Professional Engineers Act

“Board” means the Professional Engineers Board established under section 3;

“member” means a member of the Board and includes the President of the Board;

“professional engineer” means a person who is engaged in professional engineering work;

“professional engineering work” includes any professional service, such as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning, design, or responsible supervision of construction or operation in connection with any public or privately owned public utilities, structures, buildings, machines, equipment, processes, works or projects wherein the public interest and welfare, or the safeguarding of life, public health or property is concerned or involved, when such professional service requires the application of engineering principles and data;

“registered” means registered under this Act, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

“Registrar” means the Registrar of the Board.

No person shall employ as a professional engineer any person who has not been registered under this Act.

Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 and for a second or subsequent conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000.

There shall be a board to be called the Professional Engineers Board which shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and which may sue and be sued.

The Board shall consist of —

Not less than 3 members appointed under subsection (2)(b) shall be in private practice, and not more than 3 members shall be representative of any particular branch of engineering.

A member, including the President of the Board, shall be appointed for a term not exceeding 3 years but may from time to time be reappointed, or may at any time be removed from office by the Minister.

If any member dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the vacancy so created shall, as soon as practicable, be filled in the manner in which the appointment to the vacant office was made; and every person so appointed shall hold office for the residue of the term for which his predecessor was appointed.

The powers of the Board shall not be affected by any vacancy in its membership.

At any meeting of the Board 6 members shall form a quorum and no business shall be transacted at any meeting unless a quorum is present.

At any meeting of the Board the President of the Board shall preside and in his absence the members present shall elect one of their number to preside over the meeting.

If on any question to be determined by the Board there is an equality of votes, the President of the Board or the member presiding over that meeting shall have a casting vote.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Board may determine its own procedure.

The Board shall cause proper records of its proceedings to be kept.

The common seal of the Board shall bear such device as the Board may approve and the seal may from time to time be broken, changed, altered or made anew by the Board as it may think fit.

The common seal shall be kept in the custody of the President of the Board and shall be authenticated by the President of the Board or other member acting in the absence of the President of the Board and any document purporting to be sealed and authenticated as aforesaid shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to be validly executed.

The Board shall keep and maintain a register of professional engineers in which shall be entered the names of all persons registered under this Act, the qualifications by virtue of which they are so registered and such other particulars in relation thereto as may from time to time be determined by the Board.

There shall be indicated against each person’s name in the register the branch or branches of engineering in which that person is in the opinion of the Board qualified to practise.

The Minister may appoint a Registrar of the Board.

The Registrar shall be under the general direction of the Board and shall sign all certificates of registration and record all entries of registration, cancellations and reinstatements in the register.

The Registrar shall attend all meetings of the Board and record the proceedings thereof, and shall conduct the correspondence and deal with such matters as may be assigned to him by the President of the Board or by the Board.

The Registrar shall —

In any proceedings a list published under subsection (4) shall be prima facie evidence that the persons whose names appear therein are registered professional engineers.

Subject to this section, the following persons shall, on payment of the prescribed fee, be entitled to registration under this Act as professional engineers:

Subject to subsection (3), no person shall be entitled to registration under subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c) unless he can satisfy the Board that he has had after obtaining his qualifications —

The Minister may after consultation with the Board exempt, subject to such conditions as he thinks fit, any person from the requirements of subsection (2).

The Board may refuse to register any applicant who is in the opinion of the Board —

Any person whose application for registration has been refused by the Board may appeal to the High Court whose decision shall be final.

The Board may register any Government professional engineer entitled to registration under this section without payment of the prescribed fee.

Every person registered as a professional engineer under this Act shall, on payment of the prescribed fee, be entitled to receive a certificate of registration under the hand of the Registrar.

Every such certificate of registration shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, expire on 31st December of the year in which it is issued and shall thereafter be renewable annually upon payment of the prescribed fee.

This section shall not apply to a Government professional engineer registered under this Act.

Subject to this section, the Board may by order cancel the registration of any professional engineer or suspend him from practice for a period not exceeding one year under any of the following circumstances:

The Board may, in any case in which it considers that no cause of sufficient gravity for cancellation of registration or suspension from practice exists —

The Board shall not exercise its powers under subsection (1) or (2) unless —

Every penalty imposed by the Board under subsection (2) shall be recoverable as a debt due to the Board.

If at any time a complaint is made to the Board by any person as to any defect or fault in the work of a registered professional engineer, the Board may appoint a competent person to inquire and make an inspection report to the Board on the matter of the complaint.

If as a result of such inquiry and report the Board is of the opinion that there is a prima facie case for the cancellation of registration of the professional engineer, the Board may forthwith suspend the registration of the professional engineer for a period not exceeding 6 months pending the decision of the Board.

Any person whose name has been removed from the register under section 15(b) shall be reinstated as soon as possible after he has notified the Registrar of his desire to be reinstated and upon payment of the prescribed fee.

Any person whose name has been removed from the register under section 15(c) shall, if his appeal to the High Court is allowed, be forthwith reinstated without payment of any fee.

The Board may in its discretion, after the expiration of not less than one year from the cancellation of registration of any person, consider any application for registration by that person in accordance with the provisions of Part III.

All fees payable under this Act shall be paid to the Board to be applied in the first place to defraying expenses of registration and other expenses of the administration of this Act, including any expenses of the Board that may be allowed under any rules made under this Act and thereafter to providing scholarships and the promotion of learning and education in connection with engineering.

The Registrar shall take and receive all moneys payable to the Board under this Act.

All fees and other moneys payable to the Board under this Act shall be paid forthwith into a bank account approved by the Minister.

The Board may from time to time invest any moneys not immediately required by the Board in such trustees securities as the Board may determine.

The Board shall keep full and proper accounts of all moneys received and expended by it and the accounts shall be audited by an auditor approved by the Minister.

The Minister may exempt subject to such conditions as he thinks fit any person or class of persons from sections 18 and 19 and from the provisions of any rules made under this Act.

Nothing in this Act shall apply to anything done or omitted to be done under the authority of the Government.