• For registered practitioners
  • Annual practising certificates
  • Obligations of registered practitioners
  • Practitioners' health
  • Competence assurance
    • CPD/Recertification
    • Random self audits
    • Competence reviews
    • Competence assurance policies
  • Practice standards
    • Standards of Clinical Competence
    • Standards of Cultural Competence
    • Standards of Ethical Conduct
    • Competence in DPA use
    • Statements and Guidelines
  • Discipline
    • Professional Conduct and Discipline
    • Discipline cases
  • Change of details
  • Registration services
    • Changing scope of practice
    • Certificates of Good Standing
    • Certificates of Registration
    • Non-practising practitioners
  • Fees

Annual practising certificates

In order to practise as an optometrist or dispensing optician in New Zealand, you must be registered with the Board, and hold a current practising certificate (renewed annually).  It is illegal to practise without a practising certificate, and can result in prosecution and/or disciplinary action.

Application forms are below. Please read the information carefully to ensure you complete the correct application, or seek advice from the Board if you are not sure which application form to use.  Your application will be returned to you if it is incorrect or incomplete.

Application forms:

APC1: Application for annual practising certificate for all practitioners except:

• new NZ or Australian graduates (use APC2)
• practitioners who wish to renew a current practising certificate before 31 March but have mislaid or not received their personalised forms by 15 February (use APC3)

APC2: Application for annual practising certificate for new NZ or Australian graduates.

APC3: Application to renew an annual practising certificate before 31 March.  Only use this form if you have mislaid your personalised form, or if you have not received your personalised form by 18 February.  You can not use this form if your practising certificate has already expired, or if it will have expired by the time the Board receives the application.  Instead you will need to use the APC1 form, and provide all of the information requested with that application.

Important information about applications for practising certificates

In considering an application for a practising certificate, the Registrar of the Board must determine whether the requirements of section 27(1) of the Act have been met.  If not, the Registrar must consider the application under delegation from the Board, or forward the application to the Board for consideration.  Referrals to the Board will be made if the Registrar believes on reasonable grounds that:

• the applicant has at any time failed to maintain the required standard of competence
• the applicant has failed to fulfil or has failed to comply with a condition included in the applicant's scope of practice
• the applicant has not satisfactorily completed the requirements of any competence programme he/she has been ordered by the Board to complete
• the applicant has not held an annual practising certificate of a kind sought by the applicant within the 3 years immediately preceding the date of the application
• the applicant is unable to performn the functions required for the applicant's profession because of some mental or physical condition
• the applicant has not, within the 3 years immediately preceding the date of the application, lawfully practised the profession to which the applicant relates.

When considering applications referred to it under section 27 of the Act, the Board may propose to include conditions in the practitioner's scope of practice, or to decline the application for a practising certificate.  The practitioner will have an opportunity to comment before the Board makes a final decision.

Returning to the workforce

The Board has adopted policies on how it will deal with applications from practitioners rejoining the workforce after three years or more.

Click here for the Policy on Dispensing Opticians Rejoining the Workforce

Click here for the Policy on Optometrists Rejoining the Workforce

Practising without a practising certificate is illegal

Every practitioner who wishes to renew or reapply for 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.

Some employers organise the payment of APC for practitioners. If this is the case the practitioner needs to make sure that this is carried out in a timely way, noting that the practitioner is responsible for ensuring they have a current APC.

Please include current address details, noting your legal responsibilities to notify the Registrar of any change of address or change of name.

Your APC is also your GST receipt. 

Should your APC be lost, the Board will not issue a new copy as it is an original document. However the Board will provide a letter verifying that you hold an APC.