Fact sheet 1: Second level (2LD) domain name categories and criteria

Staking your claim on the Web

A business guide to registering a web address

Domain (2LD)	Registry	Purpose	Criteria for registering	Prohibitions
.com.au	AusRegistry	For commercial entities. Includes commercial entities currently registered and trading in Australia, as well as commercial products and services.	Registrant must be registered and trading in Australia, as evidenced by a valid Australian Company Name, Australian Business Name, registered business name, or Australian Registered Trade Mark. The registrant contact must be a principal or employee of the applicant organisation. Agents who apply for domain names on behalf of their clients must not place themselves as the registrant contact.	Reserved List*, including use of an Australian place name
.net.au	AusRegistry	As for .com.au domain. Almost all of the domain names registered in this domain type tend to be net/communications related.	Same requirements as com.au.	Reserved List, including use of an Australian place name
.asn.au	AusRegistry	For 'associations'.	Registrant must be incorporated under specific state legislation, a political party, trade union, sporting or special interest clubs.	Reserved List
.org.au	AusRegistry	For non-commercial purposes.	Registrant must be a non-profit organisation or registered charity.	Reserved List
.id.au	AusRegistry	For individuals who are Australian citizens or residents	Registrant must be an Australian citizen or resident.	Reserved List

A number of the 2LDs are not open to the public as special rules apply or they are for a specific use, for example, gov.au is for government departments and agencies, edu.au is for education-related bodies and csiro.au is for the sole use of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
For information on global domain name categories and criteria refer to the ICANN website - www.icann.org