The IAPP’s Continuing Privacy Education (CPE) policy has been going through some changes. A new policy is now in place, as of October 1, and you'll inevitably have some questions. So here we are to provide the information you need to make sure you keep your IAPP certification up-to-date.

Here's the big change: Certificants now have to earn 20 credits over a two-year recertification period, with at least 10 of those credits related to a topic on your designation’s body of knowledge (Group A credits) and up to 10 earned in general privacy, professional development or topics not represented on your designation's body of knowledge (Group B credits).

However, it’s important to note that while the policy itself takes effect October 1, existing certificants will not be required to follow it until the beginning of their next certification term.

So why did we change the policy? The answer is twofold.

As Certification Director Marla Berry, CIPT, explains, “First, we are working to have several of our certifications accredited by ANSI under ISO standard 17024. ISO requires that a certifying body ensures its certificants are pursuing continuing education in the specific disciplines for which they are certified. Therefore, we adjusted our requirements to guide certificants toward educational opportunities appropriate to their designation, while still giving them significant freedom of choice. And, secondly, we want our certificants to be able to earn CPEs in general professional development.”

For those who hold multiple designations, that will mean earning at least 10 Group A CPE credits for each designation.

“While that may seem like an onerous requirement, we allow CPEs to be applied to multiple designations if the educational content crosses disciplines,” Berry said, citing the example of a conference session on Safe Harbor satisfying CIPP/US and CIPP/E requirements. “Your Group B credits will be applied to all of your certifications, so there is no extra requirement in this category.”

And we here at the IAPP hope to make the process easier for you, as we’re working to label our content offerings with the designations and domains they apply to, and members of our Certification Team will be available to help offer guidance for non-IAPP content.

For more on the new policy and general information on CPEs, visit our website’s “Maintaining Your Certification” page.