Membership Code of Conduct.
The standards expected of every PCI member.
Overview
Members represent PCI in the wider profession. This code keeps the community professional, respectful and trustworthy, and makes clear that members must never imply a certification they do not hold.
At a glance
Core expectations
- Act with honesty, integrity and professionalism
- Treat others with respect and without discrimination
- Represent PCI membership accurately and never imply certification you do not hold
- Protect confidential information
- Use PCI resources and any AI tools responsibly
Misrepresentation
PCI applies this consistently and documents what it does, so the approach can be checked and improved. Final detail is published as the institute matures, and is governed by the related policies below.
Common questions
Can I say I’m PCI-certified if I’m a member?
No — only if you genuinely hold a current credential. Membership is not certification.
How are marks used correctly?
Under the marks and copyright policy.
What happens if I breach the code?
Membership action under the termination policy, separate from certification.
Why this matters
Membership matters because a profession is more than a set of credentials — it is a community that sets expectations, shares knowledge and supports people across a career. PCI membership is built to do exactly that, while staying clearly distinct from certification: it is professional affiliation and development, not a qualification, and it never pretends to be one.
PCI would rather offer a smaller set of genuinely useful benefits than overstate what is available today. What membership signals is real: a commitment to the discipline, and to practising it — including the governed use of AI — to a professional standard.
- Substance over marketing
- Fair, transparent process
- Honesty about our status
- Responsible, governed use of AI
Founding-stage document · Version 1.0 — effective date to be confirmed · Reviewed under PCI governance. PCI makes no claims of accreditation or recognition beyond what is true today.
What the standards mean day to day
A code of conduct earns its keep in ordinary situations, not dramatic ones. For PCI members, the code translates into four everyday disciplines:
Honest representation
Describe your membership and any credentials exactly as they are — on your CV, your profiles and in conversation. Never imply a certification, grade or status you do not hold.
Respectful engagement
Chapters, events and online discussions work only if disagreement stays professional. Challenge ideas hard; treat people decently.
Confidentiality
Information shared in confidence within the community — or accessed through member roles — stays confidential.
Integrity in dealings
No misuse of PCI's name for personal commercial advantage, and no conduct that would bring the community into disrepute.
Say precisely what you hold
The single most common conduct failure in any professional body is overstated status, which is why the code singles it out. The rule is simple: membership and certification are different things, and your words must keep them different. A member may say they are a member of PCI at their grade; only someone who has been awarded a PCI credential and keeps it current may claim the credential. Members should also mirror PCI's own honesty about institutional status — the institute describes itself as independent and not accredited, and members must not claim on its behalf recognition it does not claim for itself. This is not pedantry: employers make hiring decisions on these words, and verification will expose the gap. The professional conduct policy applies the same principle, in more depth, to certified professionals.
If conduct falls short
Anyone — member or not — can raise a conduct concern through the ethics reporting route. Reports are acknowledged promptly and handled fairly: the member concerned is told what is alleged, given the chance to respond, and judged by people without a conflict of interest. Outcomes are proportionate, from informal guidance for minor lapses through to termination of membership for serious or repeated breaches under the disciplinary policy, and adverse decisions carry a right of appeal. Raising a concern in good faith is never held against the person who raises it — a code that punishes reporters enforces silence, not standards.
Keep going
What members owe each other
Member spaces — chapters, events, forums — run on the same standard as professional life: argue hard about ideas, never about people; respect confidentiality where it is promised; and represent your PCI status accurately (membership is not certification, and neither licenses speaking for the Institute).
Breaches are handled proportionately under the disciplinary policy, with the same rights of response and appeal as any other conduct matter.