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NEWARK
– The New Jersey Division of Consumer
Affairs has launched its first mobile application
(“app”) that allows users to
access its license and registration database
and find information about the approximately
600,000 individuals who provide services
to the public, ranging from healthcare practitioners
to home improvement contractors.
The
“New Jersey Professional License”
app is available free of charge; users may
download it by visiting the Apple App Store
on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, and
searching for “New Jersey Professional
License.”
“We
are giving New Jersey’s consumers
a greater level of convenience and ease,
when they conduct research on the individuals
and businesses with whom they seek to do
business,” Attorney General Paula
T. Dow said. “The information we have
been making available to consumers via their
desktop computers, is now available to consumers
on the go.”
It
is vitally important for consumers to learn
whether a regulated professional has a license
or registration in good standing with the
Division of Consumer Affairs. The new application
allows users to directly enter a professional’s
name or business name, and select the license
or registration type (such as “Nursing,”
“Electrical Contractors,” “Master
Plumbers”) from a list.
The
service provides a block of information
including the individual’s license
or registration status, and whether the
appropriate licensing board has taken any
disciplinary action. Viewers can email the
results directly from the application. The
app draws from a database the Division of
Consumer Affairs updates once per day.
“Access
to our database now is literally right in
consumers’ hands with this iPhone
and iPad app,” said Thomas R. Calcagni,
Acting Director of the N.J. Division of
Consumer Affairs. “By making this
information easier to obtain, we’re
empowering consumers and making it more
difficult for unlicensed or unregistered
con men to deceive and defraud the public.”
The
Division of Consumer Affairs includes 46
licensing boards and committees responsible
for the regulation of 600,000 licensed professionals
statewide. Further information, including
the full list of boards and their requirements,
can be found at www.NJConsumerAffairs.gov.
Built
without using taxpayer money, the iPhone
Professional License Lookup is a product
of a partnership between the State of New
Jersey and the New Jersey Information Division
of NICUSA, Inc. New Jersey Information Division
of NICUSA, Inc., is the official eGovernment
partner of the State of New Jersey, helping
New Jersey government entities web-enable
their information services.
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