diff --git a/apps/backoffice/src/app/features/certificate-designer/pages/CertificateDesignerPage.tsx b/apps/backoffice/src/app/features/certificate-designer/pages/CertificateDesignerPage.tsx
index bcde60efc..73f5f9c91 100644
--- a/apps/backoffice/src/app/features/certificate-designer/pages/CertificateDesignerPage.tsx
+++ b/apps/backoffice/src/app/features/certificate-designer/pages/CertificateDesignerPage.tsx
@@ -102,16 +102,24 @@ export function CertificateDesignerPage() {
   const selectedType = licenseTypes?.items?.find((type) => type.id === typeId);
 
   // A rank ladder only exists for CoC/CoP — every other licence type designs
-  // one certificate for everyone who holds it. CoC/CoP are each a single
-  // LicenseType spanning every department's ladder (stcwDepartment is null
-  // on both — the applicant's own department, not the type, decides which
-  // ladder they climb), so the picker offers every rank in the category
-  // across all departments rather than one department's ladder.
-  const isRankScoped =
-    selectedType?.certificateCategory === 'COC' || selectedType?.certificateCategory === 'COP';
+  // one certificate for everyone who holds it. Keyed on `key`, not
+  // `certificateCategory`: that STCW-mapping column is unset on the seeded
+  // CoC/CoP rows (it's authored later, per StcwMappingPanel), while `key` is
+  // the stable identity CertificateEligibilityService itself branches on.
+  // CoC/CoP are each a single LicenseType spanning every department's ladder
+  // (the applicant's own department, not the type, decides which ladder they
+  // climb), so the picker offers every rank in the ladder across all
+  // departments rather than one department's.
+  const rankCategory: 'COC' | 'COP' | null =
+    selectedType?.key === 'CERTIFICATE_OF_COMPETENCY'
+      ? 'COC'
+      : selectedType?.key === 'CERTIFICATE_OF_PROFICIENCY'
+        ? 'COP'
+        : null;
+  const isRankScoped = rankCategory !== null;
   const { data: allRanks } = useGetRanksQuery(undefined, { skip: !isRankScoped });
   const ranks = (allRanks?.items ?? [])
-    .filter((r) => r.certificateCategory === selectedType?.certificateCategory)
+    .filter((r) => r.certificateCategory === rankCategory)
     .sort((a, b) => a.sortOrder - b.sortOrder);
 
   // Default to the first licence type so the page is never an empty shell.