| (1) | Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section and section 41, any person who is not registered as a practitioner in a particular profession and who— |
| (a) | for gain practises any such profession; |
| (b) | for gain performs any act specially pertaining to any such profession; |
| (c) | pretends, or by any means whatsoever holds himself or herself out, to be any such practitioner, whether or not purporting to be registered; or |
| (d) | uses the title of acupuncturist, ayurvedic practitioner, chiropractor, homeopath, naturopath, osteopath, phytotherapist, therapeutic aromatherapist, therapeutic massage therapist, therapeutic reflexologist or of any other profession registered in terms of this Act, or any other title or any name, description or symbol indicating, or calculated to lead persons to infer, that he or she holds the qualification of acupuncturist, ayurveda practitioner, chiropractor, homeopath, naturopath, osteopath, phytotherapist, therapeutic aromatherapist, therapeutic massage therapist, therapeutic reflexologist or of any other profession registered in terms of this Act, |
shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both a fine and such imprisonment.
| (2) | The provisions of subsection (1) shall not prohibit— |
| (a) | any person exercising a profession to which the provisions of the Pharmacy Act, 1974 (Act No. 53 of 1974), the Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974), the Nursing Act, 1978 (Act No. 50 of 1978), or the Dental Technicians Act, 1979 (Act No. 19 of 1979), apply, from performing any act pertaining to his or her profession, as contemplated in the appropriate Act, which may lawfully be performed by him or her; |
| (b) | a practitioner in any allied health profession from performing any act pertaining to an allied health profession, if such act is an act which also pertains to the profession for which the practitioner is registered in terms of this Act. |
| (3) | The council may, in addition to any penalty imposed in terms of this section, order that the cost of conducting the inquiry or such portion of the inquiry as the council may determine, shall be paid by the practitioner concerned. |
| (4) | The imposition of a penalty shall have the effect of a civil judgment of the magistrate's court of the district in which the disciplinary inquiry took place. |
[Section 31 substituted by section 27 of Act No. 50 of 2000]
