auDA's proposed tighter naming rule is aimed at new com.au registrations, existing com.au and net.au names are proposed to carry on under the current rules, and nothing is final until the draft rules go to public consultation.
If you already hold a com.au, the tighter naming rule in auDA's review is aimed past you, at names not yet registered. Read auDA's documents side by side and the change narrows to one group: businesses planning a new com.au named after something they sell, rather than a name or trade mark they have registered.
Under the current rules, a com.au can connect to you through a service or product you offer. The Panel's Recommendation 2 would remove the service, goods, event, activity or premises route, so a new name would need to match your registered name or Australian trade mark. A tighter rule for new names doesn't put existing names at risk, because auDA proposes to allow existing com.au and net.au domain name licences to continue to operate under the current allocation rules. That reading is ours, and it rests on proposals: auDA says no final decisions have been made.
Will my existing com.au be affected?
No current registrant of a domain name licence will be affected by the proposed changes to the allocation criteria.
auDA's latest update is direct about it: "No current registrant of a domain name licence will be affected by the proposed changes to the allocation criteria."
That sentence is about allocation, the rule for which names you can hold. The other proposals cover renewals, complaints and how often your registrar contacts you. Two of them would give you more time to act. They're further down.
Where the review is up to
- Sept 2025Panel appointed
- Sept 2025 to Mar 2026Phase 1 consultation
- June to July 2026Phase 2 consultation
- Aug 2026auDA Board approves the Final Report's recommendations "in-principle"
- 6 Sept 2026auDA statement that the review is complete
- 19 Oct 2026auDA update: public consultation on draft rules "later this year"A marked-up version of the Rules, a proposed implementation plan and an explanatory guide in preparation
- Date not yet publishedPublic consultation
The review has been running for more than a year. The Panel was appointed in September 2025, ran two rounds of consultation, and the auDA Board approved the Final Report's recommendations "in-principle" at its August 2026 meeting.
In-principle isn't final. auDA says it will proceed to public consultation this year on draft updates to the .au Licensing Rules, and is preparing a marked-up version of the Rules, a proposed implementation plan and an explanatory guide.
No opening date has been published. When consultation opens, auDA's .au Licensing Rules Review page is where the draft will be. At JezNorthWeb, our advice is to treat anything you read about these changes, this article included, as a proposal until those documents appear.
Who can register a com.au domain?
| com.au | .au direct | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can hold it | Australian Presence and a Commercial Entity | Australian presence only |
| How eligibility is usually shown | ABN or ACN, or ARBN or Australian trade mark | No ABN needed |
| Name must connect to you | Yes | No |
| Proposed change to eligibility | None proposed |
Nothing changes here. A com.au or net.au registrant must have an Australian Presence and be a Commercial Entity, and auDA says "There are no proposed changes to the com.au and net.au eligibility criteria."
Eligibility is usually shown by an ABN or ACN, or by an ARBN or Australian trade mark. Your physical address isn't considered.
.au direct, the shorter yourname.au, needs only an Australian presence, with no ABN and no name connection. It's an alternative, not a replacement: auDA has no intention to phase out com.au in favour of .au direct.
What domain name can I choose for my business?
Today, a com.au must derive from your legal name, registered business name or registered trade mark, or the name of a service, good, event, activity or premises you provide.
Under Recommendation 2, a new name would need to be a match or acronym of the person's registered name (company, business, statutory, personal, partnership or trust name), or a match of their Australian trade mark.
"Match" is looser than it sounds. An exact match isn't required, and auDA says "This is not proposed to change." A domain is a Match if it contains one, some or all of the words or numbers in the name, in the same order, with no additional words or numbers.
auDA's own example uses a business name of "auDA domain names". The possible domains include audadomainnames.com.au, auda.com.au, audadomain.com.au and audanames.com.au. The last one skips a word but keeps the order. By that definition, swapping the order of the words or adding a word of your own would fall outside a Match.
Planning a new com.au? Register the business name first
- 1
Register your business name if you don't trade under your own name
ASIC: $47 for 1 year or $108 for 3 years, checked October 2026
- 2
A business name gives no exclusive rights, a trade mark does
- 3
Domain names are first-come, first-served
- 4
Register the com.au with your own details, including your ABN, as registrant
If the tighter rule goes ahead, the cleanest route to a new com.au is a domain that matches your registered business name or trade mark. That makes the order of jobs matter: name first, domain second.
You must register a business name if you run a business in Australia and aren't trading under your own name. ASIC charges $47 for 1 year or $108 for 3 years (checked October 2026). At today's 1-year fee, three single years would come to $141, so the 3-year option saves $33.
A business name isn't ownership of the words. Registering one doesn't give exclusive rights, and exclusive rights need a trade mark. Domain names, meanwhile, are first-come, first-served, so check the domain is free before you settle on a name.
If the domain is part of a new website, our guide to getting your content ready for a new website covers the next job.
Check who actually holds your domain
The login you use isn't the same as the licence. auDA's advice is that a developer registering a domain for you should use your details, including your ABN, as registrant.
If they use their own details, auDA warns that "your registration could inadvertently lapse" when renewal notices aren't passed on. You can check the licence holder in the .au WHOIS.
This check is worth doing whatever happens to the review. It takes a few minutes, and it's the one item on this list where an old arrangement can quietly cost you the name.
What the other proposed changes mean for you
Current
within 90 days before expiry
Proposed (Recommendation 6)
any time before expiry, up to a maximum of 5 years from the renewal date
Licences run 1 to 5 years. Not to scale.
Renewing early. Today you can renew within 90 days before expiry. Recommendation 6 would let you renew at any time before expiry, up to a maximum of 5 years from the renewal date. Licences already run 1 to 5 years.
More time to contest a cancellation. The time to request a review of an auDA decision to cancel a domain would rise from 48 hours to 7 days. Seven days is 168 hours, three and a half times as long.
More contact from your registrar. Recommendations 7 and 8 continue the scam protections and increase how often registrars contact registrants about suspension, cancellation or expiry. More legitimate notices means more reason to check each one, because fake renewal invoices copy the real thing. Our guide to spotting a fake domain renewal invoice walks through the checks.
What you pay. Separately from the review, the wholesale .au licence price rose from $8.64 to $9.50 (ex GST) per year from 1 October 2026 (checked October 2026). Retail prices are set by each provider, so your renewal amount depends on who you register with.
If you stop trading. The Panel recommended against a non-commercial exception for com.au. Instead it proposed a flexible approach to moving to another namespace, such as forexample.com.au to forexample.au, with educational information to come.
Unchanged. Monetisation stays allowed in com.au, net.au and .au direct, and contested .au direct names keep the existing Priority Allocation Process.
The proposed changes at a glance
Staying the same
- com.au and net.au eligibility (no proposed changes)
- Existing com.au and net.au licences proposed to continue under the current allocation rules
- Exact match not required
- Monetisation allowed
- Contested .au direct names keep the Priority Allocation Process
Proposed, not final
- New names must match or be an acronym of your registered name, or match your Australian trade mark
- Renewal window from within 90 days before expiry to any time before expiry, up to 5 years ahead
- Review period for a cancellation decision from 48 hours to 7 days
- More registrar contact about suspension, cancellation or expiry
- Flexible approach to moving a closed business's name to another namespace
No final decisions have been made.
Put it all together and most of what touches an existing business domain either stays the same or gives you more room. The one proposal with teeth, the match-only naming rule, is aimed at new registrations. All of it is still subject to consultation, and auDA says no final decisions have been made.
Your next step
Run the checklist above this week. Look up who holds your domain, make sure it's your business and your ABN, and write the expiry date somewhere you'll see it. If you're planning a new com.au, register the business name before you register the domain.
Then watch auDA's .au Licensing Rules Review page for the draft rules when consultation opens.
If the registrant turns out to be someone other than you, or you're working out a name and a domain for a new site, tell JezNorthWeb what you have found through our contact page and we'll talk it through with you.
Sources
- https://www.auda.org.au/news-insights/statements/update-on-au-licensing-rules-review/
- https://www.auda.org.au/public-impact/have-your-say/policy-panels/au-licensing-rules-review-2025/
- https://www.auda.org.au/news-insights/statements/au-licensing-rules-review-completed-by-external-policy-advisory-panel/
- https://www.auda.org.au/au-domain-names/the-different-au-domain-names/com-au-domain-names/
- https://business.gov.au/registrations/register-your-business-name
- https://www.auda.org.au/news-insights/statements/introduction-of-au-registrar-quality-initiative-and-wholesale-pricing-update
