Formal recognition of registers of exercise professionals operating in the UK, Australia and New Zealand has now been agreed, setting a template for the rest of the world to follow.

Detailed technical discussions which have compared the qualification structures at different levels did reveal some small differences, but none which are a barrier to exercise professionals exchanging work within these countries.

The UK Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) website will now carry clear guidance on what a UK exercise professional will need before leaving to work in Australia or New Zealand.

It is an agreed principle that registration of an exercise professional should take place in their own country before traveling.

Both the exercise registers in Australia and New Zealand have had a long-standing working relationship with the REPs and this latest analysis of qualifications has allowed formal recognition to take place.

REPs already has more than 300 members in 40 different countries around the world and many hundreds of exercise professionals working in the UK with overseas qualifications. Many of these are from Australasia.

Formal recognition through independent registration is the quality assured route which ensures direct comparability of the skills of exercise professionals in different jobs and at different levels.

REPs registrar Cliff Collins said: "This is great news for all REPs' members who want to work abroad, whether now or in the future, and we are delighted to see such goodwill extended to the other side of the world.

"Membership of the Register has been recognised as a mark of quality within the UK and it is now increasingly being used to qualify fitness professionals for work abroad.

"A similar recognition scheme across Europe is being developed by the European Health and Fitness Association (EHFA) and we are now working on brokering similar technical clearance agreements with other countries including South Africa and Canada."