About the Annual Certification FeeUpon earning the CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep® credential, your certification is valid for one year from your exam date. You will need to pay an annual certification fee by your anniversary date. You will receive several notifications by email prior to your due date.
The CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep® cycle: First anniversary: annual certification fee. Second anniversary: annual certification fee. Third anniversary: no annual certification fee. Re-certification is required. To pay your annual fee, use your unique login information to sign into your account (CCS & CDET LOGIN in the top right corner of our website). If you need help logging in, please call us at 317-837-5362. What happens if I don’t pay the annual certification fee? Please be aware that if your annual certification fee is not paid prior to the first anniversary or second anniversary of your certification, all rights and privileges of the CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep® credential will be revoked. Upon revocation, the following terms will apply if reinstatement of the credential is desired:
What do I get for my annual certification fee?
A CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep® enjoys: national marketing on your behalf (and tools are provided to help you market more effectively locally); aggressive protection of the certification trademark (lawsuits, proactive publisher/editor notifications, quick and aggressive responses toward habitual violators, etc); certification program enhancements (more accessible and more affordable educational opportunities for all certified sweeps, online access to CEU status and information and recognition for completed education). How does CSIA know that there is value in the program? Sweeps have reported as much as $20,000 in referrals annually from the CSIA website. CSIA receives on average at least four trademark violation reports every week (over 500 staff hours were spent on trademark violations this past year alone); on a regular basis, sweeps perceive enough value in the trademark to steal it. A portion of your fee every year will be dedicated to protecting our trademark more aggressively than we have ever been able to do before. What happens if I pay my employee’s annual certification fee and she/he leaves before the payment is due? All rights and responsibilities of the credential belong to the individual CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep®. The employer should notify CSIA in writing when the employee leaves. If the employer does not pay the fee, then the individual sweep is responsible for maintaining his/her credential. What do you tell consumers when they inquire about my certification if the annual certification fee has not been paid? If a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep® does not comply with the CSIA requirement of paying the annual certification fee, the credential expires and they are not advertised as certified individuals. Further, the individual must immediately cease to claim they are a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep® and no longer use the CSIA trademark. |
Where does the money go?
Video: Chuck Hall, Former President, CSIA Board of Directors, explains why the annual certification fee is a great value.
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