Great news for our Aussie friends. The AU Registry (auDA) have relaxed the registrant policy to allow a registrant to transfer their domain name licence to another eligible entity, for any reason. This move effectively creates the marketplace for AU domaining .

This policy change will be in force for 1st June 2008. Key features of the policy are as follows:

• It will not be allowable to register a domain name for the sole purpose of resale or transfer to a third party
• Registrants will not be able to transfer their domain name for the first 6 months after the initial registration (this does not apply to domain names that have been renewed or previously transferred)
• After 6 months, registrants will be able to offer their domain name for sale/transfer by any means (eg. by listing the domain name for sale on a domain brokerage website, advertising the domain name for sale in a newspaper, or contacting a prospective buyer directly)
• The new registrant must comply with normal eligibility and allocation rules
• Registrant transfers will be processed by the registrar of record using a standard transfer form, and the registrar may charge a transfer fee
• Parties to a transfer will be asked to disclose the sale method and price, on a voluntary and confidential basis, so that auDA may collect aggregated statistical data to improve access to market information for buyers and sellers.

There are some interesting clauses in there. Not allowing domain names to be registered for the sole purpose of resale for one. If a site contains advertising but also a link for potential buyers, would that be in violation? The 6 month hold would also seem a barrier, but this only applies to new registrations. These will no doubt be topics of interest for the first ever Australian TRAFFIC conference in November.

** Uluru Sunset by ernieski, one of many artists who make their work under a Creative Commons license at Flickr - thank you!