Our last article in regards to auDA not giving a potential new Registrar a fair go seems to have caused quite a stir in the domain industry.
I can confirm on Thursday afternoon (April 29) that I spoke with two auDA representatives who said they were going to apologise for the delay in responding to Cam Bell at DropCatcher.com.au in regards to his Registrar Application and would be working with him closely over the coming weeks to continue assessing him as he progresses through the application process.
Both representatives reiterated it is deliberately a thorough and rigorous process to become an auDA Accredited Registrar and DropCatcher will have to continue to pass all the requirements. Of course, none of us would want it any other way. We only want trusted, capable and professional domain name Registrars housing our most important Australian online brand names on the internet. And we want CHOICE and COMPETITION, which means we need capable NEW Registrars entering the market every few years.
If Drop Catcher is successful in becoming a Registrar over the coming months, this will be the first new local Registrar coming into the market to shake things up for over 6 years.
It appears the biggest hold up for DropCatcher becoming a Registrar is Clause 2.2 which reads:
“As a pre-requisite for lodging an accreditation application with auDA, you must have had at least 6 months continuous experience as an appointed reseller of an auDA accredited registrar.”
And, technically, DropCatcher.com.au has only been running as an “appointed reseller” since the beginning of this year…
However, Clause 2.2 in auDA’s own Accreditation Application also states:
“auDA may, at its own discretion, agree to waive this requirement if you are able to demonstrate an alternative, equivalent level of experience.”
I think the most frustrating thing for Mr Bell is, he has proven to auDA multiple times that he has over 17 years of “equivalent level experience”, so surely they can wave the last few months DropCatcher has to wait for provisional approval according to the above 6-month clause?
Especially, as Ned O’Meara (domain industry veteran) most aptly recently pointed out on his Linked In:
Good luck in progressing with your application this week Cam and the DropCatcher team!
Personally, I felt that the two auDA Representatives I spoke to on Thursday have genuinely been under the pump with launching .au Direct and have now genuinely listened to the community’s concern last week and are at least now back in communication with Mr Bell to continue assessing his application.
Assets Australia will be sure to keep you up to date with how this situation progresses.
The auDA Registrar Accreditation Criteria is available for anyone to read, as well as the Registrar Application Form, and if you think you have what it takes to apply to become an Australian domain name Registrar, you should have a go too!
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