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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
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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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The
.pro gTLD was developed for use by certified professional
worldwide. At the present time, these certified professionals
are listed as: doctors, lawyers, and accountants. All .pro
domain name applicants will be required to provide verification
that they are qualified professionals in good standing in
their respective fields of practice.
