Domain Name News

Feedback On Australia’s Domain Name Rule Changes Invited

October 4, 2019

Policies for Australia domain names are showing their age - and auDA wants feedback on proposed changes.

auDA, which is the administrator and self-regulatory policy body for the .au country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), says the changes aim to consolidate different licensing rules - currently there are more than 30 of them.

The next round of consultation is to focus on seven key areas that auDA says may have the greatest impact on users of domain names. These areas are:

• Allocation rules for com.au and net.au names.
• The 'public interest test'  in relation to requests from law enforcement agencies to suspend or cancel domains.
• Use of sub-domains - a new rule would hold the registrants of a .au domain responsible for activity conducted on any sub-domain.
• Sub-leasing/sub-licencing of .au domains - currently not permitted unless the person is a related body corporate.
• Internationalised domain names.
• The cut-off date determining .au priority category - this relates to direct registrations under .au.
• The .au ‘lockdown’ model and its relationship to direct registrations.

More information on the above can be found here.

The consultation draft of the  .au Licensing Rules including proposed changes can be downloaded here.

Several public consultation sessions during this month - in Canberra,Sydney and Melbourne, will provide interested parties with an overview of key changes. These sessions will also be used to gather feedback and feedback can also be emailed to [email protected],or by completing a questionnaire on auDA's site. Feedback must be submitted by 31 October 2019. It's important to note all submissions will be published on the auDA website unless a submission is marked confidential.

At the end of the consultation period, feedback provided will be considered by auDA's board.

It's been quite a long road to this point - it was back in September 2017 when the Policy Review Panel (PRP) was established by auDA to investigate and make recommendations on the consolidation and reform policies. The PRP was also charged with the task of developing an implementation model for direct .au registrations. The PRP submitted its Final Report in March this year.

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