In September 2025, the auDA Board appointed an external Policy Advisory Panel to undertake a multi-stakeholder review of the .au Licensing Rules (the .au Licensing Rules Review) to ensure they reflect community expectations and remain effective over time.
The Panel conducted an extensive community consultation process that invited the public to contribute their feedback on potential changes to the Rules via virtual town halls, in-person events in several capital cities, stakeholder meetings and written submissions.
Phase 1 of the consultation (September 2025 to March 2026) examined key issues related to the Rules and Phase 2 (June to July 2026) sought feedback on the Draft Report and proposed recommendations.
.au Licensing Rules Review - Final Report
The Policy Advisory Panel has concluded its Review and provided its Final Report to the auDA Board. At its August 2026 meeting 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.
Recommendations include:
- Continuing to allow domain name monetisation in com.au, net.au and .au direct namespaces (Recommendation 1)
- Removing the option to use the name of a service, goods, event, activity or premises to meet allocation rules for com.au and net.au. Instead, it will need to be a match or acronym of the person’s registered name (including company, business, statutory, personal, partnership or trust name) or a match of their Australian trademark. (Recommendation 2)
- Retaining the existing processes for resolving contested .au direct domain names (Recommendation 3)
- Administrative changes related to auDA’s functions, complaints processes and domain lifecycle management (Recommendations 4, 5, 6, 9, 10)
- Consumer-focused recommendations to continue to protect against scams and uplift the frequency of contact from registrars to registrants in cases of domain suspension, cancellation or expiry (Recommendations 7, 8)
Next steps
auDA will prepare an Implementation Plan that takes into account the impact of the Recommendations. It will also draft proposed changes to the .au Licensing Rules aligned to the Panel’s Recommendations.
When prepared, the draft .au Licensing Rules and explanatory guide will be published on the auDA website for public consultation, giving stakeholders and the broader community an opportunity to have their say on how the changes give effect to the Panel’s Recommendations.
auDA will also provide regular updates on key dates and any transition arrangements in the coming months.
ENDS
Notes:
Written submissions received via .au Licensing Rules Review consultation can be viewed on the auDA website: