Registration legislation
One of the four main functions of the GMC described in the Medical Act concerns the registration of doctors. This includes the:
- arrangements for granting registration to doctors,
- erasure of names from the register
- restoration of names to the register.
- day to day maintenance of the information the register contains.
The Act sets out the basic framework within which these functions are carried out. It also provides for rules and regulations to be made which describe in detail how these functions must be carried out. The relevant rules, regulations and guidance are detailed below.
- Registration Fees Regulations
- The form and content of the registers
- Registration decisions and procedures
- Registration appeals
- Voluntary erasure from the register and restoration following voluntary erasure
- Restoration to the register following administrative erasure
- The specialist register and the general practitioner register
Registration Fees Regulations
The Fees Regulations contain the fees charged by the GMC to doctors for the grant of registration and the ‘annual retention fee’ payable by doctors for maintaining their name in the register. Full details of all registration fees can be viewed in our Registration section.
The General Medical Council Registration Fees Regulations 2008 (41kb 
pdf)
The form and content of the registers
The Medical Act requires the GMC to keep the register of medical practitioners. It also gives the GMC powers to make regulations covering the content and maintenance of the registers.
The General Medical Council (Form and Content of the Register)(No.2) Regulations 2007 (25kb pdf)
Registration decisions and procedures
The Registration Decisions – Arrangements of Procedures document differs from the other rules and regulations listed on these legislation pages in that it is not actually a piece of legislation or made under the express authority of the Act.
Instead, it is a GMC policy document which describes the procedures and processes that we will follow when considering whether to grant a doctor registration or, in some cases, withdraw registration.
The document is consistent with our legal obligations under the Act concerning doctors’ registration. It is included on these pages to help provide a complete picture of how we fulfil our registration responsibilities.
Registration Decisions – Arrangements of Procedures (86kb pdf)
Registration appeals
The Medical Act gives doctors a right of appeal against decisions by the GMC to refuse to grant registration or to withdraw registration. The circumstances in which doctors are permitted to appeal are set out in the Act.
The Act provides for the details of the appeal process to be described in separate statutory rules. These rules are:
The General Medical Council (Registration Appeals Panels Procedure) Rules 2005 (91kb pdf)
Voluntary erasure from the register and restoration following voluntary erasure
Doctors who no longer wish to practise medicine can apply to the GMC to have their names removed from the register. This is known as ‘voluntary erasure from the register’.
The Medical Act contains provisions which enable the GMC to make regulations covering the arrangements for considering applications for voluntary erasure and for the subsequent restoration to the register of a doctor whose name has been voluntarily erased.
These regulations include details of the procedures to be followed in cases where a question arises concerning the fitness to practise of a doctor seeking voluntary erasure or restoration.
The General Medical Council (Voluntary Erasure and Restoration following Voluntary Erasure) Regulations Order of Council 2004 (OPSI website) 
(opens in a new window).
Restoration to the register following administrative erasure
The Medical Act gives the GMC powers to erase a doctor’s name from the register for various administrative reasons. These reasons include the failure to pay the required registration fees [Fees Regulations 2008 (78kb, pdf)] and the failure to respond within a specified period to a letter sent by the Registrar of the GMC.
The Act also provides for regulations to be made covering the arrangements for restoring a doctor’s name to the register where it has previously been erased for administrative reasons.
These regulations include details of the procedures to be followed in cases where a question arises concerning the fitness to practise of a doctor applying for restoration to the register following administrative erasure.
The General Medical Council (Restoration following Administrative Erasure) Regulations Order of Council 2004 (OPSI website) (opens in a new window).
The specialist register and the general practitioner register
The GMC maintains three registers.
- The register of medical practitioners includes all doctors registered with the GMC.
- The specialist register includes the names of those doctors on the register of medical practitioners who are eligible to be appointed as consultants in the NHS.
- The general practitioner register includes the names of those doctors on the register of medical practitioners who are eligible to work as general practitioners in the NHS.
The GMC’s legal powers for maintaining the specialist register and the general practitioner register are not contained in the Medical Act but in a separate piece of legislation known as the ‘PMETB Order’.
The General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2003 (OPSI website) (opens in a new window).