(1)A person who shows to the satisfaction of the registrar—
(a)that he is of good character,
(b)that he holds a Commonwealth or foreign qualification in veterinary surgery, and
(c)that he has satisfied the Council that he has the requisite knowledge and skill to fit him for practising veterinary surgery in the United Kingdom,
shall be entitled to be registered in the register and on being so registered shall become a member of the College.
(2)Without prejudice to any other steps which the Council may take for the purpose of satisfying themselves that a person has the said knowledge and skill, the Council shall for that purpose, except in a case falling within the next following subsection, require him to sit for examinations held for the purposes of this section by or under arrangements made by the College.
(3)If a Commonwealth or foreign qualification held by a person is of a kind accepted for the time being by the Council as constituting, in itself, satisfactory proof of that person’s possessing the requisite knowledge and skill to fit him for practising veterinary surgery in the United Kingdom, that person shall be taken to have satisfied the Council that he has the said knowledge and skill.
(4)The Council may make regulations as to the examinations to be held for the purposes of this section, and may include in the regulations provisions for withdrawing the right to sit for any such examinations from a person who has not paid the fee prescribed by the regulations for sitting for the examinations, or from a person who has previously failed to pass such examinations on such number of occasions as may be prescribed by the regulations.
(5)The Council may direct that a particular person who has passed the examinations required to obtain a Commonwealth or foreign qualification shall be treated for the purposes of this section as a person holding a Commonwealth or foreign qualification, as the case may be.
(6)For the purposes of this Act, a commonwealth qualification is a qualification granted in a place outside the United Kingdom which is within the Commonwealth, and a foreign qualification is a qualification granted in any other place outside the Commonwealth [F1, but no person shall be entitled to be registered under this section by virtue of a qualification granted in a member State if he is a national of that State and the qualification is a recognised European qualification which would entitle him to be registered under section 5A of this Act.]
Textual Amendments
F1Words substituted by S.I. 1980/1951, art. 3(3)