Credentialing Renewals

EVENT SPONSORS
Apply for your event to receive CEU credit in two easy steps:

1) Purchase an application fee below through the NAP Bookstore.

2) You will receive an email confirmation with a link to complete the application.

Remember only the sponsoring organization may submit for CEUs and only one submitted form per event, with all presenters and CEU activities on the same form.

The event sponsor will submit the CEU renewal reporting form following the close of the event.

National Association of Parliamentarians > Credentialing > Renewals

How do I keep my credentials?

The credentialing renewal process helps ensure a member’s continuing knowledge and understanding of parliamentary procedure. The renewal cycle repeats every two years to make sure skills stay refined and education is ongoing.

Registered Parliamentarian Renewal Policy
A Registered Parliamentarian must complete 10 hours of continuing education unit (CEU) credits — including one hour of Professional Responsibility, every two years — to qualify for renewal, and must submit a certification statement in the last year of the renewal period.

Professional Registered Parliamentarian Renewal Policy
A Professional Registered Parliamentarian must complete 15 hours of continuing education unit (CEU) credits — including two hours of Professional Responsibility, every two years — to qualify for renewal, and must submit a certification statement in the last year of the renewal period.

Proviso
The current renewal process, the Professional Renewal Certification, will remain an option to renew for current Professional Registered Parliamentarians until December 31, 2025. The CEU renewal process takes effect on January 1, 2024. However, any educational content presented after September 1, 2023, may be submitted for CEUs.

Credentialed members and organizations sponsoring events that offer CEU credits can find more information about CEU guidelines and requirements here: CEU Frequently Asked Questions

Renewing Parliamentary Credentials

A continuing education model is established for the renewal of all credentialing programs.

Educational events that are sponsored by the National Association of Parliamentarians automatically receive continuing education units. However, other entities, including NAP’s association and units, may want to offer parliamentary education and request that attendees receive continuing education units that qualify for NAP renewals.

There are minimum standards that a third-party entity must meet to be eligible for approval. Those standards are partly based on the expectation that the shared content is consistent with NAP’s Body of Knowledge and the Commission on Credentialing policies.

For participants to receive continuing education units (CEU), the following criteria must be met:

Participation in a NAP national educational event; or
Participation in an educational event approved to award continuing educational unit by the Commission on Credentialing. If an outside entity requests an educational event to qualify for CEUs, the Commission may require the ability to audit the educational offering.
Credits will not be awarded for participation in identical educational events.

Continuing education credits are awarded on the following timing scale:

0-29 minutes – 0 credit
30-49 minutes – 0.5 credits
50-74 minutes – 1 credit
75-89 minutes – 1.5 credits
90-120 minutes – 2 credits

The Commission may approve an alternative amount of educational content in unique circumstances.

Certain guidelines must be considered when calculating credits and the following will not be counted for credit:

Breaks (meal, snack, or coffee breaks);
Opening and closing remarks;
Business meetings; or
Any other time that is not dedicated to educational content

Only actual attendance earns credit.

Additionally, the presentation must be clearly identified on the agenda to qualify for professional responsibility credit. Subjects that qualify for professional responsibility credit include ethics, professionalism, malpractice prevention, and items related to the Joint Code of Professional Responsibility for Parliamentarians.

Professional Responsibility CEU programs will address the Joint Code of Professional Responsibility and tenets of the parliamentary profession by which a parliamentarian demonstrates civility, honesty, integrity, fairness, competence, and ethical conduct. Professional Responsibility CEU may also address malpractice prevention and technology.

Malpractice Prevention programs provide training and education designed to prevent parliamentarian malpractice. The programs focus on developing systems, processes and habits that reduce or eliminate parliamentarian errors. The programs may cover issues like meeting deadlines, properly protecting digital client information, appropriate client communications, avoiding and resolving conflicts of interests, and proper ways to terminate or withdraw from client representation.

Programs addressing the ethical tenets of other disciplines and not specifically pertaining to parliamentary ethics are not eligible for Professional Responsibility CEU credits but may meet the requirements for general CEU credit.

Instructor Policies

Instructors of approved educational content are entitled to receive the number of credits based on the timing scale times three. For example, an instructor who teaches a one-credit educational event is entitled to receive three credits for renewal. The Commission prefers that all instructors maintain an active NAP credential; however, non-credentialed instructors must be approved and any credentials, education, or experience will be reviewed for appropriateness for the material being offered.

CEU Reporting

Members will not need to report CEUs that they received from attending a national NAP event. The Commission may require, at national events, a check-in system be implemented to track attendance properly.

Entities, including NAP units and associations, must report the name of the course/topic, member names, member ID numbers, and the number of credits a participant received using the form “CEU Renewal Reporting Form”.

CEU-related questions should be directed to the Commission on Credentialing at .

Renewal Policies

Applications may be submitted using the online form by the sponsoring organization
The Commission establishes the following fee structure for CEU applications per event or course:
1. NAP Units and Associations – No Fee Required
2. Non-profit educational entities – $50
3. For-profit entities – $100
4. Any application fees, if applicable, must be paid online by the sponsoring organization using the bookstore checkout form and may be paid after the request form is submitted; however, requests will not be considered unless the required fee is paid.
Applications must be submitted 30 days before the event.
Programs should be conducted substantially as advertised, subject to emergency substitutions or withdrawals.
Substantive written materials must be available to all participants regardless of the delivery method.
The program should be held in a comfortable physical setting equipped with suitable writing surfaces for in-person programs.
All programs must deal primarily with matters related to the parliamentary procedure, doing business as a parliamentarian, or professional responsibility.
For in-person programs, providers must conduct a sign-in of attendees at the beginning of the morning session. An additional sign-in before the afternoon and evening sessions is required for all in-person programs.
For virtual programs (i.e., webcasts, webinars, video conferences, recorded programs), providers must have an acceptable method for verifying attendance. A parliamentarian’s personal attestation that the course was completed is not considered sufficient.
The provider must report attendance using the sponsor attendance reporting portal on the Commission’s Portal. Sponsors must report the information to the Commission within 30 days of the event. Sponsors should retain attendance information for two years.