Today’s blog post looks at “closed” second level domain names, including .gov.au, .edu.au and csiro.au and how these domain names are used. 

To put it simply, a “closed” second level domain name is reserved for certain registrants and its use is only granted once eligibility has been verified. 

The Digital Transformation Agency and .gov.au

The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA)’s primary role is to ‘help government improve digital services to make them simple, clear and fast.’

DTA offer .gov.au domain names through a specialised service, domainname.gov.au. These types of domain names are restricted to authorised employees from certain Australian government entities within Australia. More information on eligibility and use of .gov.au domain names is available here.

Education Services Australia and .edu.au

Education Services Australia ‘is a sustainable education service provider, working collaboratively in the interests of all Australian education jurisdictions to provide technology-based services for education.’ 

These services include the provision of a domain name registrar for eligible bodies to register a .edu.au domain name. These types of domain names are restricted to registered educational or training entities based in Australia. For more information on eligibility criteria and use of .edu.au domain name visit domainname.edu.au. 

CSIRO and csiro.au 

CSIRO represents the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national research and science agency, whose origins date back to 1916. As indicated on the auDA website, csiro.au is for the sole use of and managed by the CSIRO. Therefore, it is not available for registration by any other entity.

The launch of second level registrations in .au next year will mean that all available second level domain names will be “open” and anyone with an Australian presence will be eligible to register one (eg example.au). However, restrictions will continue to ensure that the aforementioned “closed” domain names will remain available for authorised use only, as a measure of security for the Australian namespace.

Have some feedback, a question or idea for a future blog post? Email us at blog@afilias.com.au