Thanks to an upcoming regulatory change, all websites will have the opportunity to go pro.
Beginning on the effective date of November 16, 2015, .PRO will become an unrestricted TLD open to all registrants. This change is a result of the renewal of the .PRO registry agreement under new terms recently entered into between the .PRO registry and ICANN.
Since its launch in 2002, .PRO eligibility has been restricted to certain specified professions, such as lawyers, physicians, engineers, and other licensed professionals. Registrants were required to maintain proof of licensure and provide supplemental data (such as profession, authority name, authority URL, and license number) at the registry’s request or risk losing their domains. The new contract eliminates these restrictions and procedures, enabling the .PRO domain to compete on a level playing field with the other generic domain extensions such as .com, .net, and .org that are marketed to registrants regardless of their professional standing.
From November 16 forward, .PRO registration requests no longer need to include the supplemental data mentioned above. Opening the .PRO domain to all registrants creates a significant opportunity for those who were not eligible in the past. The .PRO domain will continue to be marketed as the domain for professionals, but the target market will expand dramatically to include businesses, service providers and individuals who consider themselves to be a “PRO.”
For more information on registering a .PRO domain, visit our website.