Under the Health Act 1958 the registration of premises at which skin penetration is performed is the responsibility of local government authorities, that is, local councils.

The introduction of the Chinese Medicine Registration Act 2000 (CMR Act) had the effect of changing the regulatory system that required registration of acupuncture premises by local councils under the Health Act, to a system of registration of individual acupuncture practitioners by the Chinese Medicine Registration Board (CMR Board) under the CMR Act (replaced from 1 July 2007 by the Health Professions Registration Act 2005 (HPR Act)).

Individual practitioners of acupuncture are now required to be registered by the CMR Board and to abide by the standards of practice set by the CMR Board. These standards include compliance with the Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations of the Health Act. These Regulations specify infection control requirements for skin penetration specific to the procedures used in acupuncture. Since 1st January 2002, local government authorities were no longer required to register acupuncture premises where the acupuncture is performed by a practitioner registered in the division of acupuncture under the CMR Act.

The Department of Human Services (DHS) and the CMR Board are working together to draft new "Infection Control Standards of Practice for Acupuncture." These are expected to be released in 2008.

There may be some practitioners who practise skin penetration, but do not describe or advertise their practice as acupuncture because they are not qualified to practise aupuncture and are not registered with the CMR Board. One example may be myotherapy practitioners. Such practitioners whose practice involves skin penetration but not acupuncture, and who do not qualify as an 'exempt business' under the Health (Exempt Businesses) Regulations (for example registered medical practitioners, dentists etc), are required to register their premises with local government.