The ending: who may hold it
Guide 2 of 7
Which .au ending can you hold?
Every .au licence starts with an Australian presence. On top of that, each ending carries its own holder test, and com.au and net.au add a test of the words themselves.
General information from auDA’s published rules, not legal advice. Published by Dotto, which runs a marketplace for .au names.
First, an Australian presence
Two steps for every application: the person must have an Australian presence, and must satisfy the eligibility and allocation criteria of the namespace being applied for (Rules 2.4.1). Where an application is made on behalf of a related body corporate, that body corporate must itself satisfy the presence requirement (Rules 2.4.2). The full list of what counts as a presence is in the .au column on the home page.
| Ending | Who may hold it | What the words must match | What the Rules limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| (nothing) .au direct | Anyone with an Australian presence; allocation is set by the .au Direct Priority Rules (Rules 2.4.3). | Chosen freely, subject to availability: the Rules’ criteria for this namespace are the Australian presence and the priority allocation process (Rules 2.4.3). | Not named in the Rules’ bans on monetisation (Rules 2.4.13, 2.4.14). |
| com.au | A Commercial Entity (Rules 2.4.4). | A Match or Acronym of the holder’s company, business, statutory or personal name; a Match of its Australian trade mark; a Match or Acronym of a related body corporate’s, partnership’s or trust’s name; or a Match or Synonym of a service, goods, an event, an activity or premises it provides at the time of application (Rules 2.4.4). | Not named in the Rules’ bans on monetisation (Rules 2.4.13, 2.4.14). |
| net.au | A Commercial Entity (Rules 2.4.4). | The same test as com.au, written into the same clause (Rules 2.4.4). | Not named in the Rules’ bans on monetisation (Rules 2.4.13, 2.4.14). |
| org.au | A Not for Profit Entity (Rules 2.4.6). | A Match or Synonym of the name of a service, programme, event, activity, premises or an occupation its members practise that it provides at the time of application; a Match of its legal, business or statutory name or the unincorporated association’s name, or an Acronym of its legal, business or statutory name; a Match of its Australian trade mark; or a Match to a trust’s name (Rules 2.4.6). | Domain Name Monetisation is prohibited (Rules 2.4.13), and applying for the licence only to transfer it on is prohibited (Rules 2.4.14). |
| asn.au | A Not for Profit Entity or an unincorporated association (Rules 2.4.7). | The org.au shape: a Match or Synonym of a service, programme, event, activity, premises or occupation; a Match or Acronym of the name; or a Match of its trade mark (Rules 2.4.7). | Domain Name Monetisation is prohibited (Rules 2.4.13), and applying for the licence only to transfer it on is prohibited (Rules 2.4.14). |
| id.au | A natural person (Rules 2.4.8). | A Match of the person’s legal name, first name or family name; an acronym or abbreviation of one of those; or a nickname (Rules 2.4.8). | Domain Name Monetisation is prohibited (Rules 2.4.13). |
| edu.au | An applicant that satisfies the eligibility and allocation rules in Schedule A of the Rules (Rules 2.4.11). | Per Schedule A (Rules 2.4.11). | Domain Name Monetisation is prohibited (Rules 2.4.13), and applying for the licence only to transfer it on is prohibited (Rules 2.4.14). |
| The state and territory endings | A Not for Profit Entity that is a peak state or territory body formed and operating in the state or territory the namespace relates to, or one acting on behalf of a community group there (Rules 2.4.9); a not for profit entity may hold one on behalf of a community group that is not a peak body (Rules 2.4.10). | A Match or Acronym of the person’s legal, business or statutory name; a Match of its trade mark; or, for a community group, the geographical name of the place the community lives in (Rules 2.4.9). | Domain Name Monetisation is prohibited (Rules 2.4.13), and applying for the licence only to transfer it on is prohibited (Rules 2.4.14). |
An ABN and com.au
An ABN helps with one half of com.au, and only one half. Within the Rules’ definition of Commercial Entity, one of the items is an entity or natural person issued with an Australian Business Number (Rules 1.4). So an ABN gets a business into the entity test; the words test is separate, and still applies: the name must be a Match, Acronym or one of the other connections in 2.4.4.
The whole definition, as the Rules set it: Commercial Entity means a company under the Corporations Act 2001; a Commonwealth entity under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013; a registrable body; an incorporated association under State or Territory legislation; an entity or natural person issued with an ABN; a statutory body that engages in trade or commerce; a trust issued with an ABN, but not a charitable trust or a public or private ancillary fund; an incorporated limited partnership; a trading cooperative; government; or a foreign legal entity or natural person who holds or has applied for an Australian trade mark (Rules 1.4).
And holding a name is not holding a business name: registering a domain secures an internet address for customers to visit and gives you the domain only, it does not protect the business name itself (IP Australia).
The other entity word the endings lean on is Not for Profit Entity, and the Rules define it too: it means an incorporated association under State or Territory legislation; a company limited by guarantee; a non-distributing co-operative; an Indigenous corporation on the Register of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations; a registered organisation on the Register of Organisations; a charitable trust endorsed as a deductible gift recipient; a non-trading cooperative; a public or private ancillary fund endorsed as a deductible gift recipient; an entity on the Charity Register; a political party on the Register of Political Parties; government; or a foreign embassy, consulate or representative body of another country permitted to be in Australia and accredited by the Australian Government (Rules 1.4).
Each ending in a sentence
auDA’s own one-line description of each: .au direct is the shorter option for a new idea or side hustle; com.au is the recognised and trusted choice for Australian businesses; net.au is the trusted name for tech-focused businesses; org.au is for not-for-profit organisations; asn.au is for associations and community groups; id.au is for individuals; edu.au is the trusted choice for the education sector; and the state and territory names are sometimes called community geographic domain names (auDA’s different .au names page).
gov.au is for Australian governments and government bodies, and it is not in the Rules’ list of namespaces: the list runs .au, com.au, net.au, org.au, asn.au, id.au, edu.au and its child zones, and the state and territory endings (auDA’s different .au names page; Rules 1.4).
Where the Rules limit resale or earning from a name
Two clauses limit what a holder may do. Domain Name Monetisation is prohibited in org.au, asn.au, id.au, edu.au and the state and territory endings (Rules 2.4.13). And in org.au, asn.au, edu.au and the state and territory endings, a person must not apply for a licence for the sole purpose of transferring it to another person (Rules 2.4.14). Monetisation is applying for, or holding, a name to generate revenue: an application made with the sole purpose of selling, leasing or holding the name to generate revenue, which includes warehousing it and registering it only to transfer it on (Rules 1.4).
Neither clause names com.au, net.au or .au direct, and a licence holder can dispose of a licence by transferring it to an eligible third party, cancelling it, or failing to renew it (Rules 1.4).