auDA has accepted in principle a plan to scrap the close-and-substantial-connection rule, meaning a .com.au would have to match a legal name, registered business name or Australian trademark. Up to 2.7 million domains could be caught. Nothing is final, which is exactly why now is the time to check your eligibility.
The Take: Your .com.au web address is a brand asset you have been treating as owned when you have only ever leased it. A proposed rule change would let some businesses keep the domain they built on and force others to hand it back. Check your eligibility now, while this is still a draft rather than a deadline.
The change: auDA, the administrator of Australia's domain system, has accepted in principle a recommendation to scrap the "close and substantial connection" rule, as reported by SmartCompany. Today you can hold a .com.au that describes what you sell even when it does not match your registered name. Under the draft, a domain would have to match a legal name, a registered business name or an Australian trademark.
Who is exposed: Any operator whose best address is a category or product term rather than their company name. A plumber trading on a city-plus-service domain, or a retailer on a generic product domain, could learn the address they spent years marketing is no longer theirs to renew. Industry estimates put the number of Australian domains that could be caught between 2 and 2.7 million, on SmartCompany's reporting. A domain change is not cosmetic. It resets the search authority you have banked, breaks years of inbound links and forces every sign, invoice and profile to be redone.
Australian domains that could be caught by the proposed .[com.au](http://com.au/) eligibility change
The clock: Nothing is final. auDA will run public consultation before any change lands, so there is no forced action today. That is the reason to move now, while getting eligible is cheap and calm rather than urgent and expensive.
For Australian operators: