Today’s blog post explains what “direct” second level registration is and looks at what introducing .au means for Australian internet users.

First, it will help to define the players. We, Afilias Australia are the registry provider for .au domain names. The policy administrator and self-regulatory policy body of the .au ccTLD is auDA (.au Domain Administration). You or someone you know may be the owner of a .au domain name or an interested party for whatever reason.

A number of recommendations regarding direct second level registration were considered by the auDA Board in its meeting on May 20, 2019, and we are excited to announce that the decision has been made, and it is coming to .au in Q4 2019!

This is huge news and a very exciting time for the Australian internet community.

What exactly is direct registration?

To put it simply, “direct”, or second level registration will allow users to register a domain name at the second level, immediately before the .au. So, for example, you could register mycompany.au, in addition to mycompany.com.au or mycompany.net.au.

Direct registration will allow:

1) domain names ending in .au to be shorter,
2) more consumer choice and
3) the entire .au namespace to fall in line with international norms (Australia is the only OECD country that does not allow direct registrations in its country code domain).

This is a big change for the .au namespace and one that has been discussed and debated at length with the Australian internet community, government and at auDA.

What did the decision making process involve?

The first step in the decision making process was the development of auDA’s Policy Review Panel (PRP) to perform an in-depth review and make resulting recommendations on direct registration in .au.

The PRP worked to ensure that the Australian internet community fully understood the impact of direct registration. An extensive consultation process included calls for public comment, public forums and focus group participation. A full record of these consultations is available at auda.org.au.  

What happens next?

From now until launch, comprehensive policy development and technical work will be completed to ensure a smooth implementation in Q4 2019.

If you have submitted feedback throughout the process, or been involved in any way, we thank you for your contribution.

If you have any questions or comments please email us at blog@afilias.com.au