Georgia Pharmacist license renewal and CE requirements

Summary

Georgia pharmacists must complete 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the Georgia State Board of Pharmacy. Pharmacist licenses expire December 31 of every even numbered year and must be renewed by that date. A license not renewed on time may be late renewed through January 31 of the following year with a late fee; after January 31 the license is administratively revoked and practice is prohibited.

Georgia Pharmacist renewal and continuing education rules

"Not stated" means the board's pages and rules we read do not address it. We do not fill in typical values.

Rule 480-3-.03 requires not less than 30 hours of approved continuing education per biennium, which the rule also states as 3.0 C.E.U.s, so the board uses the ACPE convention of 1 CEU equals 10 contact hours and the hour figure and the CEU figure describe the same requirement. Hours must be completed and dated within the biennium. Institutes, seminars, lectures, conferences, workshops, and correspondence or electronically delivered courses all count when ACPE approved, and the rule sets no cap on correspondence or electronic delivery and no live hour minimum. First biennium is prorated: a pharmacist licensed before or during the first six months of the biennium needs the full 30 hours, one licensed during the following twelve months needs 15 hours, and one licensed during the last six months of the biennium is exempt from continuing education for that biennium only. That conditional first cycle exemption is why exempt_first_renewal is left null rather than true. These figures are for the pharmacist license; pharmacy technician continuing education is set separately in Rule 480-15-.02 and was not used here.

Required CE topics for Georgia pharmacists

The Georgia State Board of Pharmacy pages and rules we read do not mandate specific subject areas for this license type. Hours may be in any approved subject.

Documentation and audit

Common questions

How many CE hours does a Georgia RPh/PharmD need to renew?

Georgia pharmacists must complete 30 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the Georgia State Board of Pharmacy. Rule 480-3-.03 requires not less than 30 hours of approved continuing education per biennium, which the rule also states as 3.0 C.E.U.s, so the board uses the ACPE convention of 1 CEU equals 10 contact hours and the hour figure and the CEU figure describe the same requirement. Hours must be completed and dated within the biennium. Institutes, seminars, lectures, conferences, workshops, and correspondence or electronically delivered courses all count when ACPE approved, and the rule sets no cap on correspondence or electronic delivery and no live hour minimum. First biennium is prorated: a pharmacist licensed before or during the first six months of the biennium needs the full 30 hours, one licensed during the following twelve months needs 15 hours, and one licensed during the last six months of the biennium is exempt from continuing education for that biennium only. That conditional first cycle exemption is why exempt_first_renewal is left null rather than true. These figures are for the pharmacist license; pharmacy technician continuing education is set separately in Rule 480-15-.02 and was not used here.

How often does a Georgia RPh/PharmD license need to be renewed?

Pharmacist licenses in Georgia renew every two years. Pharmacist licenses expire December 31 of every even numbered year and must be renewed by that date. A license not renewed on time may be late renewed through January 31 of the following year with a late fee; after January 31 the license is administratively revoked and practice is prohibited.

Does Georgia require specific CE topics for pharmacists?

The Georgia State Board of Pharmacy does not list mandated subject areas for RPh/PharmD renewal on the pages we verified; the 30 contact hours may be in any approved subject.

Do Georgia pharmacists have to submit CE certificates at renewal?

Licensees attest to completion at renewal rather than submitting certificates, the board audits a sample of renewals and asks for documentation, and records must be kept for 2 years. Continuing education must be approved. Providers accredited by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (A.C.P.E.) submit documentation of that accreditation to the board every two years and hold blanket approval; other providers must seek board approval of each program, with advance notice. Rule 480-3-.03 does not mention NABP CPE Monitor or an e-Profile reporting requirement.

Sources

Last verified September 10, 2026. Every value above was read from one of these.

• Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. Chapter 480-3, Renewals, Inactive Licenses, and Continuing EducationStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 10, 2026
• Pharmacy and Pharmacist FAQs, Georgia Board of PharmacyState board page, accessed September 10, 2026
• Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. Department 480, State Board of Pharmacy, chapter indexStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 10, 2026
• Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. Chapter 480-4, Duplicate Wall Certificates and/or LicensesStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 10, 2026

Hours, biennial cycle, December 31 even year expiration, two year certificate retention, and the random audit were read in Rule 480-3-.01 and Rule 480-3-.03 on the Georgia Secretary of State administrative rules site, and the December 31 even year expiration and the audit only proof practice were confirmed on the board's own FAQ page. The board FAQ points licensees to Rule 480-4-.06 for continuing education requirements, but Chapter 480-4 now lists 480-4-.06 as repealed, so that cross reference is stale and Chapter 480-3 is the operative rule. Rule 480-3-.03 states no mandatory subject areas for pharmacists, no live or in person minimum, and no cap on correspondence or electronically delivered courses, so mandatory_topics is empty. The Department 480 chapter index shows no immunization or vaccine administration chapter, so no vaccine certification continuing education add on was recorded. Carryover of excess hours is not addressed in the rule text read. rules.sos.ga.gov and sos.ga.gov refuse ordinary automated clients with HTTP 403 but rendered normally through the fetch tool used here.