Mechanical engineers require registration by 1 December

11 August 2023

Mechanical Engineers required to be registered by 1 December 2023
 
To ensure your registration is completed by the date when registration will become mandatory for mechanical engineers (1 December 2023), you should lodge your application for registration with the Business Licensing Authority (BLA) at least three months before that date (before 1 September 2023).
 
Members revieved this bulletin on 31 May 2023.

The Professional Engineers Registration Act 2019 (the Act) commenced on 1 July 2021. The purpose of this bulletin is to inform members who may fall under the registration requirements mandated within the Act of the steps and timelines to follow to make application for registration.

Refer any queries emanating from this bulletin or regarding your registration application to engineers@bla.vic.gov.au

The Act is the result of a 2014 election commitment by the Victorian Government that was re-confirmed during the lead-up to the 2018 Victorian election.

Between 2017-2019 VACC lobbied against mechanical engineers being captured under the Act. Unfortunately, whilst receiving support from many of Victoria’s cross bench of the time, the Government of the day saw safe passage of the legislation through Parliament in August 2019.

What type of engineers are captured under the Act?

There are five areas of engineering prescribed for registration and the prescribed date for when registration becomes/became mandatory are:

• fire safety engineering (1.12.2021)
• civil engineering (1.10.2022)
• structural engineering (1.10.2022)
• electrical engineering (1.6.2023)
• mechanical engineering (1.12.2023)

What should mechanical engineers do from this point?

There are several Guidelines and Practice notes which may be helpful to members, particularly if deciding if you need to be registered under the Act or not. VACC encourages all potential applicants to verify their eligibility for registration and endorsement before you apply. You should ensure that any person working for you in a mechanical engineers role is aware of the new requirements under the Act and make their own decision as to whether they are required to register or not.

What are the registration and renewal requirements?

Professional engineers are required to meet qualification and experience requirements to be registered, and to complete continuing professional development to continue to hold registration.

• The qualifications are a Washington Accord qualification or equivalent qualification or competency.
• The experience is five years of which at least four must be postgraduate.
• The continuing professional development requirement for renewal is 150 hours every three years.

Applicants for registration will also need to pass certain personal and financial probity tests including:

• not being found guilty or convicted of an indictable offence within the last 10 years.
• not being insolvent or an officer of an externally administered company, and not failing to comply with a court or tribunal order.
• registration will be valid for three years with a professional engineer’s personal and financial probity being reassessed at each renewal cycle.

What is the process for applying for registration?

In meeting with VACC, the BLA has advised that registrations are a 2 step process.

Step 1 – Qualification and experience assessment

• Apply to an assessment entity to have your qualifications and experiences assessed. See a public record of assessment entities here.
• The assessment entity will assess your qualifications and experience against their approved assessment scheme and issue you with a report on the outcome.

Step 2 – Apply for registration to BLA.

• Applications for registration can only be made through the Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) myCAV portal.
• Upload a copy of the report from the assessment entity.
• BLA will complete the personal and financial probity checks required under the Act.

When should you apply for registration?

VACC advises you begin the application process immediately. Any professional engineer can register on a voluntary basis in any of the five areas of engineering before it becomes mandatory for them to do so.

Do not wait as you may be caught up in a backlog of applications.