Update about registering AU domains using a Trust Entity

Recently we stopped accepting domain registrations where the registrant would be a "trust" entity directly because domains ending in "AU" can no longer be registered directly to a trust ABN entity. They can only be registered to a trustee of the trust.

The reasoning behind this is that auDA changed its policy in 2021 to no longer allow the trust entity to register domain names, however, most providers did not start implementing this restriction until recently (ourselves included).

More information about this rule can be found under section 2.4.4, point 2ii (see: https://www.auda.org.au/policy/au-domain-administration-rules-licensing#comau-netau) which indicates:

com.au and net.au namespace

2.4.4 A Person applying for a licence in the com.au and net.au namespaces must be

1. a commercial entity; and
2. the domain name applied for must be:
   
   (a) a match of the Person’s company, business, statutory or Personal name; or
   (b) an acronym of the Person’s company, business, statutory or Personal name; or
   (c) a match of the Person’s Australian Trade Mark; or
   (d) a match to or an acronym of a name of a related body corporate or
   (e) a match or an acronym of a name of:
   
   (i) a partnership of which the Person is a partner;
   (ii) a trust of which the Person is a trustee; or
   
   (f) a match or synonym of the name of:
   
   (i) a service that the Person provides;
   (ii) goods that the Person sells (whether retail or wholesale);
   (iii) an event that the Person registers or sponsors;
   (iv) an activity that the Person facilitates, teaches or trains;
   (v) premises which the Person operates
   
   and which that Person is providing at the time of the application.

2.4.5 Sub-paragraph 2.4.4(2) does not apply where a Person has established an Australian presence by relying on an Australian Trade Mark, the domain name must be an exact match to the words which are the subject matter of the Australian Trade Mark.

So what this means is that we will need to use the "Trustee of a Trust" ABN/ACN and if that Trustee is a trust, we will then require a trust-deed and the name of the person to have it under (i.e. "natural person").

auDA will check the entity type on the ABR lookup, and if the actual entity type is a Trust (any type of trust), then it is not the trustee of the trust (irrespective of the Entity Name).
In some cases, the trustee may be a natural person with no ABN or company associated with it, and this is noted in the trust deed.

If you are able to provide us with the trust deed, we will be able to review and see who the trustee of the trust actually is, and if there is no ABN/ACN and the Trustee of the trustee is a natural person we can manually register the Domain Name for you.

Another workaround to this is to register this domain name under the eligibility type, "Citizen/Individual" or, if you have another non-trust ABN, we can use that as well!

In any case, if you have any questions or issues regarding this, you are always welcome to let us know!