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E C O C A N A D A — E P a n d E P t M e m b e r G u i d e
MEMBER GUIDE
ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONAL (EP)
ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONAL IN-TRAINING (EPt)
E C O C A N A D A — E P a n d E P t M e m b e r G u i d e
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Welcome to the EP Community ........................................................................................................... 3
Annual Maintenance .............................................................................................................................. 3
Annual Requirements ............................................................................................................................ 3
Term Renewal ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Term Renewal Requirements ............................................................................................................... 4
Certification Maintenance Requirements ........................................................................................ 4
Profile and Contact Information.......................................................................................................... 4
Professional Development .................................................................................................................... 4
Fees........................................................................................................................................................... 5
Ongoing Competence Criteria .............................................................................................................. 5
Professional Development Activities .............................................................................................. 6
Employment Requirements .............................................................................................................. 8
Credit Verification ............................................................................................................................. 9
EPt Training Framework ....................................................................................................................... 9
EP Code of Ethics and Disciplinary Action ..................................................................................... 10
Alteration of a Designation ................................................................................................................ 10
Voluntary Suspension of a Designation ........................................................................................... 10
Change of Designation Status ............................................................................................................ 10
Adding Specializations ........................................................................................................................ 11
EP ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
EPt ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Upgrading from EPt to EP ................................................................................................................... 11
How to Contact ECO Canada Staff .................................................................................................... 11
E C O C A N A D A — E P a n d E P t M e m b e r G u i d e
Welcome to the EP Community To ensure your designation remains in good standing, members must meet the annual requirements each year as well as complete the Term Renewal process every 5 years by their 5-year anniversary. In this guide, membership requirements for two different titles will be outlined:
• Environmental Professional (EP) • Environmental Professional in-training (EPt)
Annual Maintenance All EP designations have annual requirements which must be met each year leading up to the April 1 annual member renewal date. Members will receive an email in February in advance of the renewal date, at which time they should login to their account and complete the following requirements.
Annual Requirements Further details on each of these requirements can be found in the ‘Certification Maintenance Requirements’ section of this guide, but briefly:
DESIGNATION INITIAL MEMBERSHIP FEE
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CREDITS
(PDC)
EMPLOYMENT CREDITS (EC)
EP $230, prorated based on April 1 schedule
$230 15 PDC; minimum of 3 categories
6 EC
EPt $130, prorated based on April 1 scheduled
$230 20 PDC; minimum of 3 categories
N/A
Term Renewal Designations are granted for a 5-year term. At the end of that term, all EP members will undergo a term renewal review to ensure ongoing conformance with the certification maintenance program, and ongoing competence development. Note that EPt members are not required to undergo term renewal but should upgrade from EPt to EP if they meet the employment requirements.
In cases where activities/employment have not been submitted by the certification expiry date, the member will be temporarily removed from the roster. Members may be reinstated and have their term renewed if they submit the required maintenance details within 1 calendar year of their designation’s expiry date. After such time, if members are still not compliant, and wish to be reinstated, they may be required to apply again as a first-time applicant.
Please note that the term renewal credit requirements may be amended where a member has spent time away from work due to maternity/paternity leave, unemployment, or disability. The period of exclusion will be a maximum of one year. Members must have completed a ‘Request
E C O C A N A D A — E P a n d E P t M e m b e r G u i d e
for Suspension of Certification’ application to be considered for amendment of term renewal requirements. To request a copy of this document, e-mail [email protected] or download it directly from the ‘EP Resources’ section of your member account.
Term Renewal Requirements Further details on each of these requirements can be found on the ‘Certification Maintenance Requirements’ section of this guide.
DESIGNATION ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CREDITS
(PDC)
EMPLOYMENT CREDITS (EC)
EP $230 75 PDC 30 EC EPt $230 100 PDC N/A
Certification Maintenance Requirements Profile and Contact Information Any changes in contact information should be entered in the Profile tab of the Member’s account. All Members should confirm that all contact information is correct on an annual basis. Members should consider using a personal e-mail address as their login for continuity in the case of a leave of absence or a change in employment.
Professional Development If a member does not submit the required Professional Development and Employment requirements (where applicable) prior to March 31, they will not be eligible for annual renewal on April 1.
If Professional Development and Employment requirements (where required) are submitted in advance of April 1, they are eligible for annual renewal and can maintain their designation.
Ongoing Competence is quantified and evaluated using a credit system. Credits are earned for each Professional Development Activity and each month of environment-related employment.
Annual and Term Renewal Ongoing Competence Criteria are summarized in the following table:
DESIGNATION PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CREDITS
(PDC)
EMPLOYMENT CREDITS (EC)
EP 15 PDC; minimum of 3 categories
6 EC
EPt 20 PDC; minimum of 3 categories
N/A
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Certified members wishing to enter information for annual or term renewal requirements are asked to enter the details of their activities using the relevant Professional Development section of their account available on the ‘Background’ tab. Employment can be updated on the ‘Background’ tab as well.
Fees Members are required to pay an annual membership fee in April, the first of which is due upon initial certification and prorated to align with an April renewal schedule.
DESIGNATION ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP
FEE – PRACTICING
MEMBERS
ANNUAL MEMBER FEE – NON-
PRACTICING & EMERITUS MEMBERS
FEE TO UPGRADE FROM EPt TO EP
ADDITION OF A FIELD OF
SPECIALIZATION, POST-
CERTIFICATION EP $230 $50 N/A $100 EPt $130 $50 (EPt members
can be Non-Practicing, but not Emeritus)
$150 + $50 Ethics Examination Fee
$50*
* EPt members are able to change/update their area(s) of specialization free of charge once per calendar year. For more information and to obtain the coupon code required to by-pass this fee, consult the Member Discounts section of your ECO Canada account (from the ‘My Certification’ tab).
On April 1 all members are invoiced for the upcoming years renewal fees. If payment and is not received within 30 days of its due date, a late penalty of $100.00 for EP members / $50.00 for EPt members will apply and the member will be temporarily removed from the Roster until payment is received. This status will be lifted, and the member’s name will be placed back on the Roster once payment is received.
In certain circumstances, the Registrar may approve a request for a “membership dues deferment”. If a member has been unable to make payments for such reasons as: unemployment, health/disability issues or return to school, such a request must be received in writing to [email protected]. It should be noted that deferment of payment does not change an individual’s required date of term renewal.
If it has been more than 90 days since ECO Canada has received any communication from a member, and said member still has outstanding fees, their account will be permanently removed, and they will have to re-apply as a new applicant.
To learn more about the Outstanding Fees and Professional Development Policy, visit our website at https://www.eco.ca/certification/renewals/.
Ongoing Competence Criteria Ongoing Competence is quantified and evaluated using a credit system. Credits are earned for each Professional Development Activity and each month of environment-related employment.
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Certified members wishing to enter information for annual or term renewal requirements are asked to enter the details of their activities using the relevant Professional Development section of the account available on ‘Background’ tab. Employment can be updated on the ‘Background’ tab as well.
All professional development and employment submissions are subject to review, acceptance, approval and validation by the Registrar and where necessary, relevant Committees and the Canadian Environmental Certification and Approvals Board (CECAB).
EPt members are held to greater Ongoing Competence Criteria in the area of Professional Development because of the resources available to them via their EPt Training Framework, which places great importance on ongoing learning and development. More information is provided on page 9 of this guide.
Professional Development Activities For each submitted Professional Development activity, members are required to submit the following information:
PD Type: Indicates the primary activity type
PD Details Type: Provides additional detail on the activity for proper credit allotment
Start/End Date: The date(s) of the PD activity completed
Activity Name: The name of the activity/course/training completed
Activity Summary: A description of what the PD activity entailed
The following table summarizes each of the PD categories and indicates their credit value:
PD Type
PD Details Type
Guidance
PDC Value
Formal Education
(Course must be 35+ hours of instruction)
35+ hours formal course
PDC earned by completing a college/ university / private industry trainer course
8
grad-level degree/diploma
PDC earned by the completion of a post-secondary grad-level degree (program completion, not per course)
10
Informal Education (All activities are 34
hours or less)
Webinar PDC earned by participating in an online webinar
3
Professional Development Plan (PDP) Submission
PDC earned by submitted a completing copy of your ECO Canada PDP
3
Short-Course Seminar/Breakout Session Workshop/Clinic
PDC earned through short courses, seminars, breakout sessions and workshops/clinics. These courses can be on-line or in-person and must not exceed 24 hours
4
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Informal Education (All activities are 34
hours or less)
Self-Directed Studies PDC earned by reading peer-reviewed publications, evidence-based research or academic textbooks (separate from any course counted under Formal or Informal Education), or building/submitting their PDP
4
Other Environmental Education Programs
PDC earned by completing other environmental education programs not listed above, provided they meet the requirements for the category
OTHER Other category-related activities
Professional Contribution
Instructor
PDC earned by acting as an instructor of an environmentally-relevant course, seminar, etc.
5
Event Speaker
PDC earned by speaking at an industry-relevant event (i.e. EP Networking Event / Keynote address, etc.
Presenter (in-person or on-line)
PDC earned by presenting technical information at an environmentally-relevant conference/event
Author
PDC earned by acting as author of environmentally-relevant curriculum (i.e. published papers, textbooks, or articles)
Curriculum Development
PDC earned by the development of environmentally-relevant curriculum (i.e. acting as subject matter expert in ECO Training development, or other)
OTHER Other category-related activities
Volunteer/Professional Activities
Board/Executive Member Committee Member Taskforce Member
PDC earned through voluntary (unpaid) service on industry-relevant boards, committees, or taskforces
5
Professional Organization Volunteer
PDC earned through individual participation/service in industry-relevant organizations
Contribute to Standards Development
PDC earned by contributing to standards development and/or maintenance (i.e. EP Body of Knowledge or National Occupational Standards)
Mentor
PDC earned by acting as a mentor to a junior professional (via the EP Mentorship program, or other formal or informal programs)
OTHER Other category-relevant activities
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Community and Networking
ECO Community Engagement
PDC earned through involvement in ECO Canada community activities (i.e. EP LinkedIn groups, ECO Canada Research Community, etc.)
2
Examination Proctor
PDC are earned by acting as an examination proctor (i.e. ECO Canada examinations, or other)
Industry-relevant community work
PDC earned by participating in industry-relevant community work (i.e. judging school science fair)
Industry-relevant networking event
PDC earned by attending industry-relevant networking events (i.e. ECO Canada Networking events)
Award Recipient
PDC earned when a member is presented with an industry award (i.e. ECO Impact Award recipient)
Peer Reviewer
PDC earned by acting as a peer reviewer (i.e. EP Peer Reviewer, or other)
Other Designation
PDC earned by completing requirements for another industry-related designation/certification
EP Member Survey Participation
PDC earned by participating in the annual EP Member Survey
EP Advocacy Activity
PDC earned by participating in activities that help to promote and uphold the EP designation and its reputation (i.e. referral, representing on ECO's behalf at events, etc.)
OTHER Other category-relevant activities Activities that are not listed in the above table will be evaluated for relevance and potential credit value on a case-by-case basis. Supporting documentation will be necessary to perform an evaluation.
Members can keep track of the progress towards their annual requirement via the Professional Development table on the ‘Certification Maintenance’ tab of their member account. Credits are added to the ‘Pending review’ column and will be calculated in the ‘Finalized’ column once ECO staff have reviewed the eligibility of the activity/activities entered. If all annual requirements have been met, a date will appear in the ‘Annual Review Status’ column.
Employment Requirements EP members have an annual requirement of 6 Employment Credits (EC) per year with a total of 30 EC required every 5 years for Term Renewal. One month of relevant environmental employment equals 1 EC.
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Credit Verification All members are subject to the surveillance program and could be selected randomly to have their professional development activities and employment audited. Members are required to retain documentation that would serve to verify their involvement in professional development activities for at least 1 year after their 5-year certification term expiry. EPt members do not go through the 5-year Term Renewal but should retain documentation for at least 3 months after their annual renewal has been paid.
EPt Training Framework All EPt members have access to the EPt Professional Development (PD) Framework (linked on the ‘My Certification’ tab of their ECO Canada account. This framework is curated for EPt’s based on their years of environmental work experience. Years 1-3 focus primarily on employment/soft-skill related training, where years 4-5 begin to introduce the EP Guidelines for Ethical Practice, EP Body of Knowledge content training, and help prepare the EPt for an eventual upgrade to EP once they have 5 years of environment-related work experience.
The following is a summary of some of the resources available:
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In each year of practice, activities are broken down by Required Training, Recommended Training, and Optional Training. EPt’s are not required to receive all of their Professional Development Credits (PDC’s) through ECO Canada, but the suite of resources will allow them to, if they so choose.
EP Code of Ethics and Disciplinary Action Designation maintenance also hingers on member’s continued adherence to the Environmental Professional (EP) Code of Ethics. A designation may be revoked if a certified member breaches the EP Code of Ethics.
Revocation proceedings could be initiated by a complaint, registered in writing, to the Registrar by an employer, client, or member of the general public. In such proceedings, ECO Canada ensures that all parties are treated fairly and equitably. The following actions are examples of what could initiate a complaint and ultimately result in revocation of a certificate:
• Falsification of credentials • Evidence of professional incompetence • Breach of the EP Code of Ethics • Knowingly falsifying environmental documentation • Professional misconduct
ECO Canada maintains a policy and procedure for complaints against certified members, as well as withdrawal and cancelling of a designation. Please contact the Registrar at [email protected] for details, or visit our website at www.eco.ca/certification.
Alteration of a Designation Voluntary Suspension of a Designation Members that are away from work for up to one year may apply for voluntary suspension of certification. Payment of annual membership fees is still required, but annual maintenance/term renewal requirements are amended to reflect the time that the member was not at work. This suspension is available to members on unemployment, maternal/parental and disability leave. Members are asked to complete and submit to the Registrar (via fax or email) the ‘Request for Suspension of Certification’ form. To receive a copy of this form, please download it from the ‘EP Resources’ section of your member account or e-mail your request to [email protected].
Change of Designation Status Members that have stepped away from their environmental careers or retired from the field may be eligible for a change in their designation status. In order to apply for either Non-Practicing or Emeritus status, members are asked to complete and submit to the Registrar (via fax or email) the ‘Request for Change of Certification Status’ form. To receive a copy of this
E C O C A N A D A — E P a n d E P t M e m b e r G u i d e
form, please download it from the ‘EP Resources’ section of your member account or e-mail your request to [email protected].
Note: only EP-level members are eligible for the Emeritus status change.
Adding Specializations EP If a members’ area(s) of specialization has changed or expanded, and formal recognition of that specialization is desired, members will be required to demonstrate competence as a first-time applicant via the self-assessment and peer validation process. If successful, the new specialization will be added to the members’ designation if ratified by the CECAB. Note that the maximum of five (5) specializations in total still applies and applicants are not required to complete the EP Ethics Examination a second time.
EPt If a members’ area(s) of specialization has changed or expanded, and formal recognition of that specialization is desired, members will be required to demonstrate competence as a first-time applicant via the self-assessment process. If successful, the new area(s) of specialization will be added to the members’ certification program. Note that the maximum of two (2) specializations in total still applies and that EPt’s are awarded the opportunity to complete this process once each year, if desired, free of charge. More details, included the discount code required, can be found in the member account.
Upgrading from EPt to EP If an EPt member has accrued the necessary Canadian work experience in order to upgrade from EPt to EP, they are encouraged to do so. For a reduced rate ($200 plus GST/ HST, which includes the examination fee), an EPt member can apply to upgrade to EP. The requirements and process are the same as for a new applicant for the EP title, but an EPt member will already have much of the needed information inputted into the system, making the process easier and faster. For more information, review the Upgrade to EP Info Sheet, or contact staff at [email protected].
How to Contact ECO Canada Staff Should you require any assistance or have any questions, please feel free to contact the EP Certification
staff at any time:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 403-233-7484
www.eco.ca/certification
