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| Home : Producers/agents : Continuing education course providers information |
Continuing education course providers information
Continuing education courses shall promote educational activities that advance professional expertise and keep the producer abreast of the insurance industry. Approved courses shall impart substantive and procedural knowledge related to the industry and shall be designed to improve the professional skills and knowledge of participants and upgrade the standard of all licensees to better serve the public.
See N.D.C.C. 26.1-26-31.1 through 26.1-26-31.8 and N.D.A.C. 45-02-04.
Course content may include but is not necessarily limited to: insurance fundamentals, policies, laws, risk management and other material. Routine meetings, luncheons, and gatherings not advertised and developed as continuing education events will not qualify for continuing education credit. Other material not acceptable for credit: Pre-license Training, Prospecting, Recruiting, Sales Skills and Promotions, Motivation, Psychology, Communication Skills, Supportive Office and Machine Skills, Personnel Management. The above does not limit the Commissioner's authority to disapprove any application which fails to meet the standards for course approval.
Course format may be classroom/seminar or self-study/internet. Providers requesting approval of self-study courses must send outline with word count.
The only fee for course sponsors filing continuing education courses and related reports is the $50 course filing fee.
To file a course for approval:
At least 15 days before the initial course offering submit:
If the provider is domiciled in a nonresident state and the course has been approved in that home state, they should file the Uniform CER Course Filing Form listed above, along with a copy of the home state approval, brief outline and $50 fee.
There is no separate process for approving a provider/sponsor. Provider approval is effective upon approval of the first course.
Providers domiciled in a state that has agreed to participate with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Midwest Zone course approval reciprocal agreement should contact their respective insurance departments for procedures to file courses in other states.
The NAIC Continuing Education Reciprocity (CER) Course Filing form (Formerly known as Midwest Zone Filing form) is available at www.naic.org.
Course renewal process
There is no fee for the renewal of courses. However, a list of all active courses is mailed to each provider in April of each year. The provider needs to cross off any course that is no longer active and return the list to the Department by no later than June 1. Failure to return the list will result in the cancellation of all courses.
Other filing requirements:
Course providers are required to file a list of participants that complete an approved course using the following method:
Within 15 days following the completion of an education program, submit the roster as an attachment to an email and send to Shauna Greff at sgreff@nd.gov. There is no fee to file this information. Instructions for preparing the email submission are below.
How to file an electronic roster
Format and file layout: Build the file using Microsoft Excel. Each producer receiving credit for a course will be recorded as a separate row in the spreadsheet. More than one course for each producer may be recorded in the spreadsheet. For example, two courses completed the same day, by the same producer, or different producers may be combined in the spreadsheet. There are five columns of information required:
Column 1: National Producer Number. Do not enter dashes.
Column 2: Last name as it appears on producer's license. Do not use Sr, Jr, II, etc.
Column 3: First name as it appears on producer's license. Do not include middle name or initial.
Column 4: Course number as assigned by the Department. Do not use dashes.
Column 5: Course completion date. Must be an 8 digit number (mmddyyyy). Do not use '-' or '/' or any other separator between the digits.
All columns should be formatted as text. Before saving the file delete any column titles. When the file is saved, it should be titled "Course" with the file extension "text, tab-delimited."
Note: Even though the providers are required to file a roster, each individual producer is still responsible for keeping track of all course hours taken. Additionally, providers must give each individual who has completed the course, a course completion certificate.
Each provider is required to keep a roster on file for all courses offered.
Subsequent offering
Course providers are required to inform the Department that a course will be offered again at a time and/or location not listed when the course was initially filed for approval. It is to be filed not less than 15 days before the planned offering. Use form SFN 10926 Notice of Subsequent Offering. There is no fee to file this form.
Substantial changes to a previously approved course outline require re-filing as a new course, including the $50 filing fee.
If you have questions or need more information, please contact:
Shauna Greff
sgreff@nd.gov
North Dakota Insurance Department
State Capitol, fifth floor
Dept. 401
600 E. Boulevard Ave.
Bismarck, ND 58505-0320
701.328.3548
701.328.4880 fax
800.247.0560 toll free
800.366.6888 TTY line
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