| Top Level Domain .Pro Is Live NOW | 
| | | | 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.
The registry sponsoring .pro, RegistryPro, LTD, has not released a definitive timeline for the registration process of .pro domain names.
The .pro customer advantage
There are over 35 million certified professional lawyers, accountants and doctors in countries with high Internet penetration across the globe.
Market research shows professionals overwhelmingly prefer a restricted .pro name to a .com name.
Global census data shows professionals are higher wage earners and purchase more professional and marketing services than non-professionals
To build global awareness of the .pro brand, RegistryPro will launch extensive marketing campaigns through associations, as well as in conjunction with registrars, to educate targeted markets about the .pro difference.
.Pro Domain Registration .cpa.pro / .law.pro / .med.pro
Restricted to professionals and professional associations
Domain .pro FAQ
The offical Registry is open from 1.June 2004
 What is a .Pro domain name?
Why do I need a .Pro domain name?
How does .Pro works?
Who can register a .Pro domain name?
What are the basic eligibility criteria?
How will .Pro review the eligibility of registrants in the .Pro domain?
What is the Verification Process?
A .pro registrant may either be an individual professional or a professional Organization?
Personal Data?
Professional Data?
Definitions?
What is an A/V check:
How is the subject identified?
What are the different uses of Professional Certificate, & what types of applications can I use?
How is the subject identified?
New A/V checks must be done for every account renewal?
Certificate Revocation List on the web that can be visited at a link provided.
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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