What's different for companies
For an individual, it's straightforward: the domain is tied to their personal account. For an organization, the administrator is the legal entity itself, and actions on its behalf are carried out by an authorized employee. That is why identification goes through the company's profile, not through the personal account of the director or a manager.
- the domain must be registered to the organization's legal details, not to a person;
- confirmation is performed by an employee authorized to act on behalf of the company;
- the domain data and the legal entity's data in the system must match;
- when the responsible employee changes, the link to the domain is not lost.
An organization's account in ESIA
Identification relies on a verified organization account in ESIA – the same system used for linking a domain to Gosuslugi. The company profile is created by the head of the organization or a person authorized to act without a power of attorney, using an enhanced qualified electronic signature.
What to check before you begin:
- the legal entity's account has been created and verified;
- the employee has a valid electronic signature;
- the employee's authority within the organization's profile has been set up;
- the company's legal details are entered without errors or typos.
Step-by-step procedure
The procedure itself is straightforward once the preparation is done. Technically it follows the general scenario we described in detail in the article how to link a domain to Gosuslugi, but the actions are taken on behalf of the organization.
- log in to the organization's profile in ESIA under an account with the required authority;
- find the section for confirming rights to the domain name;
- specify the domain and confirm ownership using the chosen method;
- verify that the domain data is registered to the legal entity's details;
- save the confirmation of administrator status.
The requirement to confirm the administrator is set out in Federal Law No. 569-FZ and applies to domains in the .ru, .рф (Russia's Cyrillic ccTLD) and .su zones.
Common difficulties
Most problems arise not during the procedure itself, but from the initial state of the company's domains. Typical situations:
- Several domains across different profiles. At a large company, domains were often registered at different times and held inconsistently – some under the organization, some under individuals.
- A domain held by an employee. A working website is registered to a former or current employee as an individual. Formally the owner is a person, not the company, and when they leave, the domain may leave with them.
- Mismatched legal details. Outdated data in the domain record does not match the legal entity's current details, and confirmation fails.
When there are many domains and their status is unclear, it makes sense to start with a domain audit: it will show what is registered and to whom, and suggest the order in which to bring things into shape.