§ 6956. Prior nurse-midwifery certification. Any individual who is certified as a nurse-midwife pursuant to section twenty-five hundred sixty of the public health law before June first, nineteen hundred ninety-six, shall be deemed to be licensed as a midwife under this article; provided that each such certified nurse-midwife shall, prior to that date, submit evidence of such certification to the department together with the appropriate fee required by subdivision seven of section sixty-nine hundred fifty-five of this article. Any individual certified as a nurse-midwife pursuant to section twenty-five hundred sixty of the public health law (i) may practice under that section until it is repealed, but (ii) shall not practice pursuant to this article until after receiving approval from the commissioner and submitting the fee required by subdivision seven of section sixty-nine hundred fifty-five of this article.