Is membership the same as being certified?

No. A credential is earned by examination and attests to competence on the date of assessment. Membership is the standing relationship that keeps it current. A member who has not sat an examination has not been assessed and is never described as certified.

Do I have to be a member to sit an examination?

No. Any candidate may register for and sit any examination — the first year of membership is included with any paid examination. Keeping a credential in force after that year requires an active membership. The examination and the marking standard are identical either way.

Which route applies to me?

Individual membership is held by a person and follows them between employers. Corporate membership is held by an organisation and covers named staff, cohort administration and reporting. An organisation cannot hold a credential — only its people can.

Membership

The relationship, not the credential

A certification attests to competence on the date it was assessed. Membership is the standing relationship around it — the rate you pay to sit, the CPD that counts toward revalidation, and a say on scheme documents before they take effect.

§ 1 — Two routes

Choose by who is joining

The two plans differ in who holds the membership rather than in what the Council is worth to them. An individual membership follows a person between employers; a corporate membership is held by the organisation and covers named staff, the administration of a cohort, and the reporting a risk or L&D function needs.

For individualsRenewed annually

Individual Membership Plan

Professionals in AI assurance, risk, audit and governance — whether or not you hold a credential yet.

What it carries →

For organisationsRenewed annually · by enquiry

Corporate Membership

Two separate products: certification seats for your own staff (Enterprise), and affiliation with the Council as a member organisation. Take either, or both.

What it carries →

§ 2 — Separation

Membership is not certification

The two are earned separately. You may be a member without a credential, and anyone may sit any examination — the first year of membership is included with any paid examination. From then on, an active membership is what keeps a credential in force: lapse, and the credential expires with it.

Joining assesses nothing. A member who has not passed an examination has not been assessed, may use no post-nominal, and does not appear on the public register as a credential holder. Describing membership as certification is a breach of the code of conduct, and it is the misuse the public register exists to make checkable.

Membership buys no advantage in assessment. Members and non-members sit the same examination, marked to the same standard, and assessors are not told which a candidate is. What membership changes is the fee, not the mark.

§ 3 — Apply

Apply for membership

Individual membership is US$165 a year. There is no charge to apply, and applying commits you to nothing until you accept the member agreement.

Apply — candidate portal