Section 7of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003states that no person may claim to be practising a profession as a health practitioner of a particular kind or state or do anything that is calculated to suggest that the person practises or is willing to practise a profession as a health practitioner of that kind unless the person

(a) is a health practitioner of that kind: and
(b) holds a current practising certificate as a health practitioner of that kind.

All practising certificates issued by the Osteopathic Council contain a reference to the Scope of Practise under which that osteopath is authorised to practise. Health practitioners must not practise outside their authorised Scope of Practise.

The Scope of Practise: Osteopath is:

Registered osteopaths are primary healthcare practitioners who facilitate healing through osteopathic assessment, clinical differential diagnosis, and treatment of dysfunctions of the whole person. Osteopaths use various recognised techniques to work with the body’s ability to heal itself, thereby promoting health and wellbeing. These osteopathic manipulative techniques are taught in the core curriculum of accredited courses in osteopathy. The ultimate responsibility for recognition of practice lies with the Osteopathic Council of New Zealand.

The Council endorses the following philosophy and principles of osteopathic treatment:

• The body is a unit.
• Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
• The body possesses self-regulatory mechanisms.
• The body has the inherent capacity to defend itself and repair itself.
• When normal adaptability is disrupted, or when environmental changes overcome the body's capacity for self-maintenance, disease may ensue.
• Movement of body fluids is essential to the maintenance of health.
• The nerves play a crucial part in controlling the fluids of the body.
• There are somatic components to disease that are not only manifestations of disease but also are factors that contribute to mainenance of the diseased state.
• Implicit in these philosophies is the belief that osteopathic intervention has a positive influence on the above.