Chiropractors Act 2002
CHIROPRACTORS ACT 2002

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BERMUDA
2002 : 34

CHIROPRACTORS ACT 2002

[Date of Assent: 18 December 2002]

[Operative Date: Notice in Gazette]

WHEREAS it is expedient to regulate the practice of chiropractic:

Be it enacted by The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate and the House of Assembly of
Bermuda, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Citation
1 This Act may be cited as the Chiropractors Act 2002.

Interpretation
2 In this Act —

"chiropractic" means the assesment of conditions related to the
spine, nervous system and joints and the diagnosis,
prevention and treatment, primarily by adjustment, of 

(a) dysfunctions or disorders arising from the structures or
functions of the spine and the effects of those
dysfunctions on the nervous system; and

(b) dysfunctions or disorders arising from the structures or
functions of the joints.

"chiropractor" means a person registered under this Act;

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"Council" means the Chiropractic Registration Council
established under section 3;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for health;

"medical practitioner" means a person entitled to practice in
Bermuda as a medical practitioner under the Medical
Practitioners Act 1950;

"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations under section 11;

"the Registrar" means the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Health and Family Services.

Chiropractic Registration Council
3 (1) There is established a body of persons to be called the
Chiropractic Registration Council which shall regulate the practice of
chiropractic so as to ensure a high standard of practice and safeguard
the welfare of the public with regard to chiropractic services.

(2) The Council shall consist of 

(a) a chairman;

(b) a medical practitioner;

(c) a person considered by the Minister to have training and
experience in matters of professional ethics; and

(d) two persons nominated by the professional association
of chiropractors.

(3) The chairman and members of the Council shall be
appointed by the Minister for such period as the Minister may specify in
the instrument of appointment.

(4) The provisions of the Schedule shall have effect with respect
to the Council.

Functions
4 The functions of the Council are to

(a) prescribe initial and continuing qualifications for
registration;

(b) assess applications and decide if applicants qualify for
registration;

(c) to establish requirements for the continuing professional
education of chiropractors;

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(d) prescribe and monitor adherence to standards of
practice and ethical guidelines for registered
practitioners;

(e) investigate complaints and exercise discipline or
professional remediation of registered practitioners, by
revocation, restriction or suspension of registration, by
reprimand, retraining requirement, fine or other means.

Establishment and maintenance of register
5 (1) No person shall practise chiropractic in Bermuda unless his
name appears on the register maintained by the Registrar for the
purposes of this Act.

(2) A person seeking to be registered shall make application
therefor in the prescribed manner to the Council.

(3) The Council shall consider the application and may either
approve or reject it.

(4) Where the Council approves the application, it shall direct
the Registrar to register the applicant, that is to say, to

(a) enter the required particulars relating to the applicant in
the register; and

(b) issue to the applicant a certificate of registration in the
prescribed form valid for a period of two years.

(5) Where the Council rejects the application, it shall record its
decision and the reasons for it in writing, and direct the Registrar to
inform the applicant.

(6) An applicant who is aggrieved by a decision of the Council
under this section may, in accordance with the rules, appeal to the
Supreme Court within twenty-eight days of receiving notice thereof.

(7) Subject to section 8 and the regulations, an applicant shall
be registered if the applicant

(a) has successfully completed a prescribed training
programme and a prescribed certification examination;
and

(b) pays the fee for registration prescribed under the
Government Fees Act 1965.

(8) The Registrar shall maintain the register at his office.

(9) The register is an official record and shall set out 

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(a) the names, addresses and qualifications of registered
chiropractors; and

(b) such other particulars as the Registrar may require.

(10) It is the duty of the Registrar to keep the register, to remove
the names of persons who have died or who have ceased to be ordinarily
resident in Bermuda and to make necessary alterations in the registered
particulars of registered chiropractors.

Annual gazetting of particulars
6 (1) As soon as may be after 1st January in every year the
Registrar shall publish in the Gazette a notice, in such form as he sees
fit, setting forth the names and other particulars entered in the register
on that date.

(2) A copy of the latest-gazetted such notice is prima facie
evidence in all courts that the persons whose names are included in the
notice are registered chiropractors; and the absence of a person's name
from such a notice is prima facie evidence in all courts that he is not a
registered chiropractor.

Renewal of certificate
7 The Council shall direct the Registrar to renew a certificate if the
registered chiropractor

(a) applies to the Council for the renewal of his certificate;

(b) pays the renewal fee prescribed under the Government
Fees Act 1965 by the date on which his certificate
expires; and

(c) provides evidence of having met such continuing
education requirements as the Council may determine.

Removal of name from register for crime, infamous conduct,
incapacity etc.
8 (1) Where 

(a) a person whose name appears on the register is
convicted by any court in Bermuda or elsewhere of a
criminal offence which, in the opinion of the Council,
renders him unfit to be registered;

(b) such a person is, in the opinion of the Council, guilty of
infamous conduct in any professional respect;

(c) the Council is satisfied that the name of such a person
has been fraudulently entered on the register ; or

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(d) the Council is satisfied that such a person is, by reason
of mental disorder or incapacity, incapable of carrying
on his profession,

the Council may, if it thinks fit, direct that the person's name shall be
removed from the register.

(2) A direction shall not be given under subsection (1) save
after an inquiry in accordance with the regulations.

(3) Any person aggrieved by a direction of the Council under
subsection (1) may, at any time within twenty-eight days from the date of
receiving notice of the direction, appeal against the direction to the
Supreme Court in accordance with the rules.

(4) A direction for the removal of a name from the register shall
take effect

(a) where no appeal under this section is brought against
the direction within the time limited for the appeal, on
the expiration of that time;

(b) where such an appeal is brought and is withdrawn or
struck out for want of prosecution, on the withdrawal or
striking out of the appeal;

(c) where such an appeal is brought and is not withdrawn
or struck out as aforesaid, if and when the appeal is
dismissed.

Use of title of chiropractor
9 (1) A person shall not practice or carry on business under any
name, style or title containing the words "chiropractor" or "registered
chiropractor" unless he is registered under this Act and holds a valid
certificate of practice.

(2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an
offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of $1000.

False representations etc.
10 (1) Any person who procures or attempts to procure the entry
of a name on the register by wilfully making or producing, or causing to
be made or produced any declaration, certificate or representation he
knows to be false is guilty of an offence and liable on summary
conviction to a fine of $2000.

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Regulations and rules
11 (1) The Minister may make regulations for the better
administration of this Act and such regulations may

(a) prescribe anything which, under this Act, is required or
permitted to be prescribed;

(b) prescribe fees payable in connection with any
examination or test required to be undertaken by an
applicant;

(c) prescribe the procedure to be followed by the Council;

(d) prescribe the manner in which any notice required by
the Act or regulations to be served on any person shall
be served;

(e) regulate the making of applications for registration and
provide for the evidence to be produced in support of an
application;

(f) regulate the scope of chiropractic.

(2) The power of the Chief Justice to make rules under section
62 of the Supreme Court Act 1905 shall extend to the making of rules
regulating the practice and procedure to be followed on an appeal to the
Supreme Court under section 8(3), and the fees payable in connection
therewith.

(3) Regulations under subsection (1) are subject to the negative
resolution procedure.

Commencement
12 This Act comes into operation on such date as the Minister may
appoint by notice published in the Gazette.

SCHEDULE

THE CHIROPRACTORS REGISTRATION COUNCIL

1 A member of the Council may resign his office any time by notice
in writing given to the Minister.

2 The Minister may declare the office of a member of the Council
vacant if he is satisfied that the member—

(a) is unable through mental or physical incapacity or
absence from Bermuda to perform the functions of his
office;

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(b) has failed, without adequate cause, to attend three
successive meetings of the Council;

(c) has been sentenced to imprisonment for the commission
of a criminal offence;

(d) has had his name removed from the register under
section 8.

3 (1) A person appointed or elected to fill the place of a member
of the Council before the end of the member's term of office shall hold
office so long only as the vacating member would have held office.

(2) Where the place of a member of the Council becomes vacant
before the end of his term of office and the unexpired portion of his term
of office is less than three months, the vacancy need not be filled.

4 A person who has held office as a member of the Council shall be
eligible for re-appointment.

5 The Council may act notwithstanding any vacancy in its
membership, and no act of the Council shall be deemed to be invalid
only by reason of a defect in the appointment or election of a member
thereof.

6 Subject to the foregoing provisions of this Schedule, the Council
may determine its quorum and procedure.

7 The Council shall meet as often as may be necessary for it to
dispatch its business under this Act.

8 A minute shall be made of every decision of the Council.

9 (1) Where any matter is before the Council under section 5 or
7, a member of the Council may, with the leave of the chairman,
withdraw on the ground that he is personally acquainted with the facts
of the case or for any other reason which the chairman deems sufficient
and the chairman may himself withdraw on any such ground.

(2) Where a member has so withdrawn, the chairman may
request the Minister to appoint some person to be a member of the
Council for the purpose of those proceedings, and the Minister may, if he
thinks fit, make such an appointment, whereupon the person so
appointed shall be deemed to be a member of the Council for such
purpose.

10 In any matter before the Council the chairman or person acting
as chairman shall have a deliberative as well as a casting vote.

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For the purpose of this Schedule a reference to a member or the
membership of the Council shall, unless the context requires otherwise,
be construed as including the chairman.