Tucows to discontinue .au domain name registrations for all Chinese resellers

Tucows’s reseller platform OpenSRS will no longer be able to provide .au domain name registrations to any reseller that is based in China.

This follows a formal direction Tucows was given by auDA, the registry for the Australian top-level domain, .au.

In a letter Tucows received, auDA is directing Tucows, under the terms of its accreditation agreement with auDA, not to deal with any reseller based in China in relation to .au domain names. auDA cited an increased number of complaints they have received in recent months regarding domains that were fraudulently registered using unauthorized Australian business information. Those registrations, as auDA determined, appear to have originated from resellers based in China.

OpenSRS is required to comply with auDA’s direction and will disallow all resellers who are based in China from any domain registration involving a .au domain name, regardless if those registrations would be fraudulent or not. Tucows understands that auDA’s measure may disrupt legitimate business of resellers, solely based on their location, and apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause to its resellers in this market.