Annual Practising Certificates

Application for renewal of an Annual Practising Certificate

Competency-Based Professional Standards for Chiropractors

Before you apply for an APC you are advised to read the following information.

Every practitioner who wishes to obtain an annual practising certificate must apply to the Registrar. No person may claim to be practising as a health practitioner of a particular kind or do anything to suggest that they are practising unless the practitioner holds a current practising certificate with a scope of practice which indicates that the practitioner is of that kind.

The fee for an APC is $1,100 incl GST. The cost of an APC issued after 1 April each year is $1,200. Payments can be made by personal cheque, or bank cheque made out to the authority, or by MasterCard or VISA. 

Receipts for payments are sent with the APC.

An APC is valid from 1 April each year until 31 March of the following year. The APC may be issued for a period less than one year. Your scope of practice will be endorsed on the APC. Detailed information about the scope of practice is to be found in this website.

Once a practitioner has submitted an application including the required fee, the practitioner is regarded as holding that APC from the date when the authority receives the application until the date of expiry or the practitioner is notified by the Registrar that it will not be issued. Please note in your diary when you posted your APC application.

The Registrar will issue an APC if he/she believes that there are no reasons to refer the application to the authority under section 27 (1). He/ she may decline to issue an annual practising certificate if satisfied that any information included in the application is false or misleading.

There are a number of grounds set out in the HPCA Act that may lead to an APC being restricted namely

The applicant:

has failed to maintain the required standard of competence.

has failed to fulfil or comply with a condition included in the applicants scope of practice.

has not satisfactorily completed the requirements of any competence programme that the applicant has been ordered by the authority to complete.

has not held an APC within the 3 years immediately preceding the date of the application.

- is unable to perform professional functions because of some mental or physical condition.

- has not within the 3 years immediately preceding the date of application lawfully practised his or her profession.