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auDA's plan to tighten .com.au rules: what it means for your domain, and why a petition is fighting it
auDA has backed, in principle, removing the rule that lets a .com.au match what you sell. Nothing is final. What's proposed, what the petition claims, and what to check.
If your business’s .com.au describes what you sell or do, rather than matching your business name, a change being worked on by auDA, the body that runs the .au domain, could matter to you. A petition says it will hit millions of domains and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. auDA says nothing is final and there’s no requirement for an identical business name.
For how .au licences work generally, see our explainer on .au renewals, transfers and the direct .au.
What’s proposed
To hold a .com.au or .net.au, a business must be eligible (an ABN or ACN, for example), and the name must be connected to it in one of the ways set out in rule 2.4.4 of auDA’s Licensing Rules. Most tie the name to the business itself: a match or acronym of its company, business or personal name, or a match of its Australian trade mark.
Subparagraph (f) is the flexible one. It allows a name that is “a Match or Synonym of the name of” a service you provide, goods you sell, an event you run or sponsor, an activity you teach or facilitate, or premises you operate.
An independent Policy Advisory Panel has reviewed the rules. Its Final Report, dated August 2026, recommends “deleting subparagraph (f)”. It was the only one not made by consensus: four members voted for it, two supported keeping the current rule, and one abstained, later expressing support for the minority view.
The majority’s reasons, in the report:
- Registrants using the other pathways must provide documentary evidence, while those using (f) can qualify with minimal administrative barriers. The panel saw that as unfair to small businesses and start-ups “competing with investors” able to register multiple names for resale or defensive purposes.
- Allocation relies on a registrant warranty, and “feedback suggested those warranties are not always honoured”.
- Consumer harm “was most acute where monetisation was used to achieve allocation”, and AI has made pay-per-click websites easier to create.
The minority said the majority gave no “cogent evidence of any harm”, nor any count of registrants relying on (f), and that the recommendation doesn’t say “whether any transition or grandfathering arrangements would apply”. Public feedback was roughly evenly split.
What’s decided, and what isn’t
At its August meeting the auDA Board resolved to approve the panel’s recommendations “in principle” and directed management to prepare an implementation plan “that takes into account the impact of the Recommendations”.
auDA’s 25 September update says “No changes to the .au Licensing Rules have been finalised”, and that proposed changes “will be released for public consultation before they are considered by the Board and finalised”. The implementation plan “will consider the number and types of registrations that may be affected and any appropriate transition arrangements”.
Its review FAQs say timeframes “have not been finalised” and “there is no need to take action yet”. No consultation is open and no date has been announced.
What the petition says
A change.org petition, dated 20 September on change.org and started by an account named “au Accredited Registrar”, asks the Communications Minister, the shadow minister and the auDA Board to keep subparagraph (f). It had more than 1,300 signatures when we checked on 27 September.
How its main claims compare with auDA’s documents:
- About 2.7 million of 3.4 million names affected. auDA hasn’t published a count of names relying on (f), and the petition doesn’t say how it arrived at 2.7 million. The base is about right: auDA’s July 2026 figures show about 3.48 million .com.au and .net.au names. The panel minority suggested “potentially 1 million registrants” could be affected.
- Costs of more than $500 million up front and $200 million a year. The petition gives no basis for these figures. The only cost estimate in the Final Report is one submission’s figure of about $30 million a year, cited by the minority, which notes the panel did no costings of its own.
- Every domain will need an exactly matching business name. auDA says: “There is no current or proposed requirement … that will require businesses to hold an identical business name.” The other pathways stay, and “match” can mean some of the words in your name, in the same order, with nothing added. The Final Report does say removing (f) would effectively limit registrants to names that match their name, business name or trade mark.
- An ABN or ACN used to be enough. That overstates it. An ABN or ACN makes a business eligible, but the name has always also had to pass a connection test. Subparagraph (f) is the broadest one.
If some names end up needing a matching business name, auDA’s FAQs note ASIC charges $47 for one year or $108 for three. auDA’s update also points out that businesses trading under a name other than their own are already required by law to register a business name.
What it could mean for you
On our reading, the names at risk are ones that describe what you sell or do rather than who you are, and that don’t also match your company name, business name or trade mark.
The current rules require a holder to stay eligible at renewal, so without transition arrangements the change would bite at renewal or transfer. auDA says any change will come with guidance and “appropriate transition arrangements”, but not what they’ll be.
Checklist
- List your .com.au and .net.au names. Include every name the business holds, not just the website’s.
- Check how each name qualifies. Compare it with your company name, registered business name and any Australian trade mark: same words, same order, nothing added.
- Flag names that only describe what you sell or do. These are the ones that would rely on subparagraph (f).
- Don’t register extra business names just for your domains yet. auDA says there’s no need to take action yet. The legal duty to register a trading name still applies.
- Make a submission when consultation opens. Watch auDA’s Licensing Rules Review page for the draft rules, and tell auDA how many of your names rely on (f).
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Sources 8 sources
- auDA: .au Licensing Rules Review 2025 – Final Report (August 2026)
- auDA: .au Licensing Rules review recommendations: status and next steps (25 September 2026)
- auDA: .au Licensing Rules Review completed by external Policy Advisory Panel (6 September 2026)
- auDA: .au Licensing Rules Review 2025 (review page and FAQs)
- auDA: .au Licensing Rules Review – Summary of Recommendations
- auDA: .au Domain Administration Rules: Licensing
- auDA: Registry monthly statistics, July 2026
- change.org: Stop auDA's Policy Changes: Protect Australian Domains & Small Businesses (checked 27 September 2026)