Certification Maintenance Program

Attention Members

To maintain your CEP, by January 31st of each year you must:

• Submit the Certification Maintenance Form
• Pay your $120 annual maintenance dues.
• Submit your annual maintenance points using the Manage Points Tab on the CEP EXPRESS web-link.
• In addition, please submit a brief bio by using the CEP EXPRESS web-link. Use your e-mail address as the username.

To maintain your CEP-IT, by January 31st of each year you must:

• Submit the Certification Maintenance Form; indicating 20 hrs of relevant effort.
• Pay your $60 annual maintenance dues.
• Prepare an annual plan (i.e. a brief description of your career goals and plans for meeting them). The annual plan must be reviewed by the CEP-ITs mentor prior to submittal.
• In addition, please take the time to update your contact information via the CEP EXPRESS web-link. Use your e-mail address as the username.

To pay your annual maintenance Dues

Send your Certification Maintenance Form and method of payment to: Academy of Board Certified Environmental Profesisonals, P.O. Box 42564, Towson, MD 21284-2564.

Please pay by check or include your Master Card or Visa information on the cover page of the Certification Maintenance Form where indicated. The form is in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You can print and mail/fax to ABCEP's office, or email it back to us as an attachment (PDF format).

Background on the Maintenance Program
The Academy has adopted criteria for individuals to maintain their Certified Environmental

Professional (CEP) status. The criteria identify and quantify activities approved by ABCEP to maintain certification. Under the Certification Maintenance Program, the CEP status of an environmental professional will lapse unless he or she remains active in the field. The program is set up so that CEPs earn hours and CEUs (continuing education units) for professional activities such as those listed below:

• Employment, consulting, or teaching
• Continuing education activities (seminars or trainings)
• Participation in or attendance at industry conferences
• Service on environmentally-related boards and committees
• Publishing papers in peer-reviewed journals

Certified Environmental Professionals can lose their CEP status (become "de-certified") based on:

• Insufficient professional development activities
• Non-reporting of activities
• Non-payment of fees
• Unethical behaviour

Certified Environmental Professional Continuing Certification Maintenance Form Explanation

Environmental professionals certified by the Academy must undertake 40 hours of continuing professional development credit each year to maintain their certification. The credited hours are tabulated beginning on January 1 after the date that a CEP's initial certification has been approved, and ending on the following December 31. For most professionals, 20 hours are earned for full-time employment. The remaining 20 hours may be earned at anytime during the year for activities listed in the table provided on the maintenance form. Persons who work part-time or who have a break in their employment should calculate their hours earned using the formula listed in the table. If the material contained in the form is unclear or does not appear to substantiate the minimum number of hours needed to maintain certification, the Academy will contact the person submitting the form to ensure that the submitted form accurately reflects activities undertaken over the past year.

CEPs must submit their Continuing Certification Maintenance Form along with their annual dues and complete the Points Details located on the Manage Points tab on CEP EXPRESS no later than January 31st of each year to maintain their certification for the ensuing year. Hours of continuing professional development are awarded based on the material included in these submissions. CEPs must keep records that substantiate the claims made in this form and must provide them for review if asked by ABCEP auditors. For questions concerning the CEP maintenance program, call 866-767-8073 or visit www.abcep.org.

Certification Maintenance Program reporting forms are sent to members in November of each year, along with the invoice for the annual dues. The form is also available on-line at www.abcep.org.

Emeritus Program

If you are retiring from the environmental field, you may apply for CEP Emeritus status. Click here for the form.

Purchase ABCEP merchandise (a new CEP seal, certificate, wall plaque, etc.). Please visit the ABCEP Products webpage.

To have questions about your dues or the requirements for maintaining certification, please contact ABCEP at the address below.

FAQs Privacy Statement

Academy of Board Certified Environmental Professionals
P.O. Box 42564, Towson, MD 21284-2564
Toll Free Tel: 866-767-8073 *** Fax: 410-254-5542
office@abcep.org