The administrator of Australia’s .au namespace, auDA, proposes to let existing .com.au and .net.au domain licenses continue under the current allocation rules if it tightens them as its review panel recommended. In its statement of October 19, auDA is explicit that no current registrant of a domain name license will be affected by the proposed changes to the allocation criteria. No final decision has been made, and a public consultation on draft rules is planned to open later this year.

The proposal concerns a large share of the .au space. The registry statistics auDA published for September 2026 count names under management in .com.au at 3,320,672, in .net.au at 177,523, together nearly 3.5 million, and across .au at 4,427,175.

What auDA Proposes

According to auDA, the current allocation criteria require a .com.au or .net.au name to be derived from the registrant’s legal name, registered business name or registered trade mark, or from the name of a service, good, event, activity or premises the registrant provides. The external Policy Advisory Panel’s final report recommended narrowing this to a Match of a personal name, registered name or registered Australian trade mark, which would remove the route through services, goods, events, activities and premises. The eligibility criteria, an Australian presence and being a commercial entity, are not proposed to change. If the changes are approved, the proposal would protect existing licenses while narrowing the allocation options for new registrations.

A Match still would not need to be exact. In auDA’s own example, a registrant with the business name “Forexample Publishing” could register forexample.com.au, forexamplepublishing.com.au, forexample-publishing.com.au and publishing.com.au.

auDA Backs Removing a .com.au Allocation Route. Domain Monetization Stays Allowed.

Registrars’ Objections

Registrars had pushed back on the narrower test. In a letter to auDA’s board, published by Domain Name Wire on October 15 and listing Tucows as its contact, accredited .au registrars asked the board to reverse the recommendation that introduces it.

The letter cites registrar analyses estimating that 50% to 80% of .com.au and .net.au names would not meet the new test, or between 1.7 million and 2.8 million of nearly 3.5 million names. It also warns that applying the test at renewal would penalize registrants for a change in policy. Under auDA’s October 19 proposal, existing licenses would stay outside that stricter test.

Where the Process Stands

As we reported in September, auDA’s board approved the panel’s recommendations in principle in August and asked management to prepare an implementation plan. For the consultation, auDA is now preparing a marked-up version of the rules and a proposed implementation plan, with an explanatory guide to accompany them, and it encourages all interested parties to take part and continue providing feedback. Any changes the board approves will be reviewed by an external Policy Advisory Panel within five years.