How the standard is governed.
PCI is an independent nonprofit organisation — a Delaware Non-Stock Corporation (formed 2 October 2025; Delaware File No. 10353271) pursuing federal tax-exempt recognition under Section 501(c)(3). The credential is governed by published rules, separated duties and a standard you can audit — designed to align with ISO/IEC 17024.
Owned by no vendor, no employer.
PCI develops and owns the body of knowledge, the syllabus and the live, secure examination. We take no ownership from any software vendor or employer, and we do not sell the exam preparation — that is provided separately by Certuvo, our official practice and training partner. This separation of duties is fundamental to a credible, impartial credential.
Everything we publish about our status is described honestly. We are a young organisation, and we say so.
*Standards referenced for educational alignment only; no affiliation or endorsement implied.
Separated duties, documented rules.
Standards committee
Maintains the body of knowledge and the exam blueprint, with practitioner and academic input and a scheduled review cycle.
Examination & psychometrics
Governs item writing, review and the standard-setting study; the cut score is set by a modified-Angoff panel, not a fixed percentage.
Ethics & appeals
Owns the code of conduct and an impartial process for complaints, appeals and — where necessary — suspension or revocation of the credential.
Common questions
Who owns PCI?
No vendor, employer or training provider. PCI is independent by design, because a certification body beholden to any commercial interest cannot credibly claim to be impartial. That independence is what lets the credential mean the same thing for everyone.
How is impartiality protected?
Through separation of duties and documented process: the functions responsible for training are kept distinct from those that make certification decisions, and decisions are made against a clear standard rather than at discretion. This is a core requirement of the ISO/IEC 17024 personnel-certification principles PCI is built around.
Is PCI accredited yet?
Not yet — PCI is building toward formal accreditation rather than claiming it, with its processes designed around ISO/IEC 17024. It states this plainly and does not imply recognition it has not earned.
What does PCI actually control?
The standard, the assessment and the certification decision — the things that determine what the credential means. Keeping these under independent control, separate from training, is what makes the PCL-AI a credible, verifiable signal rather than a certificate of attendance.
An honest path to recognition.
Standard defined
Body of knowledge, examination blueprint and code of conduct published.
We are hereStudent enrolment
First examinations delivered and validated; the standard-setting study completed.
Accreditation
Formal future independent assessment undertaken with reference to ISO/IEC 17024.
Recognition
Ongoing surveillance, the approved-employer programme and periodic review.
The full framework.
Candidate Handbook
Everything a candidate needs to know.
Examination Rules
Security, identification, proctoring and candidate conduct.
Code of Ethics
The standards every certificant upholds.
Appeals Process
How to challenge a certification decision.
Complaints Process
How concerns are raised and resolved.
Conflict of Interest Policy
How impartiality is protected.
AI Governance Policy
PCI's responsible-AI framework.
Certification Policies
Earning, using and maintaining the credential.
Recertification Policy
Keeping a credential current over time.
Privacy Policy
How we handle personal information.
Terms of Use
The terms for this site and our services.
What PCI owns and controls.
A credential is only as trustworthy as its independence. PCI alone owns and controls the things that make the PCI credentials mean something — kept separate from training and from any commercial interest.
Certification standards
The requirements a professional must meet to be certified.
Body of Knowledge
The syllabus and the body of knowledge the credential is built on.
The examination
The live, secure exam, its blueprint and its psychometrics.
Ethics process
The Code of Ethics and how breaches are handled.
Appeals process
The independent framework for challenging decisions.
Certification decisions
Who is certified, suspended or revoked — decided by PCI alone.
Rigour you can audit.
Independent, nonprofit and built in the open — with the separation of duties a credible credential requires.
How to scrutinise a certification body — including this one
Any credential worth holding should survive hostile questioning. Before you commit time or money to a certification — ours or anyone's — put the questions below to the awarding body and expect documented answers, not reassurance.
Who profits when you pass?
A body that sells the training, the examination and the credential together has an incentive problem. Look for genuine separation between preparation and the certification decision.
How is the pass mark set?
A defensible cut score comes from a documented standard-setting method applied by qualified judges — not from a convenient fixed percentage chosen for pass-rate optics.
Are the rules published in advance?
Appeals, complaints, retake and misconduct rules should be readable before you ever need them — not produced after a dispute has already started.
Can you verify its claims?
Legal form, accreditation and recognition should be checkable against public records. Treat any status claim that cannot be verified as unproven.
PCI publishes its own answers openly — see founding status and accreditation status — and invites exactly this scrutiny. A body that discourages such questions has, in effect, already answered them.
How the standard changes without losing its meaning
A credential in a fast-moving discipline faces a real tension. Freeze the syllabus and it goes stale; change it casually and nobody knows what any given certificate means. Governance resolves this through versioning and due process rather than ad-hoc editing.
- Proposals are logged, not slipped in. Suggested changes to the standard — from practitioners, examiners or committee members — enter a documented review rather than being applied quietly.
- The standards committee decides on the merits. Each change is weighed against the examination blueprint, so that what is claimed, what is taught and what is examined stay aligned.
- Editions are visible. The body of knowledge carries a version, so a candidate always knows which edition their assessment is built on.
- Candidates in progress are considered. Material changes are communicated ahead of examinations rather than imposed mid-preparation, so no one is assessed against a moving target.
- Decisions leave a trail. Committee outcomes are recorded and retained, so the reasoning behind any edition can be audited later.
This is the same discipline PCI asks of practitioners — change under control, with an owner and a record — applied to the institution itself.