Registration Standards

December 2024

Ahpra and National Boards (except for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia) have published advance copies of the revised Registration standards: English Language Skills (the ELS standards). These include:

the Common English language skills standard which applies to all applicants for initial registration in Chinese medicine, chiropractic, dental, medical, medical radiation, occupational therapy, optometry, osteopathy, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry and psychology, and
the Nursing and Midwifery ELS standard, which applies to all applicants for initial registration as enrolled nurses, registered nurses and midwives.

Advance copies of the ELS standards are available on the Ahpra website. Please note that the 2015 ELS standards will remain current until the revised ELS standards come into effect by April 2025. We are focusing on improving the applicant experience and will provide more specific information about when the standard will come into effect in early 2025.

Read the news item for further information about the updates to the ELS standard and what you need to know about any changes before they come into effect.

Registration standards define the requirements that applicants, registrants or students need to meet to be registered. The Pharmacy Board of Australia has developed the following registration standards:

Document name	PDF	Accessible format	Date of effect
Pharmacy Criminal History Registration Standard	PDF (349KB)	Word version (574KB,DOCX)	1 July 2015
Registration Standard: Professional indemnity insurance arrangements Additional information about this standard is available on the AHPRA website.	PDF (261KB)	Word version (653KB,DOCX)	1 July 2016
Registration Standard: Continuing professional development	PDF (33.9KB)	Word version (56.1KB,DOCX)	1 December 2015
Registration Standard: Recency of practice	PDF (41.4KB)	Word version (366KB,DOCX)	1 December 2015
Registration Standard: Supervised practice arrangements	PDF (88.9KB)	Word version (648KB,DOCX)	1 December 2015
Registration Standard: Examinations for eligibility for general registration	PDF (63.6KB)	Word version (653KB,DOCX)	1 December 2015
Pharmacy English language skills registration standard	PDF (375KB)	Word version (577KB,DOCX)	1 July 2015

Background information

Ministerial Council approves registration standards

Document name	PDF	Document date
Approval of the revised English Language (ELS) registration standards	PDF (166 KB)	21 June 2024
Approval of revised continuing professional development registration standard	PDF (207KB)	7 September 2015
Approval of revised recency of practice registration standard	PDF (129KB)	7 September 2015
Approval of revised professional indemnity insurance arrangements registration standard	PDF (174KB)	7 September 2015
Approval of revised registration standards for: Examinations for eligibility for general registration Supervised practice arrangements	PDF (140KB)	7 September 2015
Approval of registration standards - revised criminal history registration standard	PDF (665KB)	30 April 2015
Approval of registration standards - revised English language skills registration standard	PDF (1.10MB)	30 April 2015
Approval of registration standards - revised professional indemnity insurance standard	PDF (41.5KB)	17 June 2010
Approval of registration standards	PDF (467KB)	31 March 2010

A detailed consultation process supported the development of the Board’s registration standards.

Retired versions

Document name	PDF	Accessible format	Date of effect
Retired version: Pharmacy Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) arrangements standard	PDF (293KB)		1 July 2010 to 30 June 2016
Retired version: Pharmacy Criminal History Registration Standard	PDF (330KB)		1 July 2010 to 30 June 2015
Retired version: Pharmacy Continuing Professional Development Registration Standard	PDF (225KB)		1 July 2010 to 30 November 2015
Retired version: Pharmacy Recency of Practice Registration Standard	PDF (213KB)		1 July 2010 to 30 November 2015
Retired version: Pharmacy Supervised practice arrangements Registration Standard	PDF (332KB)		1 July 2010 to 30 November 2015
Retired version: Pharmacy Examinations for General Registration Standard	PDF (216KB)		1 July 2010 to 30 November 2015
Retired version: Pharmacy English language skills registration standard	PDF (382KB)		1 July 2010 to 30 June 2015
Retired version: Pharmacy Implementation of the English Language Skills Registration Standard	PDF (52.6KB)		1 July 2012 to 30 June 2015
Retired version: Transitional arrangements policy for pharmacy limited and provisional registration applicants	PDF (180KB)	Word version (231KB,DOCX)	1 August 2015 to 30 September 2015

Current and revised document differences

Document name	PDF	Accessible format	Document date
Summary of changes to revised registration standards and CPD guidelines for pharmacists	PDF (29.7KB)	Word version (59.3KB,DOCX)	30 October 2015

Exemption from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

The following documents have been made available on this website in compliance with the National Law and also in the interest of transparency. Wherever possible, the Pharmacy Board of Australia provides web content in accessible formats. However in cases where the documents have been provided by other parties, accessible format files may not be available or be approved for use.

If you have difficulty accessing one of these documents, please contact AHPRA at webservices@ahpra.gov.au, and we will attempt to provide you with an accessible version.

The Pharmacy Board notes that wherever possible, third party organisations are asked to provide documents in accessible formats. The Pharmacy Board will update documents on this website when accessible versions become available.