Annual Renewal for Pharmacists & Pharmacy Technicians

If you are a Part A registrant who will continue to work in the pharmacy profession but not provide patient care (as defined on the Part A & B Register page), and you wish to be able to use the protected title of “pharmacist” or “pharmacy technician”, you have the option to move to Part B of the Register. As a Part B registrant, you are required to complete the annual renewal but your renewal fee is lower and you do not need to have personal liability insurance. If you decide to return to providing patient care at a later date (no time limit), you will have to undergo the process to move from Part B to Part A. This option should be considered for a registrant who is changing to a non-patient care role.

If you are a pharmacist or pharmacy technician in good standing who will not be working in the profession in the near future but intend to return to practice within three years, you have the option to resign from the Register and then reinstate. While you are resigned from the Register, you will not be required to pay the annual renewal fee or maintain personal professional liability insurance. Please note that once resigned, you will not be able to use the protected title of “pharmacist” or “pharmacy technician” or provide patient care. This option is appropriate to consider for a practitioner who is taking a leave from practising as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician for less than three years (e.g., parental or personal leave, sabbatical, temporary relocation outside of Ontario, working outside the profession of pharmacy).

You are eligible to apply for reinstatement within three years of the date of your resignation. When seeking reinstatement, former registrants will be reinstated into Part B of the Register. Registrants may be reinstated to Part A of the Register if certain conditions are met.

After three years from the date of your resignation from the Register, you will not be eligible for reinstatement. If you wish to return to the profession, you will be required to re-apply as a new applicant. Please review the information about reinstatement after three years from the date of resignation on the Resigning & Reinstating web page. This option is appropriate for a practitioner who is relocating outside of Ontario for three years or longer, changing careers or retiring.

All pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must complete the annual renewal process.

Interns, intern technicians and registrants holding an Emergency Assignment (EA) certificate of registration (when available), do not complete the annual renewal process.

Registrants should set aside 10-15 minutes to complete their annual renewal. If there are changes to your personal and workplace information, you will be asked to update it. Registrants will also be asked to respond to declarations. These should be read carefully before responding.

The College accepts credit card, cheque or money order. Please note the College's portal does not accept Interac debit payment.

As part of annual renewal, the College is inviting registrants to share their pronoun information to help the College use inclusive and accurate language during interactions with registrants. Pronouns refer to how you would like to be referred to in the third person and could include she/her, he/his or they/them. Sharing pronoun information with the College is optional and will only be used during staff-registrant interactions. The College’s commitment to safeguarding registrants’ privacy is reflected in our Privacy Policy.

Sharing your pronouns with the College is optional. If you do choose to share your pronouns, this information will only be used to support inclusive and accurate language during your interactions with College staff.

As the work of the College is set out in legislation, your fees are essential to our duty to regulate the profession in the public interest. Like all self-regulated healthcare professionals in Ontario, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must be registered with their licensing body to practice. This means that as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, you must register (and renew) with the Ontario College of Pharmacists, and pay the required fee, to legally practice in the province.

Your fees contribute directly to the effective regulation of pharmacy in the public interest.

The College is required to do several important things to fulfill our mandate, including meeting the “objects” spelled out in the Regulated Health Professions Act, which applies to all health professional regulators in Ontario. Our role is to ensure those who are registered to practice in Ontario are qualified and competent and are providing care that meets expected practice and ethical standards so that the public can be assured that the services they receive from their pharmacy professional are safe, ethical and focused on their interests.

The College uses annual fees to deliver on this mandate and Board-defined priorities. In other words, your fees fund the College’s activities and the regulatory programs we deliver. For example, we:

Manage registration and quality assurance programs. 

We do this by:

• Registering qualified and competent professionals to practice in Ontario, assuring the public that they can expect quality, safe and ethical care from their pharmacy professionals. This includes processing first-time registration applications and related activities, the annual renewal of certificates of registration and administration of the Registration Committee.
• Overseeing the quality and safety of the practice of Ontario’s approximately 25,000 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. This includes conducting coaching-focused practice assessments and supporting practice improvement and competence, developing policies, providing guidance, establishing an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy and administration of the Quality Assurance Committee.
• Overseeing the quality and safety of Ontario’s 4,900+ community and 230+ hospital pharmacies. This includes conducting operational assessments, applications and renewals and administration of the Accreditation and Drug Preparation Premises Committees.

Promote quality and safe pharmacy practice.

We do this by:

• Ensuring standards and policies are continually reviewed and updated to ensure that they remain relevant and reflect current practice and the evolving needs of Ontario’s health system.
• Supporting the well-being of pharmacy professionals through its voluntary Ontario Pharmacy Health Program which encourages and supports registrants to seek treatment for substance use or other mental health disorders that may affect their ability to practice safely.
• Updating and making regulations to ensure the ongoing safety of the public as pharmacy professionals expand their scopes of practice.
• Providing relevant and timely guidance, information and other resources to promote safe, quality pharmacy practice.

Respond to concerns about registrant conduct.

We do this by:

• Investigating complaints and concerns about the practice or conduct of pharmacy professionals. This includes responding to complaints and reports, conducting thorough and impartial investigations, promoting remediation and practice improvement and the administration of the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee.
• Holding professionals accountable for conduct that falls below expectations of the profession. This includes legal and other costs associated with preparing for, conducting and concluding proceedings of the Discipline Committee and Fitness to Practise Committee.

Ensure we have the resources and infrastructure necessary to fulfill our mandate effectively and efficiently.

We do this by:

• Establishing and maintaining the technology, facility and information infrastructure to carry out our regulatory duties. This includes equipping and maintaining technology that supports a remote workforce and having systems that safely manage and secure our data.
• Ensuring that we are accountable and responsible stewards of our budget and the fees we collect in the administration of our mandate.
• Implementing good governance practices and supporting the administration of Board and Committee activities across the College.

Revenue from annual fees is necessary for the College to meet our legislated obligations and regulate the profession in the public interest. College by-laws approved by the Board of Directors in 2020 set an annual increase in fees to be tied to the percentage increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index as of September 30th of each year. The intention is to reduce the need for large increases in fees in any single year by keeping up with inflation, which impacts everyone and contributes to higher costs for all organizations, including the College.