Revised criminal history registration standard will take effect from 1 July for Dentists in Australia

A revised criminal history registration standard will come in to effect for all Australian dental professionals and other registered healthcare practitioners in Australia from 1 July 2015.

National Boards today published the contents of the revised shared criminal history registration standard for all registered health practitioners, which is common to all National Boards and takes effect from 1 July 2015.

Whenever possible, National Boards seek to work together to develop common or similar standards across professions.

The revised criminal history registration standard has been approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council and makes very minor amendments to the old standard. The changes are expected to have minimal impact on practitioners as no changes have been made to the factors National Boards will take into account when considering an applicant's or registrant’s criminal history.

When a practitioner first applies for registration, the National Board requires the applicant to declare their criminal history in all countries, including Australia. All registered health practitioners must inform their National Board if they are:

• charged with an offence punishable by 12 months imprisonment or more, or
• convicted or found guilty of an offence punishable by imprisonment in Australia and/or overseas.

When practitioners renew their registration they must disclose any changes to their criminal history.

More information about how criminal history checks are conducted are available on the criminal history checks page, including which checks are required from countries other than Australia for some applicants and registrants.