The National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) is pleased to announce the publication of the NAPRA Language Proficiency Requirement Policy.

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that pharmacist and pharmacy technician applicants possess the necessary language proficiency to comprehend and communicate for safe, effective, and ethical practice in either English or French, depending on their practice location. The document outlines recommendations for a language proficiency requirement across the country, based on the results of a rigorous scientific process. However, the pharmacy regulatory authorities also need to consider the laws and regulations around language proficiency in their province or territory.

The recommendations set out in this document serve as a model that NAPRA’s members, the provincial/territorial pharmacy regulatory authorities, can adopt or adapt for use in their respective jurisdictions, depending on the rules in their province or territory, to determine the final language proficiency requirement applicable in each jurisdiction. Pharmacy professional applicants should therefore contact the pharmacy regulatory authority in their jurisdiction to determine the applicable language proficiency requirement in that jurisdiction.