PART 2
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS BOARD
Establishment of Professional Engineers Board
4.—(1)  A body called the Professional Engineers Board is established in Singapore, which is a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, with power, subject to the provisions of this Act, to sue and be sued in its corporate name, to acquire and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to do and perform any other acts that bodies corporate may by law perform.
(2)  The Board consists of the following members:
(a)the Commissioner of Building Control;
(b)the president of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore, or a registered professional engineer of at least 10 years’ standing nominated by him or her;
(c)not more than 6 registered professional engineers who are resident in Singapore and have in force a practising certificate —
(i)to be elected by registered professional engineers who have in force a practising certificate; or
(ii)failing such election, to be appointed by the Minister under subsection (4);
(d)not more than 6 registered professional engineers to be appointed by the Minister;
(e)a registered architect from the Board of Architects to be appointed by the Minister.
[27/2005]
(3)  Not less than 5 members of the Board must be in private practice.
[27/2005]
(4)  If elections held for the purposes of subsection (2)(c) result in less than 6 persons being elected as members of the Board, the Minister may appoint any number, that the Minister thinks fit, of registered professional engineers who have in force a practising certificate to be members of the Board, except that the number of members so appointed and the number of members elected under subsection (2)(c) must not exceed 6 in the aggregate.
[27/2005]
(5)  Of the members elected under subsection (2)(c) or appointed under subsection (4), there must be at least —
(a)one registered professional engineer in the branch of civil engineering;
(b)one registered professional engineer in the branch of electrical engineering; and
(c)one registered professional engineer in the branch of mechanical engineering.
[27/2005]
(6)  Only registered professional engineers of at least 10 years’ standing may be elected under subsection (2)(c) or appointed under subsection (4) as members of the Board.
[27/2005]
(7)  The members elected under subsection (2)(c) hold office for a term not exceeding 3 years and are eligible for re‑election.
[27/2005; 36/2017]
(8)  However, a person is ineligible for re‑election to office as a member under subsection (2)(c) if the re‑election would result in the person holding office as a member for 3 consecutive terms.
[36/2017]
(9)  The members appointed under subsection (2)(d) or (e) or (4) hold office for a term not exceeding 3 years and are eligible for re‑appointment.
[27/2005]
(10)  The Minister may, at any time, revoke the appointment of any member appointed under subsection (2)(d) or (4) without giving any reason.
[27/2005]
Compulsory voting
5.—(1)  Every registered professional engineer who has in force a practising certificate on the day of election of candidates as members of the Board under section 4(2)(c) must vote for the election of those members at the time and in the manner prescribed, if any.
[27/2005]
(2)  Every registered professional engineer who is required to vote for the election of the members of the Board in accordance with subsection (1) and who fails to do so is not entitled to apply for a practising certificate unless he or she —
(a)satisfies the Registrar that he or she had a good and sufficient reason for not voting at the election; or
(b)pays to the Board a penalty prescribed by the Board.
[4A
[27/2005]
President of Board
6.—(1)  The Board must have a president who is elected by the members of the Board from among its members —
(a)who have been elected under section 4(2)(c) or appointed under section 4(4); or
(b)who have been appointed under section 4(2)(d).
[27/2005]
(2)  The president elected under subsection (1) must serve for a term not extending beyond the expiry of the term for which he or she has been appointed or elected to be a member of the Board and is eligible for re-election.
[27/2005; 36/2017]
(3)  However, a person is ineligible for re‑election as the president under subsection (1) if the re‑election would result in the person holding office as the president for 3 consecutive terms.
[4B
[36/2017]
Disqualifications for membership of Board
7.  A person is not qualified to be a member of the Board if the person —
(a)is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident of Singapore;
(b)is an undischarged bankrupt or has made any arrangement or composition with his or her creditors;
(c)has been convicted of any offence involving fraud, dishonesty or moral turpitude, or of any other offence implying a defect in character which makes him or her unfit for the engineering profession;
(d)has a mental disorder and is incapable of managing himself or herself or his or her affairs, or is incapacitated by physical illness; or
(e)has at any time after due inquiry been found guilty by a Disciplinary Committee of improper conduct.
[4C
[27/2005; 21/2008]
Filling of vacancies
8.—(1)  The office of a member of the Board becomes vacant if the member —
(a)dies;
(b)resigns or is removed from office; or
(c)becomes in any manner disqualified for office within the meaning of section 7.
[27/2005]
(2)  The Board may, with the Minister’s approval, remove from office any member of the Board who is absent without leave of the Board from 3 consecutive ordinary meetings of —
(a)the Board; or
(b)a Disciplinary Committee of which he or she is a member.
[27/2005]
(3)  Any question as to whether a person has ceased to be a member of the Board is to be decided by the Minister whose decision is final.
[27/2005]
(4)  If any vacancy arises among the elected or appointed members, the Minister must, as soon as practicable, appoint any registered professional engineer to fill that vacancy.
[27/2005]
(5)  Any person appointed to fill the vacancy holds office for the remainder of the term for which his or her predecessor was elected or appointed.
[27/2005]
(6)  The powers of the Board are not affected by any vacancy in its membership.
[27/2005]
(7)  No act done by or under the authority of the Board is invalid because of any defect that is subsequently discovered in the appointment, election or qualification of the members or any of them.
[4D
[27/2005]
Meetings and quorum of Board
9.—(1)  At any meeting of the Board, 8 members form a quorum and no business may be transacted at any meeting unless a quorum is present.
[27/2005]
(2)  At any meeting of the Board, the president presides and in the president’s absence the members present must elect from among themselves one member to preside over the meeting.
[27/2005]
(3)  If on any question to be determined by the Board there is an equality of votes, the president or the member presiding over that meeting has a casting vote.
[27/2005]
(4)  Subject to the provisions of this Act and the Public Sector (Governance) Act 2018, the Board may determine its own procedure.
[27/2005; 5/2018]
(5)  The Board must cause proper records of its proceedings to be kept.
[4E
[27/2005]
Common seal of Board
10.—(1)  The common seal of the Board must bear such device as the Board may approve and the seal may be broken, changed, altered or made anew by the Board as it may think fit.
(2)  The common seal must be kept in the custody of the president and must be authenticated by the president or other member acting in the president’s absence and any document purporting to be sealed and authenticated as previously mentioned is, until the contrary is proved, deemed to be validly executed.
[5
Functions of Board
11.  The functions of the Board are —
(a)to keep and maintain every register mentioned in section 13(1);
(b)to hold or arrange for the holding of any examinations that the Board considers necessary for the purpose of enabling persons to qualify for registration under this Act;
(c)to approve or reject applications for registration under this Act or to approve any such applications subject to any restrictions that it thinks fit to impose;
(d)to establish and maintain standards of professional conduct and ethics of the engineering profession;
(e)to promote learning and education in connection with engineering and the development of professional engineering, either alone or in conjunction with any other person;
(f)to hear and determine disputes relating to professional conduct or ethics of professional engineers or to appoint a committee or arbitrator to hear and determine those disputes;
(g)to license corporations, partnerships and limited liability partnerships which supply professional engineering services relating to any of the prescribed branches of professional engineering work in Singapore; and
(h)generally to do all acts, matters and things that are necessary to be carried out under the provisions of this Act.
[6
[27/2005; 36/2017]
Committees
12.  The Board may appoint such committees from among its members, registered professional engineers, allied professionals or such other persons as it thinks fit to assist or advise the Board on such matters arising out of its functions under this Act as are referred to them by the Board.
[7
[36/2017]
Registers
13.—(1)  The Board must keep and maintain —
(a)a register of professional engineers containing the names of all persons registered under this Act, the qualifications by virtue of which they are so registered and any other particulars in relation thereto that the Board may determine;
(b)a register of specialist professional engineers containing the names of persons who are registered under section 22 as specialist professional engineers;
(c)an annual register of practitioners containing the particulars as contained in the declaration delivered under section 28(3)(a);
(d)a register of licensees containing the names of all licensed professional engineering practices and any other particulars that the Board may determine; and
(e)a register containing the names and any other particulars that the Board may determine, of all foreign engineers authorised under section 15(1)(c).
[27/2005; 36/2017]
(2)  There must be indicated against each person’s name in the register of professional engineers, the register of specialist professional engineers and the register of practitioners the branch or branches of engineering that, in the Board’s opinion, the registered professional engineer is qualified to practise.
[8
[27/2005]
Appointment and duties of Registrar
14.—(1)  There must be a chief executive of the Board called the Registrar of the Board, whose appointment and removal must be in accordance with the Public Sector (Governance) Act 2018.
[5/2018]
(2)  The Board may, subject to the Public Sector (Governance) Act 2018, appoint an individual to act temporarily as the Registrar during any period, or during all periods, when the Registrar —
(a)is absent from duty or Singapore; or
(b)is, for any reason, unable to perform the duties of the office.
[5/2018]
(3)  In addition to duties under the Public Sector (Governance) Act 2018, the Registrar must be under the general direction of the Board and must —
(a)sign all certificates of registration, practising certificates and licences; and
(b)record all entries of registration, cancellation and reinstatement in the register of professional engineers, register of practitioners or register of licensees, as the case may be.
[5/2018]
(4)  The Registrar must attend all meetings of the Board and record the proceedings thereof, and must conduct the correspondence and deal with any matters that the president or the Board may assign to the Registrar.
(5)  The Registrar must —
(a)as soon as may be convenient after 1 January each year, prepare and publish in the Gazette a list containing the names, qualifications (including the branch or branches of engineering to which the qualifications relate) and addresses of all registered professional engineers who have in force a practising certificate; and
(b)publish in the Gazette the names, qualifications and addresses of professional engineers added to or removed from the register of practitioners.
(6)  In any proceedings, a list published under subsection (5) is prima facie evidence that the persons whose names appear in the list are registered professional engineers who have in force practising certificates.
[9