent and bad faith registrations and reserved names.
5. Complaint process for domain name audits.
6. Alignment of selected rules in .au with equivalent rules in generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) (such as .com).

The Panel was tasked with carrying out consultation with the multi-stakeholder community to ensure the .au Licensing Rules continue to support ongoing trust and confidence in .au, including:

• Phase 1 consultation (September 2025 to March 2026) – where the Panel examined key issues related to the Rules.
• Phase 2 consultation (June 2026 to July 2026) – where the Panel sought feedback on the Draft Report and proposed recommendations.

In August 2026 the Panel Chair presented the Final Report to the auDA Board. The auDA Board resolved to approve the Panel’s Recommendations in the Final Report in-principle and directed auDA Management to prepare an Implementation Plan that takes into account the impact of the Recommendations.

auDA has opened public consultation on proposed amendments to the .au Licensing Rules and a proposed implementation plan. auDA is seeking feedback on how the proposed changes give effect to the recommendations of the .au Licensing Rules Review. We encourage you to have your say by making a submission.

The below material materials have been made available for consultation:

• A redlined version of proposed amendments to the .au Licensing Rules, which sets out the draft changes that give effect to the Panel’s recommendations
• A proposed implementation plan, which includes the scope of the transition and two options for implementing the proposed rule changes

Visit the consultation webpage for more information and to have your say.

auDA is required to administer and manage .au in the public interest. The auDA Board will adopt the policy option that provides the greatest net benefit to the Australian community. The net benefit may be intangible, such as increased consumer confidence in transacting with entities using a .au domain name.

The proposed amendments to the .au Licensing Rules are informed by the Panel’s recommendations. They are set out in the below documents:

• A marked-up version of the .au Licensing Rules which sets out the draft changes that give effect to the Panel’s recommendations
• A proposed implementation plan, which includes the scope of the transition and two options for implementing the proposed rule changes.

The recommendations were published in the Panel’s Final Report and a summary of their recommendations, which are also available on auDA’s website.

Visit the consultation webpage for more information and to have your say.

No final decisions have been made on the proposed changes to the .au Licensing Rules or their implementation. auDA is required to administer and manage .au in the public interest. The auDA Board will adopt the policy option that provides the greatest net benefit to the Australian community. The net benefit may be intangible, such as increased consumer confidence in transacting with entities using a .au domain name.

auDA has published a proposed implementation plan which is currently available for public consultation. The Plan sets out two options for the changes to take place:

Option 1: Staged implementation

• First tranche: Domain lifecycle rule changes introduced first (Q2 2027).
• Second tranche: All other agreed changes introduced later (Q4 2027)

Option 2: Single date implementation

• All agreed changes introduced simultaneously on a single date (Q4 2027).

auDA encourages all interested parties to provide their feedback as part of the public consultation, which closes at 5pm Friday 15 January 2027 AEDT.

Visit the consultation webpage for more information and to have your say.

Domain monetisation refers to the practice of registering a domain name with the sole purpose of selling, leasing or holding the domain name to generate revenue. This includes using the domain name to generate revenue from advertising links on a website associated with the domain name.

Based on the Panel’s recommendation, monetisation will continue to be allowed in the com.au, net.au and .au direct namespaces.

You can read more about domain monetisation on the auDA website.

com.au and net.au are distinguished from other namespaces by requiring a registrant to meet both eligibility and allocation criteria.

The eligibility criteria for com.au and net.au set out who can register a com.au and net.au domain name, and require that the registrant both has an Australian Presence and is a Commercial Entity. There are no proposed changes to the com.au and net.au eligibility criteria.

The allocation criteria for com.au and net.au seek to maintain a traceable connection between a domain name and its licence holder, which supports accountability for the use of domain names, and supports the integrity of, and trust in, the domain name system.

They are consistent with Australian law (Business Names Registration Act 2011 (Cth)), where a legal entity must register a business name if it is carrying on a business in Australia and is not trading under the name of that legal entity (e.g. sole trader, incorporated association or company name). A legal entity must include the business name in written communications with customers.

Consumers can look up the legal entity responsible for a registered business name or trade mark through authoritative Government registers (e.g. ABN lookup or ASIC Connect), and can look up the identity of the legal holder of a domain name licence via the .au WHOIS service.

The current allocation rules for com.au and net.au can be found at subparagraph 2.4.4 (2) of the .au Licensing Rules.

auDA proposes that the new allocation rules only apply to new com.au and net.au domain name licences. No current registrant of a domain name licence will be affected by the proposed changes to the allocation criteria.

The current allocation criteria for com.au and net.au require the domain name to be derived from the legal name of the registrant, or its registered business name or registered trademark, or the name of a service, good, event, activity or premises that the registrant provides.

In its Final Report, the external Policy Advisory Panel recommended that the allocation criteria for com.au and net.au be amended to be a Match of a personal name, registered name or registered Australian trade mark. This removes the option of meeting allocation rules via the unregistered name of a service, good, event, activity or premises. Match is a defined term in the .au Licensing Rules and means that the domain name being applied for is identical to one, some or all of words or numbers used in the Person’s legal name, business name or Australian trade mark. An exact match is not required.

Removing the option of meeting allocation rules via the name of a service, good, event, activity or premises effectively anchors all com.au and net.au domain name licence allocation criteria to a legal entity via an authoritative source (ASIC Connect or Australian Business Register) that the public can trust to ”see who’s behind a name”. This is in addition to the existing .au WHOIS service, which serves a similar function but is not widely known to non-IT professionals.

The change also creates a level playing field for accessing a com.au and net.au domain name licence, where all registrants need to meet similar objective criteria, and aligns to Australian law (Business Names Registration Act 2011 (Cth)) where all businesses in Australia are required to register a business name, if they are not trading under their own personal or company name.

The proposed change creates stronger alignment between com.au and net.au domain names and the names of businesses they represent, reinforcing their role as dedicated spaces for Australian commercial entities and high-trust commercial transactions. It also increases accountability with rising community concern for scams, accelerated by emerging technologies such as potential AI misuse.

Under the current .au Licensing Rules an exact match is not necessary. This is not proposed to change. A match means that the domain name being applied for is identical to one, some or all of the words or numbers used in the person’s registered name. The domain name must use the words or numbers in the same order as they appear in the person’s registered name and must not include any additional words or numbers. The full definition of ‘Match’ is set out in section 1.4 of the .au Licensing Rules.

For example: A Person with a Business Name "Forexample Publishing" would be able to register forexample.com.au, forexamplepublishing.com.au, forexample-publishing.com.au, and publishing.com.au as domain names.

In line with this, auDA also proposes additional minor policy amendments outside of the Panel’s recommendations, which include:

• Related Australian body corporate: Expand the com.au and net.au allocation criterion in paragraph 2.4.4(2)(d) to cover a match to, or an acronym or abbreviation of, or a synonym of, a related body corporate’s company, business or statutory name, or a match to its Australian trade mark.
• Abbreviations of names: Expand paragraph 2.4.4(2)(b) to permit a domain name that is an abbreviation, common misspelling or alternate spelling of a registrant’s name

No final decisions have been made on the proposed changes to the .au Licensing Rules or their implementation. auDA is required to administer and manage .au in the public interest. The auDA Board will adopt the policy option that provides the greatest net benefit to the Australian community. The net benefit may be intangible, such as increased consumer confidence in transacting with entities using a .au domain name.

Public consultation is now open.

auDA encourages all interested parties to provide their feedback as part of the consultation, which closes at 5pm Friday 15 January 2027 AEDT.

Visit the consultation webpage for more information and to have your say.

auDA proposes to allow existing com.au and net.au domain name licences to continue to operate under the current allocation rules. No current domain name registration will be affected by the proposed changes to the allocation criteria. Under the proposal, new allocation rules will apply to new com.au and net.au domain name licences and transfers to third parties.

Public consultation is now open.

auDA encourages all interested parties to provide their feedback as part of the consultation, which closes at 5pm Friday 15 January 2027 AEDT.

Visit the consultation webpage for more information and to have your say.

auDA proposes to allow existing com.au and net.au domain name licences to continue to operate under the current allocation rules. No current domain name registration will be affected by the proposed changes to the allocation criteria.

Under the proposed changes, one way to meet the net.au and com.au allocation rules will be to hold a registered business name or Australian trade mark that matches a com.au or net.au domain name. Under the .au Licensing Rules, a “match” includes matching one, some or all of the words or numbers used in a person's legal name, business name or Australian trade mark.

Under Australian law (Business Names Registration Act 2011 (Cth), businesses trading under a name other than their company name, or for sole traders their personal name, are already required to register a business name. Where required, businesses can apply for a business name on the ASIC website. ASIC's current fees to register an Australian business name are $47 for one year or $108 for three years. Applicants can register business names online directly with ASIC using a simple form.

At this stage, no final decisions have been made on the proposed changes to the .au Licensing Rules or their implementation. auDA is required to administer and manage .au in the public interest. The auDA Board will adopt the policy option that provides the greatest net benefit to the Australian community. The net benefit may be intangible, such as increased consumer confidence in transacting with entities using a .au domain name.

auDA proposes to allow existing com.au and net.au domain name licences to continue to operate under the current allocation rules. No current registrant of a domain name licence will be affected by the proposed changes to the allocation criteria.

No final decisions have been made on the proposed changes to the .au Licensing Rules or their implementation. auDA is required to administer and manage .au in the public interest. The auDA Board will adopt the policy option that provides the greatest net benefit to the Australian community. The net benefit may be intangible, such as increased consumer confidence in transacting with entities using a .au domain name.

Public consultation is now open.

auDA encourages all interested parties to provide their feedback as part of the consultation, which closes at 5pm Friday 15 January 2027 AEDT.

Visit the consultation webpage for more information and to have your say.

There will be no change to the .au direct Priority Allocation Process.

The Panel supports maintaining the current process. This means that the contested .au direct domain name will only be allocated either by agreement between the parties with active priority applications, or when there is only one active priority application remaining.

Read more about the Priority Allocation Process.

Reserved names are domain names that are not available for public registration. They are only able to be registered in certain circumstances according to strict criteria, outlined in Section 2.6 of the .au Licensing Rules.

Under the current .au Licensing Rules, auDA is required to publish a list of all the Reserved Names which pose a risk to the integrity, stability and security of the .au, once they have been blocked. The Panel supported the removal of the requirement as publishing the list may create risks to operational security.

The Panel supported maintaining transparency by publishing information related to decision making processes for Reserved Names.

Based on the Panel’s recommendations:

• The complaints process of the .au Licensing Rules will be expanded to include complaints arising from audits performed by auDA. This reflects that audits are an important part of auDA’s compliance activities, will support trust in the audit process and effectiveness of the audit framework.
• The scope of ‘affected person’ will be broadened to allow a person who can demonstrate an adequate interest in a domain name to escalate a complaint while maintaining an effective and proportionate review process.
• There will be an increase to the timeframe a person has to request a review of an auDA decision to cancel a domain name. This will increase from 48 hours to 7 days.

Based on the Panel’s recommendation 8, the .au Licensing Rules will be updated to clarify requirements for registrars to contact .au registrants in the case of suspension, cancellation or expiry of a domain name. This is intended to better support .au registrants and avoid instances where renewal or cancellation notices are missed.

Under Recommendation 6, .au domain name licences will also be able to be renewed, for a maximum of 5 years from the date of renewal, anytime during the lifetime of the licence prior to the licence expiry date. This will change from the current renewal window of within 90 days prior to the licence expiry date, providing registrants a longer period to renew their licence and also take advantage of any special pricing offered by registrars. It also aligns renewal timeframes with generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) to support registrars operating across Australian and international namespaces by reducing different business processes.

The Panel recommended that the current approach to scams under the .au Licensing Rules be retained. It also recommended auDA continue to work with the ACCC's National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC) to continually refine the approach to dealing with scams in the .au and that the next Licensing Rules Review reconsider scams, noting the evolving nature of online scams.

auDA takes a range of activity to combat scams in .au and the broader ecosystem. More information is available on the .au blog.

Based on the Panel’s consultation and recommendation, com.au will remain dedicated to commercial entities with a connection to Australia.

The Panel noted that com.au is a trusted commercial space in Australia and recommended against creating a non-commercial exception. Instead, the Panel recommended auDA adopt a flexible approach to facilitate affected registrants to transition to another namespace for which they remain eligible once they end their commercial operations and no longer meet com.au eligibility.

auDA will develop educational information to support registrants transitioning to another namespace within the .au domain (e.g. transitioning from forexample.com.au to forexample.au).

The .au Licensing Rules will be amended to include information about how registrants can use role-based descriptions when registering a .au domain name. Registrants can do this by providing role-based contacts (such as CEO, IT Manager), using a business address or PO Box, and using a business phone number rather than a personal phone number.

This will help limit publication of personal information via the WHOIS service while preserving a way for identifying and contacting a registrant. This would reflect information already available in the Registrar Rules.

auDA has opened public consultation on the proposed .au Licensing Rules and proposed implementation plan, which closes at 5pm Friday 15 January 2027 AEDT.

auDA is required to administer and manage .au in the public interest. The auDA Board will adopt the policy option that provides the greatest net benefit to the Australian community. The net benefit may be intangible, such as increased consumer confidence in transacting with entities using a .au domain name.

auDA encourages all interested parties to provide their feedback. Visit the consultation webpage for more information and to have your say.

The Terms of Reference for the Review were developed taking into account concerns or issues that have been raised from a range of sources, including stakeholder feedback, compliance data, and government or advisory body reports.

The Terms of Reference required the Panel to examine issues relating to the effective and fair operation of the .au Licensing Rules, including:

• Allocation rules for the com.au and net.au namespaces.
• Domain name monetisation in the com.au and net.au namespaces (currently prohibited in the org.au, asn.au, id.au, edu.au and the State and Territory Namespaces).
• Contested .au direct domain names (auDA will provide the Panel with the outcome of a survey of contested .au direct domain name holders for consideration as a submission to the review).
• Fraudulent and bad faith registrations and reserved names.
• Complaint process for domain name audits.
• Alignment of selected rules in .au with equivalent rules in generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) (such as .com).

Before the Review commenced, auDA conducted public consultation on an Issues Discovery Paper seeking input from the community on key issues related to the .au Licensing Rules.

The feedback provided during this Issues Discovery Paper consultation helped to develop the Terms of Reference for the Policy Advisory Panel and reflect key areas for potential improvement identified by the community.

The Terms of Reference enabled the Panel to consider and make recommendations on other related issues raised during the consultation phase of the Review.

The Panel led two phases of consultation, which included in-person events around the country, virtual town halls, written submissions and stakeholder outreach and meetings. Phase 1 ran from September 2025 to March 2026 and examined key issues related to the Rules. Phase 2 ran from June to July 2026 and sought feedback on the Panel’s Draft Report and its proposed recommendations.

auDA supported the Panel’s consultations by inviting participation from .au members and stakeholders across government, consumer groups, business groups and chambers, industry associations, the academic sector and the domain name industry, and sharing regular updates on the auDA website and social media. Consultations were open to the public.

All written submissions are available on the Phase 1 and Phase 2 consultation webpages and all Listening Reports (which set out feedback received from virtual town halls and in person events) are available under the "Panel documents" section below.

• 23 September: the Panel Chair attended the monthly online registrar briefings held by auDA
• 24 September: the Panel conducted a lunchtime session open to the public at the Australian Internet Governance Forum in Adelaide.

• 14 November: the Panel delivered a presentation on the review at the auDA Registrar Summit
• 24 November: the Panel opened consultation to receive written submissions
• 27 November: the Panel conducted an introductory town hall webinar to provide an opportunity for the public to learn about key issues that have been identified by the Panel as part of previous public consultation and the process to get involved and make submissions. Watch the recording.

• 11 December: the Panel Chair held a second virtual town hall to explore some of the key issues identified as part of the Review to date, following from an introductory town hall held in November. Watch the recording of the second virtual town hall. 

• 26 February: the Panel conducted an in-person workshop in Canberra to gather community input and share perspectives, with insights gathered to inform the Panel's draft report on the .au Licensing Rules Review.

• 2-3 March: the Panel hosted two virtual town halls in March to discuss issues identified during consultation to date and receive feedback through Q&A and polls
• 19 March: the Panel conducted an in-person workshop in Sydney to gather community input and share perspectives, with insights gathered to inform the Panel's draft report
• 23 March: the Panel conducted an in-person workshop in Brisbane to gather community input and share perspectives, with insights gathered to inform the Panel's draft report
• 25 March: the Panel conducted an in-person workshop in Melbourne to gather community input and share perspectives, with insights gathered to inform the Panel's draft report
• 31 March: the Panel closed its consultation, which ran from 24 November 2025, to accept written submissions. 

• 17-18 June: the Panel hosted two virtual town halls in June to discuss the findings of the Draft Report and receive feedback through Q&A and polls
  

• 6 July: the Panel conducted an in-person workshop in Melbourne to gather community input and share perspectives on the Draft Report, with insights gathered to inform the Panel's draft report
• 7 July: the Panel conducted an in-person workshop in Sydney to gather community input and share perspectives on the Draft Report, with insights gathered to inform the Panel's draft report

Matt Healy is a Non Executive Director and Advisor in Technology, Cyber, Energy, Sustainability and the Arts including association with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, University of New South Wales, Eco-Markets Australia, McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, The Macfarlane Fund.

Dr Selvi Kannan is a Strategy Consultant and Senior Academic and Lead Partnerships Industry and Community, School of ICT, University of Tasmania.

Anthony Peake Managing Director of Peak Domains, formerly a Product Manager at Trillion.

Erhan Karabardak is the Founder of Mills IP (strategic intellectual property counsel), formerly a Director at Cooper Mills Lawyers.

Ian Kelly is a Non Executive Director and Advisor/Investor including association with Retina Australia and various private clients following a senior career with Sure Business, a telecommunications company.

Ross Creelman is the Associate Director, Digital, Cyber and Energy Policy at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Niluka Welungoda is the Operations Director at Brandsec.