The au Domain Administrator (auDA) currently focuses its regulatory regime on registrars. The current system contains provisions for auDA to penalise registrars for the indiscretions of their resellers, and means auDA has limited contact with resellers itself.
In its Proposed changes to the regulation of registrar-appointed resellers(PDF) auDA outlines changes that will increase interactions between itself and registrar-appointed resellers, in the hopes it will increase industry compliance with auDA policies and the Code of Practice.
The changes include the removal of the AU$250 Reseller Notification Fee, which auDA claimed places an administrative burden on itself and may deter registrars from notifying auDA when a reseller agreement is signed. The wording of the Registrar Agreement will also be changed so that auDA has discretion over whether it holds a registrar accountable for the actions of its resellers. Under the present agreement it has no choice but to do so.
auDA also flagged its intent to audit the Web pages of "resellers with high market impact", and to establish a reseller e-mail list for direct communication between auDA and resellers.
Larry Bloch, the chief executive officer of registrar NetRegistry, welcomed the proposed changes. "The whole area of resellers had been an area of weakness in the introduction of competition to the au domain space," he told ZDNet Australia .
"auDA expected registrars to police resellers, and that was unworkable," said Bloch, pointing out there are over 600 resellers in Australia. He said that many resellers had felt "left out in the cold" by the regime and often felt ignored by auDA.
