Board approves changes that would make it difficult, if not impossible, to register generic/dictionary word domains.
auDA, the organization responsible for managing Australia’s .au country code domain namespace, has approved a significant change to registration requirements that will affect how many third-level .com.au and .net.au domains are registered.
Under the new policy, auDA will remove the clause in the registration agreement that currently allows registrants to obtain many generic third-level domains. This clause, commonly referred to as the “Close and Substantial Connection” test, has for years allowed individuals, businesses and organisations to register descriptive or dictionary-word names under .com.au and .net.au when those names had a clear connection to the registrant’s activities or identity.
The timing and scope of this change are notable because most of the roughly 4.4 million domains in the .au registry are third-level registrations under .com.au and .net.au. As of July, the majority of these names were registered at the third level. The proposed rule change effectively removes the Close and Substantial Connection pathway for those registrations.
Intellectual property practitioners and domain professionals have highlighted the kinds of registrants who would be affected. Typical examples include small local businesses and community groups that use descriptive domain names tied to their activity or event. Examples discussed by domain experts include a local bakery that uses applepies.com.au to promote its pies, a mortgage broker using mortgagebrokersydney.com.au to describe services in a specific city, and a primary school creating a temporary site such as MPSFete2026.com.au to promote an annual fundraiser.
Under the new rules, many of these registrants would need to either register a business name that exactly matches the domain they wish to hold or secure a trademark for the term. Both options present practical barriers: business name registrations are not always feasible or appropriate for every community group or small trader, and trademarks are more difficult and costly to obtain—especially for common descriptive terms and dictionary words.
The policy shift also has major implications for domain investors and those who monetise descriptive domain names. AuDA’s advisory panel identified concerns about domain name monetisation and speculative registrations—registrants acquiring descriptive names to earn advertising income or to resell later. However, critics of the change point out that monetisation of descriptive domain names is a widespread international practice, and the panel’s report does not quantify the scale of harm said to result from the current pathway.
The board’s decision follows recommendations from a Policy Advisory Panel established last year to review licensing and registration rules. The panel produced a set of recommendations addressing licensing, registration pathways and policy objectives, and the auDA Board has approved those recommendations. Observers have noted a tension between recommendations that state monetisation may continue to be permitted and the simultaneous removal of the main registration pathway that has enabled many of those monetised registrations.
Industry voices have warned that the practical impact will be large. Executives in the domain sector estimate that well over one million registrations could be affected, with the potential for the number to exceed two million. Such a reduction in qualifying registrations would constitute a material change to auDA’s registration base and could affect revenue projections that rely on ongoing domain renewals and growth figures.
auDA is expected to develop an implementation plan to manage the transition. The organisation has stated that it will prepare an Implementation Plan that considers the impact on registrants and will draft proposed changes to the .au Licensing Rules in line with the panel’s recommendations. How the implementation plan handles existing registrations will be particularly important.
Many stakeholders are urging auDA to adopt transitional measures, such as grandfathering existing registrants or providing a clear, practical pathway that minimises disruption for small businesses, community groups and site owners who registered descriptive names under the current rules. Without careful implementation, the change risks disrupting legitimate uses of descriptive domains and reducing confidence in the stability of the .au namespace.
The coming months will be critical as auDA moves from recommendation approval to rule drafting and implementation. Registrants, registrars and industry groups will be watching closely to see how the organisation balances policy objectives against the real-world needs of the many Australians who use .com.au and .net.au names for commerce, community and communication.