To register a .au domain name, all registrants must meet the Australian presence requirement, which ensures all .au registrants have a connection to Australia.
The Australian presence requirement is defined in Section 1.4 of the .au Licensing Rules. Foreign entities can meet the requirement in several ways, including if they:
- Are registered under the Corporations Act with an Australian Registered Body Number (ARBN)
- Hold an Australian Trade Mark (including a pending Trade Mark application) that appears on IP Australia’s Trade Mark database.
Under the rules, foreign entities can register names in the com.au, net.au and .au direct namespaces provided they meet any allocation rules for the namespace they intend to register in.
In the com.au and net.au namespaces, registrants using an Australian Trade Mark as the basis for meeting the Australian presence requirement, must choose a domain name that is an exact match to the words that are the subject matter of the Australian Trade Mark.
Category: Registering a name
