| .AU Launch | Dates | Order Entry Deadline | First-come First-served (FCFS) | Suggested Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priority Allocation/Grandfather Phase | 24 March 2022 – 20 September 2022 | 16 September 2022 | No | Holders of existing third-level .au domains receive priority status for the corresponding top-level domain, and will be assigned a category for a Grandfather Phase. |
| Limited Registration | March 24, 2022 – Sept 20, 2022 | 16 September 2022 | Yes | Companies requesting a new .au domain, where there are no existing domains with priority rights |
| General Availability | Sept 20, 2022 | NA | Yes | This phase is open to all interested registrants. |
As an accredited registrar with the Australian top-level domain registry, auDA, we are pleased to be offering our clients the opportunity to secure one of the newest domain extensions – .AU. This new domain space will open up new naming opportunities as well as a shorter domain name for the Australian market. This means that businesses will soon be able to register company.au instead of company.com.au as their corporate domain.
This launch is bringing Australia in line with many other countries that offer top-level domains such as .DE, .FR and more recently .UK and .NZ.
Shorter namespace
Interesting shorter domains will be popular, and they help with branding and name recall, or used in URL shorteners when marketing in social media and offline media.
Local appeal
The pandemic has seen communities develop stronger national sentiment and preference for local goods and services. Together with the rise in digitalization and more consumers going online, using a .AU over generic .COM will be seen as more “Australian” and yield greater consumer approval and engagement.
Brand protection
In the case of .UK, the number of domain disputes rose by over 230%, after many brand owners failed to register relevant names in the Grandfather Phases, resulting in high number of third-party registrations.[1] For .AU, existing third-level holders can secure their rights to exact match names on the second-level. This leaves brand owners in particular, open to more competition for the same namespace, and should consider securing their rights early.
Timeline
Grandfather (Priority) Phase (Mar 24,2022 –Sep 20, 2022):
During this phase, registrants with an existing third-level .AU domain name will qualify for the matching top-level .AU domain name. The top-level domain will be reserved from registration by other parties. Privacy Protection is not allowed for this phase.
- Existing holders of any third-level .AU domain name, for example brand.com.au or brand.net.au, can register a matching domain name under the top-level brand.au
- Holders of existing third-level .au domains receive priority status for the corresponding top-level domain, and will be assigned a category for a Grandfather Phase.
- There are 2 priority categories to qualify for the Grandfather Phase. These will be assigned with priority.
- Priority Category 1 – The existing third-level .AU domain was registered before or on the cut-off date. The cut-off date is 04-Feb-2018.
- Priority Category 2 – The existing third-level .au domains was registered after the cut-off date and before the launch date.
Limited Registration (March 24, 2022 – Sept 20, 2022)
Will run in parallel with the priority/Grandfather period and here companies requesting a new .au domain, where there are no existing domains with priority rights, can register names immediately on a first come first serve basis.
General Availability (Sep 20, 2022):
This phase is open to all interested registrants. Once the 6 month priority period is closed unapplied domain names will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Privacy Protection is not allowed for this phase.
If you are considering registering a .AU domain name in this priority period, or how you can secure and protect your brand in this namespace, please reach out to your Client Service Partner.
[1] https://www.cscdbs.com/blog/domain-registrations-associated-with-new-tld-launches/
