Ethics CE in Virginia: How to Satisfy the 3-Hour Requirement and What Counts

Every Virginia resident insurance producer must complete at least 3 credit hours of ethics as part of their biennial CE obligation — whether the total requirement is 16 or 24 hours. Ethics hours are not a separate track; they count within your total. A 16-hour producer needs 3 ethics hours and 13 hours of other approved content. A 24-hour dual licensee needs 3 ethics hours and 21 hours of other content. The challenge is not the quantity — 3 hours is a short course. The challenge is knowing what counts and what does not, because Virginia has a specific rule that excludes certain course types from satisfying the ethics requirement even when they are otherwise valid CE courses.

The Core Rule: What Qualifies as Ethics CE

Virginia's ethics CE requirement is met by courses specifically approved as ethics content by the Virginia Insurance Continuing Education Board. For producers (as distinct from public adjusters), the ethics requirement may be satisfied by courses covering:

Insurance ethics: Professional conduct standards, fiduciary duties, conflicts of interest, fair dealing with clients, and ethical obligations under Virginia insurance law.

Virginia insurance law and regulations: This is Virginia's distinctive provision. A course covering Virginia's insurance statutes, regulations, and Bureau of Insurance rules qualifies as ethics CE for producers. This means a Virginia laws and regulations course — which many producers find directly applicable to their practice — can simultaneously satisfy the ethics requirement and contribute relevant statutory knowledge.

What does NOT count toward the 3-hour ethics minimum:

Courses categorized as Other General Insurance (OGI) credits cannot be applied to the ethics requirement. OGI is a broad category covering general insurance content that does not fall into a specific line of authority category. Even if an OGI course contains ethical principles or professional conduct discussion, if it is categorized as OGI rather than Ethics or Laws/Regulations, it cannot satisfy the ethics minimum.

This is the most common compliance mistake in Virginia CE planning: a producer who takes an OGI course covering business ethics, thinking it satisfies the ethics requirement, finds at renewal that the hours counted toward the total but not toward the 3-hour ethics minimum. The result is a CE deficiency that prevents renewal.

How to Verify a Course Satisfies the Ethics Requirement

Before enrolling in any course intended to satisfy the ethics minimum, check the course's approved CE category in Virginia's CE system:

Go to Sircon (sircon.com/virginia) and search for approved CE providers and courses

Confirm the course is approved for Virginia CE

Confirm the course is categorized as Ethics or Laws and Regulations (not OGI)

Confirm the course is appropriate for your license type (L/A/H or P&C)

If you are unsure whether a specific course satisfies the ethics requirement, contact Pearson VUE at 877-234-6093 or VirginiaInsuranceCE@pearson.com before completing the course.

Virginia's "Laws and Regulations" Option for Ethics

Virginia's laws and regulations courses are a practical and valuable way to satisfy the ethics requirement because they serve double duty: they directly reinforce the statutory knowledge that is tested in Virginia's CE compliance framework and on the licensing exam, and they satisfy the ethics minimum simultaneously. For producers who want to stay current on Title 38.2 statutory changes — including Virginia's recent auto insurance law changes, the annuity best interest standard, and unfair trade practices provisions — a Virginia laws and regulations CE course is a logical choice for the ethics component.

Not every laws and regulations course satisfies the ethics minimum — the course must be specifically approved and categorized as satisfying the ethics (or laws and regulations for ethics purposes) requirement. Confirm the specific course's categorization before enrolling.

Ethics CE for Dual Licensees

Dual licensees who hold both L/A/H and P&C license types and complete 24 CE hours still need only 3 ethics hours total — not 3 hours per license type. The 3 ethics hours count toward the total and typically apply toward one license type's content allocation. For the 8-hour minimum per license type requirement, ethics hours are credited toward whichever type's content the course covers. If you take a Virginia laws and regulations course that covers both L/A/H and P&C regulatory topics, check the course's specific type allocation in the CE system.

Ethics for Public Adjusters

Virginia public adjusters have a slightly different ethics CE rule. Public adjusters must complete 3 hours of ethics specifically — but their ethics courses may not include laws and regulations. Only courses categorized strictly as ethics (not laws and regulations) satisfy the ethics requirement for public adjusters. This is the reverse of the producer rule, which does allow laws and regulations to satisfy ethics. Producers and public adjusters should not assume their respective ethics rules are identical.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Virginia require ethics CE every biennium, or only once?

Virginia requires 3 ethics hours in every biennial renewal cycle — it is not a one-time requirement. Every time you renew your license, 3 of your required CE hours must be ethics-qualifying courses. There is no exemption from the ethics requirement for experienced producers or those with prior ethics course completion. A new ethics course (or Virginia laws and regulations course, for producers) must be taken in each biennium. Excess ethics credits from a prior biennium do carry forward as general CE credit, but they do not carry forward as ethics credit toward the new biennium's 3-hour minimum — you must take new ethics-qualifying courses each cycle.

Can I take the same ethics course twice for credit in different biennia?

Yes — but not twice in the same biennium. Virginia's CE rules prohibit taking the same course more than once within a single renewal cycle for credit. However, you may take the same course in a subsequent biennium and earn credit again. A Virginia laws and regulations course completed in the 2024–2026 biennium can be retaken in the 2026–2028 biennium to satisfy that cycle's ethics requirement. The content of Virginia insurance law does change over time, so repeating a laws and regulations course in a new biennium is both compliant and educationally current.

What is the practical difference between ethics CE and general CE in terms of course quality and format?

From a format standpoint, Virginia ethics and laws and regulations courses are delivered the same way as other CE — online self-study, webinar, or classroom. There is no requirement for ethics CE to be delivered in person or with a live instructor. Proctoring requirements for online self-study courses (requiring a supervisor, co-worker, or test administrator to monitor the completion exam) apply to ethics courses the same as other self-study content. In terms of quality and relevance, Virginia laws and regulations courses — which many producers find among the most practically useful CE options — tend to be more immediately applicable to day-to-day compliance than generic professional ethics courses covering broad ethical principles.

If I take a 3-hour Virginia laws and regulations course, does it count as both ethics CE and laws and regulations CE simultaneously?

Yes — a 3-hour Virginia laws and regulations course approved as satisfying the ethics requirement for producers satisfies the 3-hour ethics minimum and counts toward your CE total in the same biennial cycle. It is not double-counted (you do not get 6 hours of credit for a 3-hour course), but a single course serves both purposes simultaneously. This is a practical efficiency — you complete one 3-hour course that satisfies the ethics minimum and contributes 3 hours toward your 16 or 24-hour total, rather than needing a separate dedicated ethics course on top of your subject-matter CE.

What should I do if I discover at renewal time that I'm deficient in ethics hours?

If you realize you are deficient in ethics hours — for example, you have completed 16 hours total but only 1 is properly categorized as ethics — you must complete additional ethics-qualifying CE before submitting your renewal. There is no CE grace period in Virginia; your renewal application will not be approved with a CE deficiency. Contact Pearson VUE (877-234-6093) to confirm your transcript status and identify which of your completed courses are categorized as ethics. Enroll in and complete a Virginia-approved ethics or laws and regulations course before the renewal deadline, confirm completion is reported to the system, then submit your renewal application. Do not allow less than 30 days before your expiration date — reporting delays can create problems at this stage.

Ethics CE is a small but non-negotiable component of Virginia's licensing system. Three hours per biennium — in a qualifying course, properly categorized, reported before your renewal — is all that is required. The most common mistake is assuming an OGI course satisfies the requirement when it does not. Verify the course category before completing it.

Visit JustInsurance to enroll today and complete your Virginia ethics CE requirement with a state-approved course that is properly categorized to satisfy the 3-hour minimum.