O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 43-34-71 (2019)

Unlicensed practice; exceptions; penalties

✓ O.C.G.A. (archive.org 2024 item): print volumes of 2004-2024, per-volume vintage; older volumes partly replaced by 2019 Release 73 text; no 2025 or 2026 Acts
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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(a) Unless licensed under this article or exempted under subsection (b) of this Code section, no person shall:

(1) Practice acupuncture or auricular (ear) detoxification therapy; or

(2) Represent himself or herself to be an acupuncturist or auricular (ear) detoxification technician who is licensed under this article.

(b) The prohibition in subsection (a) of this Code section does not apply to:

(1) Any person licensed to practice medicine under Article 2 of this chapter;

(2) The practice of acupuncture which is an integral part of the program of study by students enrolled in an acupuncture education program under the direct clinical supervision of a licensed acupuncturist with at least five years of clinical experience; or

(3) The practice of acupuncture by any person licensed or certified to perform acupuncture in any other jurisdiction that has requirements equivalent to or more stringent than this article where such person is doing so in the course of regular instruction in an approved educational program of acupuncture or in an educational seminar of an approved professional organization of acupuncture, provided that in the latter case the practice is supervised directly by a person licensed to practice acupuncture pursuant to this article or an acupuncturist who is licensed to practice medicine under Article 2 of this chapter.

(c) Any person violating subsection (a) of this Code section shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a misdemeanor.

History

Code 1981, § 43-34-71, enacted by Ga. L. 2000, p. 538, § 1; Ga. L. 2002, p. 415, § 43; Ga. L. 2009, p. 859, § 1/HB 509.

Annotations

Code Commission notes. - Pursuant

to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2002, Code Section 43-34-71, as enacted by Ga. L. 2002, p. 1273, § 1, was redesignated as Code Section 43-34-201.

PHYSICIANS, ASSISTANTS, & OTHERS

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Fingerprinting of offenders not required. - Violation of O.C.G.A. § 43-34-71(a) is not an offense designated

as one that requires fingerprinting. 2000 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 2000-11.