Not a technical issue but one which will nevertheless be of interest to subscribers to this list. At the July summit held by ISOCNZ to discuss issues relating to ICANN and DNS policies, a member raised a question about the apparent lack of reciprococity between Australian DN allocation policies and those of NZ and whether this was an issue which should be dealt with under the CER arrangements. Because there is no restriction on who may register in .co.nz, any Australian firm wanting to e-trade in NZ using an apparently indigenous address can do so. But, because registration in .com.au is restricted to Australian firms, NZ firms wishing to trade in Australia using an apparently Australian indigenous address may be disadvantaged. We (MED) raised this as an issue in the context of the biennial review of CER arrangements but it was somehow sidelined. We have finally got an answer to the question. While this has been a problem in the past, New Zealand firms are now able to acquire an Australian Business Number (ABN) for GST registration purposes. The converse has long been true: Australian firms can register in NZ for GST and thus acquire a NZ GST number. I have received confirmation today from Jan Webster, Manager, Policy Implementation, Internet Names WorldWide, a division of Melbourne IT Ltd, that any firm with an ABN qualifies for registration in the .com.au space. They also accept applications from foreign companies which have an ARBN and are therefore registered to trade in Australia. In both cases there are other non-residency requirements that need to be met as well, of course. You may wish to pass this information on to anyone with an interest in this area. Frank March Specialist Advisor, IT Policy Group Ministry of Economic Development, PO Box 1473, Wellington, NZ Ph: (+64 4) 474 2908; Fax: (+64 4) 471 2658 --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog