Annual Practising Certificates (APC)
You must hold a current APC to practise as a medical laboratory science or anaesthetic technician practitioner in Aotearoa New Zealand.
You will be granted an APC if we are satisfied that you meet the criteria set out in section 27 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003. Holding a current APC means you:
- are fit to practise
- have maintained the standard of competence required for your scope of practice
- have held an APC within the three-years immediately before your application
- have lawfully practised your profession within the three-years immediately before the application
- have complied with any conditions included on your scope of practice
- have completed the requirements of any competence programme that we, the Medical Sciences Council, may have directed you to undertake
- do not have a health condition that adversely affects your ability to practise.
It's an offence to practise without an APC. If you do so, you may be:
- prosecuted by the Ministry of Health and liable to a fine of up to $10,000
- and liable to disciplinary proceedings before the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, and cancellation of your registration.
For new graduates from a New Zealand accredited programme, you're “deemed” to be competent if applying for your first APC within a year of graduation.
Frequently Asked Questions - and answers
There's an extensive list below.
APC Cycle
An APC is valid for a maximum of twelve-months between 1 April to 31 March of the following year. An APC may be issued for a part of the relevant twelve-month period.
If you've applied and paid for your APC, but haven't received it yet, this could be because the Council:
- is waiting for your supervisor to confirm your 'competency to practice' (MLT and MLPAT only) - ask them to check 'my profile' online
- is waiting for the payment to go through (if you paid by bank transfer this can take time to show up in our account so allow a bit of time for that)
- needs to review your declaration.
APC applications are handled by our staff and not issued automatically. Once your APC has been issued, it'll be emailed to your nominated email address, and placed under the invoice/document tab in your profile.
Statutory declarations
Each time you renew your APC, you must complete several declarations. It's an offence to falsify any declarations and you will be liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $10,000. (Section 172 of the HPCA Act 2003).
Demographic data
The Council collects workforce data on behalf of the Ministry of Health. When you renew your APC you'll be asked to record:
- your ethnicity - you'll be able to select up to three ethnic groups
- details of each health care facility where you work and the hours worked - if you work at more than one facility, you'll be able to record up to three facilities.
For your information: when we provide data to the Ministry of Health it doesn't identify details of your location.
APC fees paid using bulk funding
Annual Practising Certificate (APC) renewals – how to pay
Each year every registered practitioner must renew their APC to work in Aotearoa New Zealand. Practitioners can pay their fees individually or may have an agreement where their fees are paid for them by their employer.
Practising without a current APC means you're doing so illegally, so please make sure you pay your fees and have received your APC by 31 March (we recommend you make sure to have it all sorted by 28 March).
Where an employer has agreed to pay their employee's APC fee, the employer may choose to pay in a way that is referred to as ‘bulk funding’ - that is where they pay for several employee APC fees all at once. But the practitioner must apply for their APC first to get an SO number, which they need to pass onto their employer).
View the process below: APC renewal fees paid using bulk funding.
Annual Practising Certificate bulk funding process
Annual Practising Certificate FAQs
You must hold a current APC to practise as a medical laboratory science or anaesthetic technician practitioner in Aotearoa New Zealand. Being registered as a practitioner and holding a current APC are two different things.
Being registered means you’ve applied for registration, the Council has assessed that you meet the requirements for registration, that you hold a suitable qualification and have met the fitness for registration requirements. Registration is something that you only do once.
Whereas you must renew your APC every year. For details about what it means to hold a current APC view details on this page of the website.
All registered practitioners must renew their Annual Practising Certificate (APC) every year – that’s how long an APC is valid for. The renewal period runs for about six weeks. This year it started on 14 February and will finish on 31 March 2024.
However, as our Finance team need a few days to process payments we recommend you apply and pay for your APC no later than 20 March (for employers to pay bulk fees) / 26 March (for registered practitioners to apply/pay/receive their APC).
All registered practitioners get sent an email advising them of the need to apply for an APC within a certain period. It’s then up to you to
- Go to the website www.mscouncil.org.nz and log into your ‘user profile’
- apply for your Annual Practising Certificate (APC)
- an ‘SO’ number will then be generated (you’ll need to quote this and/or your registration number when paying your APC fee)
- Note: if you've arranged it with your employer, so they pay your APC fees using the ‘bulk funding’ method, make sure you pass the SO number onto them, along with your name/registration number and the APC fee amount to be paid.
The employer then pays the Medical Sciences Council (Council) and emails all the relevant details to our accounts team at accounts@medsci.co.nz
Please note: the Council does not send out invoices – so whether you’re paying your APC fees as an individual or your employer is paying on your behalf using the ‘bulk funding’ method, don’t wait to receive an invoice before making sure the fees are paid.
Assuming you meet the criteria, there's no further information required, and you/your employer has paid the APC fee, you'll likely receive your APC within two to five working days. It doesn't happen automatically so give us some time to processes things.
During the APC renewal period staff will process nearly 10,000 applications – it’s a very busy time, so please be patient. If you have any queries, we recommend you check the website details first before phoning or emailing.
Practitioners can pay their fees individually (then request a reimbursement from their employer if that arrangement has been agreed).
Where an employer has several practitioner employees, and they’ve arranged to pay their APC fees, they can choose to pay the fees using the ‘bulk funding’ method - this means practitioners wouldn’t have to pay the fees first and then request a reimbursement from their employer.
Firstly, seek confirmation from your employer that they will pay the Council directly for your practising certificate. Then apply for your APC to get an SO number (which you need to give to your employer).
Note: in addition to giving your employer an SO number you'll also need to confirm your name, registration number and the amount to be paid/the APC fee. Regardless of the method used, if you wish to have a practising certificate by 1 April you must make sure the fee is paid before 26 March 2024 if you're paying it yourself, and your employer must pay (using the bulk funding method) before 20 March 2025 if that's what you've arranged with them.
You must talk with your employer, and they will advise you. If no one pays for your practising certificate, then it will not be issued.
If you do not hold a current APC, you are not legally able to work. So, make sure you allow enough time to apply, pay and receive your APC (even though the cut off period is 31 March you'll need to allow enough time for the process - we recommend you apply/pay/make sure you've received your APC by 20 March if possible). If you miss the deadline, get in touch immediately by emailing msc@medsci.co.nz or phone +64 4 801 6250.
Our finance system is not currently set up to send an invoice to anyone but the person for whom it was created, ie the practitioner applying for their APC. And our system isn’t set up to issue employers with an invoice that’s been generated by a practitioner applying for their APC.
Here’s how the set-up works:
- a practitioner goes into the portal and applies for their Annual Practising Certificate (APC)
- this creates an SO number (Sales Order) – the practitioner then pays their APC fee
- our finance system then gets a prompt to create an invoice (for system use only) - the practitioner will be sent a ‘remittance’ once payment has been received.
However, if the practitioner doesn’t pay their APC fee (because they have an arrangement where their employer has agreed to pay it on their behalf as part of a ‘bulk funding’ arrangement, then the practitioner needs to provide the following information to their employer:
- name, registration number (in case there are two people with the same name), the SO number and the amount/APC fee.
The employer then emails accounts@medci.co.nz with the following details:
- a list of all employee names, their practitioner numbers, their SO numbers and APC fee amounts (including the total amount being paid)
- and pays the total amount into our bank account.
Note: employers don’t have to write anything specific in the online banking transaction for our benefit (we’ll be able to line the payment up with the email details they have emailed to us).
Yes, but you must apply AND pay for your APC before 8 April if you don’t want to incur an additional administration fee.
You’ll still be on the register but your previous APC will have expired – this means you’re not able to work legally. It is an offence to practise without a current APC. If you have any queries or concerns about this please get in touch as soon as possible.
Send an email to failed.login@medsci.co.nz if you’re having trouble using the password reset function on the website.
If you’ve completed the application and your fee has been paid, and you’re currently under supervision, check with your supervisor to see whether they’ve confirmed your ‘ongoing competence’. This is required before we can issue your APC.
If you’re a supervisor we recommend you regularly check your online profile and confirm the ongoing competence of the people under your supervision.
You don’t need to renew your APC until you are ready to return to work. Please contact the Council by email - let us know when you stopped practising and why, and we’ll update this on your file. You should get in touch with us three-to-four weeks before you plan on returning to work so we can provide help you renew your APC.
Yes, all practising certificates expire on 31 March each year. You will need to make sure you renew your APC to cover you for the 2025/26 period by 31 March 2025.
Practising before 1 April without a 2024/25 APC is illegal. You will need to apply for and hold a 2024/25 APC if you will be practising before 1 April. Once this has been issued, you will then need to apply to renew your APC for 2025/26.
The new Council fees took effect from 12 February 2025 – details are available under the Resources page - Secondary legislation - Gazette notices here:
- Fees payable to MSC from 12 February 2025 for the profession of Medical Laboratory Science
- Fees payable to MSC from 12 February 2025 for the profession of Anaesthetic Technology.
If you haven’t held a 2024/25 APC, you won’t be able to apply for a 2025/26 APC until 1 April. You will need to wait until you have received your APC to begin any clinical work.
APC applications are all handled by our staff and are not issued automatically. There are a few reasons your APC might not be issued right away. Please consider the following before contacting us for an update on your application as we will be very busy during the renewal period:
You paid by bank transfer; this can take time to show up in our account and be allocated to your application by our finance team.
You made a declaration on your APC that needs to be reviewed. These are all handled on a case-by-case basis, and some can take longer to resolve. Sometimes we may need to contact you for more information.
We’re waiting for your supervisor to confirm your ongoing competence.
If you recently graduated, we may be waiting for you to provide a certified copy of your qualification certificate.