Today’s blog post addresses the Change of Registrant (CoR) policy for your .au domain name from the perspectives of the key stakeholders involved; the registrant; the registrar and the registry.

A couple of weeks ago, we explained the process to transfer your .au domain name, and in this post we will again use the example of bonsaicactus.com.au so that the differences can easily be identified.

The Registrant

Let’s say you recently purchased the business ‘Bonsai Cactus’ from the previous owner, which included the domain name licence for the website bonsaicactus.com.au.

The CoR process kicks off after the original registrant has contacted their registrar to inform them of this change. As soon as you are aware that this step has been completed, you can ask them to forward the verification email associated with the CoR to your email address, and you can proceed with providing all of the new information including the ABN associated with the business and your registrant contact details.

The domain name lifecycle (or new domain name licence) will start the day the CoR is completed and the expiry date will be 1-5 years (depending on the length of registration) from the CoR date. The original creation date will not change because the domain name already existed before this transfer.

Unlike with a simple domain name transfer, there is a cost associated with a CoR as the registrant is in fact applying for a new licence. This cost varies across different .au registrars

The Registrar

When the new registrant’s details have been submitted, the registrar will need to make sure they are provided to the registry through the processes they have in place. The registrar must comply with auDA policy when processing CoR’s, as demonstrated in auDA’s CoR Policy.

To confirm that the CoR has been completed a WHOIS Lookup can be done, and the new registrant’s details should be reflected in the information listed.

The Registry

As the registry provider for .au domain names, Afilias AU receive the new licence details and new registrant information and update our database accordingly.

Afilias AU is responsible for supporting the overall security and stability of the .au namespace. Infrastructure upgrades and staff training continue to remain a priority for us as we work to ensure the best outcomes for .au.

If you have any feedback, a question or idea for a future blog post, you can reach us at blog@afilias.com.au