The purpose of the recertification process is to assure the Pharmacy Council that pharmacists practising in New Zealand are fit and competent.

There are three recertification requirements:

1. Assurance of fitness to practise. If you have any health or conduct matters to disclose, our team will work with you to identify and assess risks. We will then decide what support and risk mitigators may be necessary to ensure that your practice remains safe. Any information you disclose will be treated in strict confidence. Where appropriate, our team will work with you to provide support to enable you to practise safely to ensure public safety.  

2. Meeting Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements. When applying for your Annual Practising Certificate (APC), or when applying to return to practice after non-practising, you will have to declare whether you have met all prescribed CPD requirements. Pharmacy Council provides a dedicated platform called MyRecert where you must record your CPD.

3. Maintaining recent and relevant practice in New Zealand. Ideally, you have practised as a pharmacist for a minimum of 450 hours over the previous three years in order to be issued with the APC. If you haven’t met the requirement of 450 hours of practice over the last three years, you can still apply for your APC. You will be asked to provide information about your practice over the last three years and your plans for practising in the next 12 months. Our team can assist you in this process and guide you through any additional actions that may be required.   

1. To complete your APC application, you will need to provide:  

• your personal details including legal name, date of birth, and gender,
• your contact details including email, telephone, and postal address, 
• details of the professional membership bodies you belong to who provide you with practice support and advice.

2. We will also collect your work details, including:  

• how many weeks you practised,
• the average number of hours you practised per week,
• your primary pharmacy employer,
• whether you consider yourself a locum pharmacist,
• a breakdown of your pharmacy practice by setting (e.g., hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy),
• place of work and percentage of practice at each workplace.   

3. If applicable, you will have to make a fitness to practise disclosure and  tell us if there are any health or conduct issues that may impact your ability to practise. If there are, you must inform us and provide details via our disclosure forms. You will automatically be directed to the disclosure form if you tick that you need to make a disclosure. If you have a matter to disclose, we recommend that you start preparing any supporting documentation. If you have questions, please contact our Senior Case Manager at [email protected] 
4. You will have to declare whether you have met CPD requirements
5. You will have to make a relevant fee payment. 

Log into your Pharmacy Council online account. You will need your password and registration number or email. After you are logged in, you will find the APC application online form and the options to renew your registration status.

Use your registration number or your email as a login. If you don’t recall your password, you can easily reset it by clicking “Lost your password?” link on your Pharmacy Council online account logging page. Follow the instructions on the screen. 

This year the APC renewal process opens at 9:00am on 27 February 2024. Your application must be successfully submitted online before midnight 31 March 2024 to ensure you can legally practise on 1 April. 

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Yes, you can pause your application at any stage by clicking ‘save and continue later’ on the screen you are working on. We will send you an email with a unique link allowing you to return to your application. If you do not receive an email with the link, please contact our APC Online Team as soon as possible.  

There are no part-time fee options available for pharmacists renewing their APC. For pharmacists who have been removed from the Register or have registered, inactive practising status (non-practising), there is a mechanism in place for a part year fee if they return to practice after 1 December.

Yes, you will be notified by email when your APC is issued, or your registered, inactive status is updated. Please contact us if you have submitted your application and you haven’t received an email confirmation after 24 hours.

You will be able to give details of your disclosure online as part of your application. If further information is required, a Council team member will contact you directly once your application is received. To prepare for making a disclosure, please have relevant information to hand, including:

For a health disclosure:  

• a reflective statement from you about the potential impact, if any, your health condition may have on your ability to practise and if needed, how you plan to manage your condition to ensure your safety and fitness to practise.  
• confirmation of a practice plan and confirmation from your employer that they have been informed, are supportive of your condition and details of support provided.  
• an assessment of your health condition from your treating health professional. It should detail current medications/management of your condition and include a comment on the impact, if any, of the health condition on your safety and fitness to practise and conditions required, if any, to ensure your safety and fitness to practise.
• any other relevant information that you wish for Council to consider in relation to your health disclosure.  

For disclosures of formal investigations or findings:  

• date of investigation or disciplinary proceeding or conviction or diversion/warning,  
• electronic copies of evidence of actions taken (e.g., certificate of completion of a remediation course), and  
• a copy of your conviction history.  

You will be able to upload these documents (pdf format) in your APC application.  

On 1 April we will change your practising status to registered, inactive and you will not be able to legally practise in New Zealand as a pharmacist (irrespective of whether this involves direct patient contact) until you are issued with an APC.  

If we do not receive an application from you by May, we will contact you to remind you to review your registration status. A second reminder will be sent in November. We will also publish your name in our final Newsletter of the year as our last attempt to contact you.   

If no application is received by January, your name will be removed from the Register. 

This process is called revision of the Register. It is permitted under section 144 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 and helps to maintain the accuracy of the register.  

If you realise you have made a mistake before you submit your application, you will be able to return to the screen with the error and correct it. Your APC application and the declarations you make when submitting are legally binding and there are consequences for making a false declaration.  

If you realise you have made a mistake after your application has been submitted, you must advise Council immediately by emailing our APC Online Team or calling 04 495 0330.

An application is only formally submitted when the required fee has been paid and the payment confirmation has been received. You can be certain that your application has been successfully submitted once you receive the confirmation email with a receipt attached.

If your application was successfully submitted before midnight on 31 March, you are deemed to hold an APC from 1 April. Please check the Register on 1 April to ensure that your practising status is listed as registered, current. In most cases, there will be a short time while your application is processed, and you will be contacted if further information is required.  

If your practising status is not listed as registered, current but you believe that it should, please contact our APC Online Team.

All applications are considered individually. Some applications are complex and require additional information before they can be approved.  

We expect to receive over 5,000 applications for the APC renewal, and our experience from previous years tells us that over half of these will be received in the final seven to 10 days of March.

All applications will be acknowledged and followed up. If you submit your application for renewal prior to the end of March, your are permitted to continue to practise until your application is finalised (deemed to hold). During the interim period your practising status on the public register will remain registered, current.  

Option 1  

Apply for APC renewal as normal. This could be a good option if you intend to not practise for a short period of time, e.g., a few months. Under this option you have the flexibility to practise whenever you wish, but full CPD requirements will apply. 

Option 2  

If you will not be practising for a longer period, transfer to inactive (non-practising) status or request for removal from the Register (via online form) may be more appropriate. Under this option a lower part-year fee and reduced CPD requirements may apply when returning to practise after 1 December. However, you may not practise until your return to practice application has been assessed and a new practising certificate issued. 

If applying for renewal of an APC you are deemed to hold a practising certificate until your application is fully processed. The application must be received by us prior to the expiry of the current certificate (i.e., before the end of 31 March).   

Once the application is processed you will either be issued a new APC, or you will be notified that a new APC will not be issued. The decision to not issue a new APC is rare and will only occur after considerable discussion with the pharmacist.  

If you make your application after 1 April, you should not assume that a new APC will be issued instantly, as we may need to follow up with you for specific information.  

If you are listed as a director or responsible person on a pharmacy licence, not holding a current APC may also have implications for the pharmacy licence.   

Information on the APC fees is available here. Fees are GST inclusive and non-refundable.

The fees may be paid via credit/debit card (Visa and Mastercard only), or internet banking (Account2Account).  Please note that if you are paying by credit or debit card, an additional 2% fee will apply. Both methods are provided by a third party secure hosted payment service provider, Windcave.  

You will receive an automated email with the receipt for your payment approximately 60 minutes after you submit your application. If you do not receive confirmation within 24 hours, it might mean your application was not successfully submitted. If you think there was an error please contact us.  

The Account2Account payment method incurs no additional fees. However, transactions may take longer to process and confirm as this is dependent on communication and compatibility between banking systems. If wishing to pay by Account2Account, we recommend making your application well in advance of 31 March. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.  

According to the Windcave website, the following banks have the Account2Account payment option:  

1. ANZ  
2. ASB  
3. BNZ  
4. Kiwibank  
5. The Co-operative Bank  
6. TSB  
7. Westpac  

No – your employer will only reimburse you once you have paid the fee yourself. Employers can reimburse APC fees once they receive the application receipt. You can access the receipt by logging into your Online Portal account at any time. A payment receipt will also be sent directly to your email after your application is successfully submitted.  

Yes, although we are not able to guarantee that every tablet and smartphone will display the screens and wording exactly as a PC or laptop would.

Some organisations may limit the websites employees can access. If you have trouble accessing the APC Online application from work, we suggest you try it from another location such as your home computer or speak with your employer’s IT specialists about accessing the form.

Your CPD is recorded via the MyRecert platform. Ideally, you should complete your MyRecert portfolio before making your application for an APC.

If you are unable to complete your CPD portfolio on time, we recommend that you still make your application before the end of March but declare on your application that you have not yet met the requirements. This will ensure you can legally practise as a pharmacist from 1 April.

We will contact you if any further information is required. Your CPD will still have to be completed via MyRecert as soon as possible.

If you have been on leave (parental or other leave) but held an APC, you are still required to complete the CPD requirements for all years in which you held a full APC.

When you log into your Pharmacy Council online account, click the ‘transfer to non-practising’ application and follow the system prompts.

A non-practising pharmacist is a pharmacist who is registered with Council but does not hold a current APC (i.e., can’t practice as a pharmacist). 

The pharmacist’s name will appear on the public register and their practising status will be “registered, inactive.” To maintain non-practising status an application should be made each year in March. A non-practising pharmacist may continue to refer to themselves as a pharmacist and use the post-nominal RegPharmNZ or RegPharmNZ(Prescriber) as appropriate.  

There are no CPD requirements while holding “registered, inactive” status. However, we recommend that you are up to date with CPD requirements when you make your application to transfer to inactive status. If you are not up to date with requirements there may be additional requirements when you wish to return to practise.  

Prior to transferring to non-practising status, we strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with the return to practice requirements. The requirements are graduated depending on how long it has been since your practice in New Zealand and whether you have been practising in jurisdictions recognised by Council in the interim.  

Please see more details about returning to practice and the categories on our website and particularly our Return to Practice policy.

If you have questions that are not answered in these FAQs, please email our APC Online Team.