Provision of Technical Advice Policy

POLICY ID: 1.15 (3A)

Approved version: 1 December 2014

Rationale

The Board is occasionally approached by professional engineers and engineering firms to provide legal and technical advice in interpreting the requirements of the Professional Engineers Act 2002 (Act) to their particular circumstance. This Policy sets out to explain the Board’s role and position in relation to provision of such advice.

Policy

The primary functions of the Board, as stated in s.80 of the Act are as follows:

1. 1. 1. to assess applications made to it under the Act;
      2. to register persons who are eligible for registration and issue certificates of registration;
      3. to conduct, or authorise, investigations about the professional conduct of registered professional engineers and contraventions of the act
      4. to keep a register
      5. to advise the Minister about
         1. eligibility requirements for persons applying for registration, or renewal or restoration of registration; and
         2. the suitability of assessment schemes for approval; and
         3. the operation of the Act in its application to the practice of engineering;
      6. to review the eligibility requirements mentioned in paragraph (e)(i)
      7. to perform other functions given to the Board under this or another Act;
      8. to perform a function incidental to a function mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (g)

Essentially the Board is a statutory body which administers the Act and is staffed by administrative officers. It is not its role, to provide in-depth legal or technical advice on specific circumstances relating to professional engineers, be they registered or not.

Practice

The Board will direct enquiries to relevant parts of the Act but it will not provide technical or legal advice on interpreting how the Act relates to a specific circumstance.