ICF Code of Ethics explained: 2025 and 2020 versions

This guide explains the Code in our own words. You get the two versions side by side, the version each exam tests, the five duties that run through both, and four worked questions in the style of the ACC Exam. The clients and coaches in the examples are invented.

Read ICF's own text beside this guide. The link is under Sources at the end.

What the Code is, and who it covers

The Code sets the standard of conduct for an "ICF Professional". That means a person who presents themselves as an ICF member or as the holder of an ICF credential. It covers that person in every coaching role: coach, mentor coach, coach supervisor, trainer and student.

Two points surprise new coaches:

• It can apply before you have a credential. The roles it lists include a student coach in training. A student who joins ICF as a member is inside the Code.
• It applies outside a formal engagement. The standards cover your professional conduct whether or not a coaching agreement exists.

The Code's meaning of "client" is wide too. It includes a coach who is being coached, mentored or supervised, and a coach in training. So when ICF members or credential holders coach each other, the Code applies. A peer coaching session gets the same confidentiality as a paid one.

The two versions at a glance

The 2020 Code sorts its standards by who the coach is responsible to: clients, their own work and performance, the profession, and society. The 2025 Code sorts them by subject: agreements, confidentiality and the law, conduct and conflicts of interest, consistent value, and integrity.

Which version does your exam test?

The ACC Exam: the 2020 Code. ICF's ACC Exam page tells candidates to study the 2020 version, because the exam is based on it. ICF's Code of Ethics page says the same. We read both pages on 9 November 2026.

The PCC and MCC exams: it depends which one you sit. Two exams run side by side from 10 November 2026 to 31 March 2027, and a candidate may take either. The older ICF Credentialing Exam is based on the 2020 Code. ICF's announcement says the new PCC-MCC Exam takes in the most recent updates to the Core Competencies and the Code of Ethics. From 1 April 2027 the new exam is the only one. On 9 November 2026, ICF's PCC-MCC exam page still described the older exam, so check which exam you have booked.

If you prepare for the ACC Exam, learn the 2020 Code first. Then read the 2025 Code, because it is the one you work under as a coach. The duties are close enough that learning one helps with the other.

What the Code asks of you: five duties

We group the standards into five duties. This grouping is ours, not ICF's. Each duty appears in both versions.

1. Agree the terms before you start

What it means. Nobody should be surprised later. The client knows what coaching is and what it isn't, what you will keep private, what it costs and how either of you can stop. When an employer pays, the employer is a sponsor and is part of the same conversation. All of this happens before the first session, not during it.

In a session. A company hires a coach for one of its managers. Before the first session, the coach meets the manager and the HR lead together. They agree that the company will hear only whether sessions took place. Everything else stays between the coach and the manager.

A common mistake. Agreeing the reporting terms with the sponsor alone, and telling the client later.

2. Keep it confidential, and say where the limits are

What it means. The client decides who hears their story. You keep it private in every role you hold, and you take the same care with your notes, your recordings, your software and anyone who helps you run your business. Privacy has limits, and the client hears about them at the start: the law can require you to speak, and so can a serious risk that someone will be harmed.

In a session. A coach wants to use an AI note-taker. Before she does, she reads where the tool sends its data, tells the client what it records, and asks for the client's consent. The client says no. She takes notes by hand.

A common mistake. Promising total confidentiality. No coach can promise that, because the law can require disclosure.

For more on this duty, read the limits of confidentiality in coaching.

3. Name a conflict of interest, then manage it

What it means. Sometimes you have a stake that pulls against the client's: money, a friendship, a family tie or a second job. The client can't weigh what they don't know about, so you say it out loud. Then you deal with it together. You can talk it through with the people involved, get outside help, or step back from the work for a time or for good. A fee for sending a client to someone else is a stake too.

In a session. A coach is asked to coach the business partner of a close friend. She tells both of them about the friendship before she accepts. They agree what she will and won't talk about with her friend.

A common mistake. Deciding by yourself that a conflict doesn't matter, and saying nothing.

4. Keep the relationship professional and fair

What it means. The relationship exists for the client, and keeping it that way is your job. You hold the line on closeness, and romance with a client or a sponsor is out. You treat people fairly, which starts with knowing your own biases. A coach often has more status in the room than the client, so you watch for that and talk about it. You are honest with yourself when you aren't fit to coach well, and honest with the client when the coaching has stopped helping.

In a session. A coach's father is seriously ill, and she finds that she can't keep her attention on her clients. She tells them that she needs two weeks, moves the sessions, and talks to her supervisor before she starts again.

A common mistake. Carrying on as normal when you know that you can't give the client your full attention.

For the line between coaching and therapy, read coaching or therapy: when to refer.

5. Tell the truth about yourself and about coaching

What it means. People choose a coach on trust, so what you say about yourself must be accurate: your training, your experience and any credential you hold. The same goes for what you say about coaching and what it can do. You give credit for other people's work and claim only your own. In our reading, that rules out a credential title that ICF hasn't awarded yet, or one that has lapsed.

In a session. A coach puts on her website what three clients said about the coaching, in their own words and with their consent. She gives no figures, because she hasn't measured any.

A common mistake. A number on your website that you never measured.

What changed in the 2025 Code

• It covers more people. The 2025 Code applies to everyone in what ICF calls its ecosystem, which includes ICF staff, volunteers and board members. The complaints process still applies to ICF Professionals.
• The values are written into the Code. The 2025 Code names four core values and says how a person shows each one: Professionalism, Collaboration, Humanity and Equity. The 2020 Code pointed to the values on ICF's website.
• A new part holds shared commitments. Part 3 lists commitments for everyone in the ecosystem. One of them says that ethical conduct goes beyond what the Code has in writing.
• It names artificial intelligence. Standard 2.5 says your ethical and legal duties hold in any technology you use, and it lists AI among the examples.
• "Confidentiality" has stated exceptions. The 2020 definition gave one exception, which was consent. The 2025 definition adds a legal reason or requirement and a threat of harm, and it asks for the client's consent in writing.
• "Sponsor" is wider. It now includes a person with parental responsibility for a minor.
• The sanctions list is longer. The 2020 Pledge named more coach training or education, or the loss of ICF membership or credential. The 2025 Code adds mentoring and supervision.

What happens when a coach breaks the Code

ICF handles complaints through its Ethical Conduct Review process. The 2025 Code says that ICF's Independent Review Board upholds the Code through that process, and that it applies to all ICF Professionals.

The sanctions that the Codes name are professional ones. The 2020 Code names more coach training or education, and the loss of membership or credential. The 2025 Code adds mentoring and supervision. Neither Code lists a refund among its sanctions, so a dispute about fees belongs with the terms of the coaching agreement.

The Code in the ACC Exam

Coaching Ethics is one of the three domains of the ACC Exam, and it is 30% of the questions. A typical question describes a short situation and asks what the Code expects of the coach. See how the topic breaks down, with five more worked questions, on ACC Exam ethics questions. Or try a full set in the free ACC practice exam.

The Code is also the base of the first Core Competency, Demonstrates Ethical Practice. See the 8 ICF Core Competencies, explained.