.AU Domain Policies at Enom

.AU is the country code TLD (ccTLD) for Australia and is administered by auDA, the Australian Domain Name Administrator.

Registration

The Enom system will generate an order number after accepting a registration or renewal order, but this is not an indication of success. Enom will send a confirmation notice to your account email address once the non-real-time order has been processed or if the order has failed. The newly registered domain might take up to 48 hours to appear in the account. 

API users can track the status of non-real-time orders by using the GetOrderDetail command.

Important: The auDA Registry requires you, the reseller, to indicate that you are an Enom reseller somewhere on your website.

Registration requirements

We support the .COM.AU, .NET.AU, and .ORG.AU second-level domains.

The name length requirements for .AU domains are two to 63 characters before the TLD. We do not support IDNs for this TLD.

The TLD reference chart provides further details related to registration.

Note: The organization name must match the Australian Business Number (ABN) or Australian Company Number (ACN) information submitted.

Eligibility ID type

  • Either ABN, ACN or TM. Required for all .AU registrations.

Eligibility ID

  • The ABN, ACN or Australian Trademark number.
  • Required for all .AU registrations.
  • This number must correspond to the Eligibility ID Type that you chose.
    • For example, if the Eligibility ID Type is ABN, then you must enter that number in this field.
      Important: The number you enter in this field will be validated, and if you submit an incorrect number, the registration will fail.

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Residency requirements

All .AU domains require an Australian address. 

Secondary-level domain requirements

All secondary .AU TLDs domain names must be an exact match, abbreviation, or acronym of the Registrant's name or otherwise closely and substantially connected to the Registrant. The requirements, as stipulated by the registry, are as follows:

Secondary TLD  Requirements
.COM.AU and .NET.AU

To register a .COM.AU domain name, Registrants must be:

  1. A commercial entity; and
  2. The domain name applied for must be:
    • a match of the Registrant’s company, business, statutory, or Personal name; or
    • an acronym of the Registrant's company, business, statutory or Personal name; or
    • a match of the Registrant's Australian Trade Mark; or
    • a match to or an acronym of a name of a related body corporate; or
    • a match or an acronym of a name of:
      • a partnership of which the Registrant is a partner;
      • a trust of which the Registrant is a trustee; or
    • a match or synonym of the name of:
      • a service that the Registrant provides;
      • goods that the Registrant sells;
      • an event that the Registrant registers or sponsors;
      • an activity that the Registrant facilitates teaches, or trains;
      • premises which the Registrant operates
        and which the Registrant is providing at the time of the application.
  3.  If an Australian trademark is used, the domain name must be an exact match to the words of the subject matter of the trademark.
 .ORG.AU

Registrants must be a registered not-for-profit entity to register a .ORG.AU domain name. The domain name must be:

  • a match to or synonym of the name of one of the following:
    • a service that the Registrant provides;
    • a program that the Registrant administers;
    • an event that the Registrant registers or sponsors;
    • an activity that the Registrant facilitates teaches, or trains;
    • premises which the Registrant operates;
    • an occupation that its members practice;
      and which that Registrant is providing at the time of the application; or
  • a match of the Registrant’s legal name, business or statutory name, or the name of the unincorporated association; or
  • an acronym of the Registrant’s legal name, business name, or statutory
    name; or
  • a match of the Registrant’s Australian Trade Mark; or
  • a match to the name of a trust of which the Registrant is a trustee

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General requirements

You must submit some additional information about the Registrant when completing the registration form of any .AU domain name.

Since July 1, 2018, the .AU namespace migrated to a new registry operator, Afilias. The following changes were made after the maintenance period:

  • It is now possible to submit registration and transfer orders from one to five years.
  • Transfer and trade orders will default to a one-year term instead of two.

Note: These requirements apply to all new registrations, transfers in, and contact updates or changes.

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Renewals

Automatic and manual renewals are accepted while the domain is less than 90 days away from expiry. The renew-by/delete-by deadline is ten days before the expiration date. Renewal orders default to one year.

Important: The domain will enter a redemption state if it is not renewed by the delete-by deadline. There is no redemption fee for .AU, but it must be processed as a redemption order and the renewal fee must be paid to bring the domain back online. 

A .AU domain can be recovered up to 30 days past its expiry date. If the domain is not recovered by then, it will be removed from our system and will no longer be recoverable. The registry will purge the domain during the next purge cycle.

If it is not possible to recover the domain from within the account and it has not been purged by the registry, reach out to support. Include your domain name in the support request, agree to the renewal fee, and ask to have the domain restored. There is no guarantee, however, that support will be able to restore the domain.

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Changes in ownership

Ownership changes apply to .AU .ASN.AU, ORG.AU, .NET.AU, .COM.AU but not .ID.AU.

The current ownership information is visible in a Whois lookup at the registry for your domain:

AU Ownership Information.JPG

The ABN, ACN, Australian Trademark numbers, Eligibility Name, Type, and Registrant (owner) Name cannot be updated from the Enom account. Changing the ABN, ACN, or TM number requires a trade. The Registrant Name and Eligibility Name can generally be updated without a trade only if the requested name matches the entity name or business name in an ABN/ACN lookup, or the trademark information in a TM lookup. It is possible to update the other contact details visible in the Enom account without a trade.

Submit a verified support request to initiate a trade or to update the Eligibility information. An .AU trade costs $30 US.

Ensure the ABN, ACN, or TM is active and valid before engaging support. There are different sites to check depending on the ID type.

ID Type Verify At
Australian Business Number Australian Business Register
Australian Company Number

Australian Securities & Investments Commission

Note: Search within "Organization and Business Names"

Australian Trademark IP Australia

If the ID is inactive or deregistered, the registrant must either reactivate the registration or download, fill out, and sign the Transfer of Domain Name Chain of Title Form and the form that corresponds with their state or territory. The forms must be submitted to Enom support through a verified request along with the trade information as below.

and one of

If trading a .AU fill out the relevant forms with your trade request ticket:
If trading a .COM.AU, NET.AU, or ORG.AU follow these steps:
  • Submit a verified request to request a trade. The request must have the following statement and contact information:

    I agree to the trade fee of $30 USD. I understand that the new expiry date will be one year from the trade completion date.

    Domain Name:
    Registrant Name (must match the information in ABN/ACN lookup):
    Eligibility Name (must match the information in ABN/ACN lookup):
    Eligibility Type:
    Eligibility ID: 

    First Name:
    Last Name:
    Organization:
    Phone Number:
    Address:
    City:
    Country:
    State/Province:
    Postal Code:
    Email Address: 

    Enom Support will reply once after starting the trade process. At that point, the registrants will be able to download the owner change form to sign.

Registrants may contact the registry directly for more information.

A trade resets the registration period. The next renewal date will be one year from the trade date. 

Important: Submit the trade request at least 30 days before the domain's renewal date. The trade is a manual process at all levels, and sufficient time is needed to complete all of the steps.

Note: The owner change form will not be filled in with the trade information until after Enom support initiates the trade.

The document must be signed and emailed to au_trades@ispapi.net or printed and faxed to +49 6841 6984299. Please check it for accurate information to reduce processing time.

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Transfers

When the transfer request is submitted, an email is sent to the email address specified on the transfer form. There is a two-day window to approve or reject the request. The registry declines the transfer request if the owner does not approve the transfer request within two days.

  • There is no charge for .AU transfers unless the domain expires within 90 days. If the transfer takes place within 90 days before expiry, the domain will renew after the transfer is completed.
  • Successful incoming transfers will need to contact our support team to synchronize contact details from the registry.
  • Updating fields like ABN and ACN will not be possible as part of a transfer.  The owner must contact our support team to initialize a trade post-transfer to modify those fields.

Cancellation policy

We do not offer refunds on registrations or renewals of domains, but you may request to cancel the registration at any time by submitting a verified support request.

 Additional resources

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