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A professional body or professional organization, also known as a professional association or professional society, is an organization, usually non-profit, that exists to further a particular profession, to protect both the public interest and the interests of professionals. The balance between these two may be a matter of opinion. On the one hand, professional bodies may act to protect the public by maintaining and enforcing standards of training and ethics in their profession. On the other hand, they may also act like a cartel or a labor union (trade union) for the members of the profession, though this description is commonly rejected by the body concerned.

Many professional bodies perform professional certification to indicate a person possesses qualifications in the subject area, and sometimes membership in a professional body is synonymous with certification, but not always. Sometimes membership in a professional body is required for one to be legally able to practice the profession; see licensure.

Many professional bodies also act as learned societies for the academic disciplines underlying their professions.

In countries where the law entitles defendants to a jury by their peers, the general public may not be considered sufficiently knowledgeable in a field of practice to act as a peer in some legal cases. For example, the average person may not be able to determine if a civil engineer took reasonable care to ensure a bridge would not collapse. Therefore, the government may define self-governing professional associations of peers in specific fields.

As part of their self-governing mandate, professional associations are usually responsible for licensing of practitioners in their field. Furthermore, a person is usually prohibited from advertising as a "professional" unless they are a member in good standing of the relevant professional association.

Medical, engineering, logistics, architecture, project management, accounting, actuarial and legal practitioners are commonly governed by professional associations in most localities.

Professional associations do not always concern themselves with licensure or the equivalent or government regulations. In the United States, journalists seek to avoid government involvement in their work or "official" definitions.

• Standards organizations
• List of professional organizations

• Prolibraries.com .