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What is a .Pro domain name? 
A .Pro domain name is the first and only restricted top-level domain exclusively
for professionals, approved and regulated by the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and operated by RegistryPro. It
is a bundled security offering of a profession-specific domain name, (med.pro,
law.pro or cpa.pro) along with a professional verification and professional
level digital certificate to enable secure email communications.
Why do I need a .Pro domain name?
Professionals who have a heightened security and privacy obligation will
benefit from the easy to implement and use .Pro domain name and professional
level certificate. Professionals in the legal, medical and accounting
fields have an obligation to keep client records, communications and personal
information secure and private. With .Pro, emails can be digitally signed
and encrypted which enable privacy.
How does .Pro works?
A .Pro domain name is issued to professionals who self-certify that they
meet the eligibility requirements and pass a verification process. Once
they pass, they are issued a digital certificate which can be downloaded
to your computer for use in digitally signing and encrypting email communications.
A professional level digital certificate provides the following levels
of digital trust: Authentication - provides proof of a digital identity
Confidentiality - maintains privacy and confidentiality of content Integrity
- ensures the content has not been changed or altered Non-repudiation
- provides proof that the communication was sent.
Who can register a .Pro domain
name?
At this time, only members of the medical, legal and accounting professions
will be eligible to register for .Pro domains.
The .Pro professional eligibility requirements are intended to restrict
domain name registrations within the .Pro top-level domain to persons
and organizations that are licensed or otherwise credentialed by the appropriate
government agencies or organizations to provide professional services
to the public in the legal, medical and accounting fields.
Eligible registrants may reigster as one of three major profession-specific
domains:
.law.pro .cpa.pro .med.pro
In the future, variations of these domains will be available to take
into account local, professional and linguistic differences in the various
regions in which .Pro domain names will be offered (e.g., .avocat.pro,
.bar.pro, .recht.pro, and .jur.pro).
What are the basic eligibility
criteria?
Generally, to be in compliance with the professional eligibility requirements,
a registrant must be either:
1. An individual who is currently licensed as (i) a Certified Public Accountant,
(ii) a physician (including a medical doctor), or (iii) an attorney at
law, who is currently licensed in one of the 50 United States or the District
of Columbia; or,
2. An organization, that provides accounting, legal or medical professional
services, and has an employee who satisfies one of the above criteria
and registers on behalf of such entity or organization. Examples of such
organizations include: accounting firms, hospitals, legal publishers,
medical supply companies, or even the law department of a large company.
Registrants outside the 50 United States are eligible for Defensive Name
Registrations. Additional jurisdictions will be added shortly.
All .Pro domain name registrants must remain in compliance with the professional
eligibility requirements at all times during their registration.
When will .Pro be launching in markets other than the US? The .Pro domain
will only be available to professionals who hold licenses in the United
States at the initial launch. As verification methods are established
in overseas jurisdictions, .Pro will become available globally, quickly.
In the meantime, Defensive registration will be available for international
customers who want to protect their trademarks defensively or secure their
.Pro domain name until such time that .Pro domain names may become available
in their jurisdictions.
What information must be provided as proof of eligibility for a .Pro domain
name?
All applicants will need to submit personal and professional information
in order to be eligible for a .Pro domain. Information will include but
is not limited to: country of residence, full legal name, home address,
date of birth, last four digits of social security number, type of profession,
jurisdiction, professional license number, date issued, name as it appears
on license, address where professional license was issued.
How will .Pro review the eligibility
of registrants in the .Pro domain?
What distinguishes the .Pro TLD from other domain extensions is its unique
registration requirements. RegistryPro will require that registrants self-certify
that they are professionals who meet the requirements of their profession
and jurisdiction and provide information license and identity information
which can be independently cross-referenced either through an online review
process or a manual verification process established by an authorized
Registrar.
Will eligibility be reviewed again after registration? Eligibility for
registration in the .Pro domain will be verified at the time of registration
and will also be periodically re-verified, at a minimum annually, at the
time of a registrants' digital certificate annual renewal.
Is this a real-time registration? No, to ensure a high level of security,
.Pro registrations are multi-stage and require an out-of band process
to provide some assurance that the registrant is who they represent themselves
to be.
What is the Verification Process?
Registrars shall enforce the Professional Eligibility Requirements and
must verify the personal identity of each registrant as a condition of
registration. To satisfy the registration requirements, Registrars may:
(i) contract with RegistryPro for individual identity and professional
verification services, (ii) conduct personal identity and professional
eligibility verification manually, or (iii) contract with other third-parties
for automated verification services.
What personal and professional information will a registrant have to provide
to the Registry to successfully complete the authentication and verification
process known as the "AV Check"? Professional Eligibility: All
registrants of resolving .pro domain names must demonstrate that they
meet the professional eligibility requirements of the .pro registry. Eligibility
is demonstrated by presenting a set of personal authentication and professional
verification (A/V) data. The accuracy of the A/V data must be verified,
and it must be confirmed that the individual indicated by the A/V data
is aware of and authorized the initiation of the check. This person must
be given the power to approve or veto any actions, such as completion
of the registration of a domain name, that may be taken as a result of
a successful check.
A .pro registrant may either
be an individual professional or a professional organization?
When the registrant is an organization, there must be a qualifying professional
who meets the normal eligibility standards for an individual registrant.
This individual must certifiy that they are an employee of the registrant
organization and that the organization provides services directly related
to the individual's profession.
Please refer to the RegistryPro website for a complete description
of professional eligibility for the .pro restricted gTLD.
The following A/V data must be provided to the Registry for the subject
of the A/V check:
Personal Data?
• Full Name
• First
• Middle
• Last
• Suffix
• Home Address
• Street (up to 3 fields)
• City
• State
or Province
• Postal Code
• Country
• Date of Birth
• Last Four Digits of Social Security Number |
Professional
Data?
• Type of Profession (Medicine, Legal, Accountancy)
• Jurisdiction
(A US State or DC)
• Professional License Number
• Date
Issued
• Name as it Appears on License
• First
• Middle
• Last
• Suffix
• Address to Which Professional License
was Issued
• Street (up to 3 fields)
• City
• State
or Province
• Postal Code
• Country |
What is a RegistryPro professional certificate?
A RegistryPro professional certificate is a sophisticated personal digital
certificate which can be issued to professionals who have self-certified
their professional status, as well as going through an Authentication
and a Verification process. In the future, these individuals may also
have access to SSL server certificates among other retail and managed
certificates for both their professional and nonprofessional staff and
clients. However, at this time, RegistryPro is only offering this type
of certification with a .pro domain name.
Definitions?
Applicant: The individual licensed professional that is applying for the
digital certificate who is, or is employed by, the Registrant registering
the domain name. Registrant: The entity that will be holding the domain,
or the prospective domain holder. Refers to either the professional himself
or herself, or an entire professional organization. Qualifying professional:
Organizations registering a .pro domain name must have an individual licensed
professional who meets the requi rements for the domain name, and is able
to certify the eligibility of the organization. This individual is the
Qualifying Professional. Certificate subject: The individual associated
with the digital certificate's cryptographic key. They must have successfully
completed the A/V check in order to become the certificate subject.
What is an A/V check:
This is a process completed by RegistryPro in order to verify the professional's
license and authenticate their personal information. This is done to confirm
the professional does meet the requirements of becoming a .pro digital
certificate holder and the registrant of a .pro domain.
What are some of the business rules applied with Professional Certificates?
RegistryPro Professional Certificates are issued at the time of a .pro
domain name registration. Successful completion of the A/V check also
qualifies the individual to receive a RegistryPro professional certificate
account. One account can be opened for every successful A/V check. This
account is only available to either the registrant or the qualifying professional.
Only one original certificate, and up to two replacement certificates
will be issued per year without additional charges. For each certificate,
only one email address can be used. Any type of email address can be used.
Any changes to email address require that a new certificate be issued,
as stated above, only two replacement certificates will be issued per
year without additional charge. The RegistryPro digital certificate is
independent of any domain names that the certified individual may have
registered in their name. The only time an associated domain name will
be identified is if it is part of the professional's listed email contact.
A confirmation receipt will be sent to the listed email contact in order
to verify the accuracy of the contact information provided. Upon completion
of the A/V check, the certificate must be issued within 30 days. If it
is not, the certificate account cannot be opened, should an account be
opened, it will be automatically closed.
There is a chance that some registrants may submit their personal criteria
to the Registry and not pass their authentication process. If this occurs
they will be given 2 retry attempts to correct the personal information
within a 60 day period. If they fail the authentication, the domain will
be revoded with no refund awarded.
How is the subject identified?
An A/V check is processed, and if the subject's check is successful, and
they meet the specified requirements they are given a certificate acc
ount and are able to issue certificates that identify them as the certified
subject. The certificate has a unique serial number, which can be used
to identify the subject's certificate account. The account is associated
with the information obtained during an A/V check.
What are the different uses of
a RegistryPro Professional Certificate, and what types of applications
can I use?
What are the different uses of a RegistryPro Professional Certificate,
and what types of applications can I use? The digital certificates can
be used to encrypt messages, verification of a digital signature, email
non-repudiation, and other possible applications. With a digital certificate
the public key can be used to send private messages to the subject, messages
sent will show any signs of t ampering that may have occurred, authentication
checks are performed on those who send messages, the presence of digital
signature can be used to commit the subject to agreement with a legal
document, and the private key associated with the certificate may be used
to serve as authori zation for admittance to particular secure internet
sites and servers.
What exactly does the process of setting up and managing a Certificate
account involve? First the certificate account must be created. Registering
a .pro domain name, will involve authentication of personal data and verification
p rofessional information by RegistryPro. After the domain name is activated,
the subject will be prompted to set up an account. The account can be
accessed by following a link provided by us through an E-mail sent after
the registration of the domain. The E-ma il will contain a user ID and
password that must be used to gain access to the site, and any information
sent will be sent over a secure conne ction. Changes to the Certificate
Account information must be made by logging into the account with the
user ID and password. Should the user ID information be lost, access to
the account can be gained by answering some specific indicative questions,
after which point, a new password will need to be created. Professionals
must submit a request to obtain any additional issuances of digital certificates.
The certificate can be revoked by RegistryPro, or as per request of the
subject at any time for a number of reasons. The certificate can then
be reissued using th e same policies and procedures as the original.
New A/V checks must be done for
every account renewal?
New A/V checks must be done for every account renewal. All certificates
must be revoked before the account can be closed, and the account may
be closed at anytime following its setup.
What are the charges involved with certificate accounts?
The initial fee covers the cost of domain registration, creation of certificate
accounts with one original certificate issuance and two replac ement certificates.
There are no refunds.
How do I confirm if my certificate has been revoked?
All certificates that have been revoked before the expiration date are
listed on the
Certificate Revocation List
on the web that can be visite d at a link provided on the certificate
itself.
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