PART VII
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AND REVOCATION OF LICENCES
Cancellation of registration or suspension from practice
27.—(1)  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:
(a)if he is convicted of any offence involving fraud or dishonesty or moral turpitude;
(b)if he offers or accepts any commission which in the opinion of the Board is an illicit commission;
(c)if his registration under this Act or practising certificate has been obtained by fraud or misrepresentation;
(d)if his qualification for registration under section 15 has been withdrawn or cancelled by the authority through which it was acquired or by which it was awarded;
(e)if he has been guilty of such improper act or conduct as renders him, in the opinion of the Board, unfit to be a registered professional engineer;
(f)if it appears to the Board that he has contravened any provision of the prescribed code of professional conduct and ethics;
(g)if it appears to the Board that he is no longer in a position to carry out the duties of a professional engineer effectively in Singapore;
(h)if he has been adjudicated a bankrupt and, in the opinion of the Board, his conduct affords reasonable grounds for believing that he will not engage in professional engineering work in accordance with any written law and with honesty and integrity;
(i)if it appears to the Board that the registered professional engineer, while being a director, manager or employee of a corporation, or a partner, manager or employee of a partnership, had failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the corporation or partnership from acting in a manner (other than as described in section 29(1)(e)) which would warrant the Board revoking any licence granted to the corporation or partnership or imposing a penalty under section 29;
(j)if he has been convicted of any offence under this Act; or
(k)if he refuses or fails to comply with any order of the Board made under subsection (2)(a).
(2)  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 —
(a)by order impose on the professional engineer a penalty not exceeding $10,000; or
(b)by writing under the hand of the President censure the professional engineer.
(3)  The Board shall not exercise its powers under subsection (1) or (2) unless an opportunity of being heard either personally or by counsel has been given to the professional engineer against whom the Board intends to exercise its powers.
(4)  Every penalty imposed by the Board under subsection (2) shall be recoverable as a debt due to the Board.
(5)  While any order of suspension from practice made under this Act remains in force, the person concerned shall not for the purposes of this Act be regarded as having in force a practising certificate but forthwith on the expiry or annulment of such order, his privileges under this Act shall be revived as from the date of expiry or annulment.
(6)  An order of cancellation of registration or suspension from practice or an order under subsection (2) shall take effect the day immediately after the Board has by post served the order on the person concerned unless the Board or, where the person concerned gives due notice of appeal to the High Court, the Board or High Court orders otherwise.
(7)  For the purposes of subsection (1)(i), a registered professional engineer shall not be deemed to have taken reasonable steps to prevent the doing of any act by a corporation or partnership unless he satisfies the Board that —
(a)the act was done without his knowledge;
(b)he was not in a position to influence the conduct of the corporation or partnership in relation to its action; or
(c)he, being in such a position, exercised all due diligence to prevent the corporation or partnership from so acting.
(8)  In this section, references to acts done by a corporation or partnership include references to omissions to act and to a series of acts or omissions to act.
Removal from register of professional engineers
28.—(1)  There shall be removed from the register of professional engineers the name and other particulars of any registered professional engineer —
(a)who has died;
(b)whose registration has been cancelled under section 27;
(c)who has no address in Singapore at which he can be found; or
(d)who has not renewed his practising certificate for a continuous period of not less than 10 years.
(2)  Any registered professional engineer may apply to the Board to have his name removed from the register of professional engineers.
(3)  Every application under subsection (2) shall be made in the prescribed form and shall be supported by an affidavit served on the Board not less than two months before the application is heard.
(4)  The Board may for good cause require the applicant to advertise his intention to make the application in such manner as the Board shall direct.
(5)  Subject to subsection (6), the Board may after hearing the application direct the Registrar to remove the name of the applicant from the register of professional engineers.
(6)  No order shall be made on an application under subsection (2) if the Board is satisfied that —
(a)disciplinary action is pending against the applicant; or
(b)the conduct of the applicant is the subject of inquiry or investigation by an Investigation Committee.
Revocation of licence
29.—(1)  Subject to subsection (3), the Board may by order revoke any licence it granted to a corporation or partnership if in the opinion of the Board —
(a)the corporation or partnership has contravened or failed to comply with any of the conditions imposed by the Board under section 21;
(b)the memorandum or articles of association of the corporation have been so altered that they no longer include the restrictions, limitations or prohibitions of the kind specified in section 20(1), (2) or (4), whichever is applicable;
(c)a person who is neither —
(i)a registered professional engineer who has in force a practising certificate; nor
(ii)an allied professional,
has a beneficial interest in the capital assets and profits of the partnership;
(d)the licence had been obtained by fraud or misrepresentation;
(e)the corporation or partnership has ceased to supply professional engineering services in Singapore;
(f)the corporation or partnership has contravened any provision of the prescribed code of professional conduct and ethics;
(g)the corporation or partnership has contravened or failed to comply with section 22, 23 or 24 or has been convicted of an offence under this Act;
(h)the conduct of any director, manager or employee of the corporation, or any partner or employee of the partnership, affords grounds for believing that the corporation or partnership, as the case may be, will not supply professional engineering services in Singapore in accordance with any written law and with honesty and integrity; or
(i)the corporation or partnership has refused or failed to comply with an order of the Board made under subsection (2).
(2)  The Board may, in any case in which it considers that no cause of sufficient gravity for revoking a licence exists, by order impose on the corporation or partnership concerned a penalty not exceeding $20,000 and every such penalty shall be recoverable as a debt due to the Board.
(3)  The Board shall not exercise its powers under subsection (1) or (2) unless an opportunity of being heard by a representative in writing or by counsel had been given to the corporation or partnership against whom the Board intends to exercise its powers.
(4)  Where the Board has revoked a licence pursuant to this section, it shall forthwith inform the corporation or partnership concerned.
(5)  Any order by the Board revoking a licence or imposing a pecuniary penalty shall take effect the day immediately after the Board has by post served the order on the corporation or partnership concerned unless the Board or, where the corporation or partnership gives due notice of appeal to the High Court, the Board or High Court orders otherwise.
(6)  Where an order of revocation becomes effective —
(a)the Registrar shall cause notice of the revocation to be published in the Gazette and remove from the register of licensees the name and other particulars of the corporation or partnership concerned; and
(b)the corporation or partnership concerned shall, as from the date of the notice, cease to supply professional engineering services in Singapore except as may be approved by the Board for the purpose of winding up its business.
(7)  Subsection (6) (b) shall not prejudice the enforcement by any person of any right or claim against the corporation or partnership or by the corporation or partnership of any right or claim against any person.
Appeals
30.  If the Board has made —
(a)an order of cancellation of registration or suspension from practice under section 27 against a professional engineer;
(b)an order of revocation of a licence under section 29 against a corporation or partnership; or
(c)an order imposing any pecuniary penalty on a registered professional engineer under section 27(2) or on a licensed corporation or partnership under section 29(2),
the professional engineer, corporation or partnership concerned may, within 30 days after the order has been communicated to him or them, appeal to the High Court whose decision shall be final.
Reinstatement of registration
31.—(1)  Any person, corporation or partnership whose name has been removed from the register of professional engineers under section 28(1)(b) or the register of licensees under section 29(6)(a), as the case may be, shall, if his or its appeal to the High Court is allowed, be forthwith reinstated without payment of any fee.
(2)  The Board may, in its discretion, after the expiration of not less than two years from the removal from the register of professional engineers the name and particulars of any person, consider any application for registration by that person in accordance with the provisions of Part IV.