The CMC mark of excellence is used worldwide to identify a management consultant whose competency is recognized and certified by a national institute that is a member of the 44-nation International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI), of which IMC USA is a charter member. To the extent that the CMC mark is protected within each country, no other individual or institute may use it. However, ICMCI provides for reciprocity of the CMC mark under the following conditions:

• Where there is no legal restriction within the member institute's nation against reciprocity
• Where the individual who is requesting reciprocity has earned his or her certification from a nation that meets the ICMCI international model for certification. 
• Where the individual who is requesting reciprocity has relocated to the new country or will be spending substantial or repetitive time on assignments in that country.

An ICMCI member institute or association must grant reciprocity to certified management consultants from ICMCI qualifying member institutes even if the granting or receiving  member institute has more stringent requirements than the sending or qualifying member institute. Reciprocity will not be offered where a member national institute from which the certified management consultant comes does not follow the international model or does not accept reciprocity in it's own country. A list of ICMCI qualifying institutes is published on the website at www.icmci.org/NoFlags.html and updated annually.

The process for obtaining and granting reciprocity is as follows:

• The individual relocating or traveling extensively or regularly to the new country requests reciprocity in writing from the local [granting] national institute.
• The granting member institute determines that the sending member institute from which the applicant comes is a qualifying institute
• The granting member institute requests a letter (fax or email) from the sending member institute stating that the applicant for reciprocity is in good standing, having earned the CMC mark in accordance with the minimum standards of the ICMCI international model, and is a current member according to the qualifying institute's requirements for recertification.
• The applicant does not need to provide any other paperwork or sit for reviews or examinations except that the granting member institute may require completion of an oral or written examination on the Code of Conduct for that country. 
• The applicant pays the granting member institute the current membership dues as set by the granting member institute.

Individual consultants will be permitted to hold memberships simultaneously in more than one ICMCI institute provided that the individual meets the membership requirements of each institute. Individuals who are certified management consultants (or who have been granted the CMC certification) are permitted to hold memberships simultaneously in more than one ICMCI member institute on the basis of completing the process above without having to meet additional membership requirements.

When an individual requests reciprocity in a second or subsequent ICMCI member institute the sending institute from which reference is obtained must always be the member institute in the country of full-time residence.

In the case where an individual's certification is revoked for cause, the ICMCI member institute exercising such action must notify any other ICMCI member institute it had previously sent a positive reference for the purpose of granting reciprocity. The granting member institute will then determine what disciplinary action, if any, it will take in accordance with its own procedures.

National member institutes will not grant the CMC mark to an individual resident in another country where there is an ICMCI national institute member, except through the reciprocity process. The purpose of this provision is to deter an individual from being certified from a member institute with less stringent requirements than the ICMCI member institute in his or her own country of residence and then transferring membership to the member institute in his country of residence.

Download the Certification Application Form