A new version of the Application for Merit Badge,
No. 34124, commonly referred to as the blue card,
is being released later in January 2013. The
availability of the new card will vary locally, and the
old cards are still acceptable as councils exhaust their
inventories. The new version will remain the old familiar
blue and the change is a small one, but as it takes
effect it will make a significant difference in the process.

On the front side (first tri-fold portion) above the unit
leaders signature line, the statement with the word
qualified is being changed to: I have discussed this
merit badge with this Scout and recommended at least
one merit badge counselor. The wording change has
been made due to confusion over the interpretations of
qualified, approved, and approval, as applied to
when a Scout could begin work on a merit badge. With
the new statement, the unit leaders signature indicates
that he or she and the Scout have talked about the
Scouts desire to work on the merit badge and that a
merit badge counselor has been recommended.

The intent of the modification is to give the unit leader
the chance to offer counseling as to whether or not the
merit badge is a good choice for the Scout, based on
his abilities and any prerequisites. The terms qualified
or approved were never meant to indicate that the
Scout needed to pass some sort of prequalifying test
before pursuing a merit badge, or that the unit leader
had pass/fail authority to allowor to not allowthe
Scout to undertake work on a badge.

Other than this single change, the good old blue card
is the same as before. Unit leaders are requested to use
this new approach now. With release of the revised
Guide to Advancement 2013 during the first half of the
New Year, the practice will become mandated.