PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS (AMENDMENT) BILL

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS (AMENDMENT) BILL: Order for Second Reading read.

The Minister of State for National Development (Mr Heng Chee How): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Professional Engineers Act was enacted to provide for the registration of professional engineers to regulate the conduct of professional engineers, and to license corporations that supply professional engineering services in Singapore. The last set of amendments which came into operation on 1st January 2004 set in place requirements for continuing professional development. With the changing needs of the construction industry today, my Ministry has undertaken a comprehensive review of the Professional Engineers Act. The focus was on the areas of professionalism, construction safety and the promotion of engineering services. The proposed amendments will also give the Professional Engineers Board more autonomy as well as streamline their operations. My Ministry has sought the views of the Institution of Engineers Singapore and the Association of

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Consulting Engineers Singapore during the preparation of the Bill. These professional bodies have given their support for the Bill.

The key features of the Bill are as follows:

(1) To enlarge the composition of the Board and allow for election of Board members;

(2) To streamline the scope and requirements of registration as professional engineers;

(3) To introduce categories of registration for specialist professional engineers;

(4) To set up a two-tier disciplinary process comprising the Investigation Committee and Disciplinary Committee;

(5) To deter unprofessional conduct by tightening penalties against errant professionals; and

(6) To allow for the licensing of limited liability partnerships to provide engineering sevices and revise start-up requirements.

Sir, I will elaborate on the proposed amendments.

To enable the Professional Engineers Board (PEB) to undertake its functions more effectively, the membership of the PEB will be expanded from 10 to 15. The expanded Board will also be able to take on new functions, such as administrating the examination system for registration and registration system of specialist engineers. Election of Board members will be introduced. Up to six members will be elected. The Minister will appoint up to another six members. The President of the Institution of Engineers Singapore and the Commissioner of Building Control will continue to be ex-officio members. There

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will also be one representative from the Board of Architects. Similar to the approach taken by the medical and dental professions, all registered practitioners will be required to vote in the election of the six representatives. Those who fail to do so without valid reasons will not be entitled to apply for practising certificates. The President of the PEB will no longer be appointed by the Minister. Board members will elect from amongst themselves, other than the ex-officio members and the representative from the Board of Architects, their President.

Sir, the Bill will also simplify the criteria on work experience for registration as professional engineers. Currently, in addition to acceptable academic qualifications, applicants must have at least two years of professional experience in Singapore and passed an examination, or five years of professional experience, including at least two years of practical experience in Singapore, or ten years of practical experience in engineering works.

The proposed amendment will streamline the criteria on work experience to a single level of at least four years. To maintain registration standards, the PEB will introduce an examination criterion. These streamlined qualifying requirements will align the registration process here with those of advanced countries, such as the US.

The Bill will also help the PEB focus its efforts on the development of key engineering disciplines. Presently, although the PEB registers 12 engineering disciplines, only professional engineers in the three construction-related disciplines of civil, mechanical and electrical engineering are required to submit plans and certificates to the public authorities for approval. As a result, very few engineers in non-construction-related disciplines choose to be registered. Engineers registered in the non-construction-related disciplines account

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for only 4% of the total register of 3,161 professional engineers. In the past two years, only one engineer has requested for registration in a non-construction-related discipline. In view of this, the Bill prescribes that only the three construction-related disciplines will be regulated. Provisions are in place for other disciplines to be regulated in the future, should the need arise.

In May 2005, the Government accepted the recommendation of the joint MND-MOM Review Committee on construction safety to require deep excavation works to be carried out by professional engineers specialised in geo-technical engineering. The Bill thus makes provisions for the PEB to register categories of specialist professional engineers who will be required to take on specialist areas of work.

Sir, this Bill will also revise disciplinary procedures to provide for greater transparency and expedite the handling of complaints against professional engineers. The proposed two-tier disciplinary process is modelled after the medical, dental and accounting professions in Singapore. An Investigation Committee will first investigate complaints and make recommendations to the Board. If the Board decides that the complaint should be proceeded further, it will appoint a Disciplinary Committee to inquire into and decide on the case.

To step up deterrence against unprofessional conduct, the Bill will impose stiffer penalties against errant professional engineers. The maximum period of suspension will be increased from one to two years. If a professional engineer is de-registered following a disciplinary inquiry, he will have to wait three instead of two years before he may re-apply for registration. The Bill also allows the Board to impose a combination

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of disciplinary actions, such as de-registration, suspension, fine and censure, as well as to recover legal costs incurred during the disciplinary proceedings.

Sir, other amendments wlll also be made to facilitate the promotion of engineering businesses. The Limited Liability Partnership Act, which came into effect in April this year, provides for a new corporate entity called the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP). This Bill allows the Board to license LLPs which can supply professional engineering services. The licensing requirements are consistent with existing ones for corporations and multi-disciplinary partnerships. To facilitate start-up companies to supply professional engineering services, the Bill will reduce the paid-up capital requirement for limited licensed corporations from $1 million to $500,000. A limited corporation must continue to be insured against professional liability to qualify for the licence. For licensed unlimited corporations, the proportion of directors, who must either be professional engineers, architects or land surveyors, is halved from 100% to a simple majority. This requirement is aligned to that of licensed limited corporations.

Sir, the challenges facing the engineering profession as well as the entire construction sector in the years ahead will be to uphold high professional standards, raise quality and safety standards. The amendments proposed in this Bill will enable the Professional Engineers Board to play a more effective role in helping the engineering profession meet these challenges.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for allowing me to speak on this Bill. Before I begin, I have to declare my interest. I am

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a mechanical engineer by training with a Bachelor and Doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering.

I just have a few queries to raise on this Bill. The first is the new section 2(f) on the definition of "professional engineering services" to include consultancy or advisory services that requires a person to engage in professional engineering work. Sir, would this definition include all engineering educators, ie, all the lecturers in the polytechnics, ITEs and the universities? Would the Minister clarify further on this? And, for example, in the US, the US Texas Board of Professional Engineers actually has a separate category of PE called the Engineering Educator Licence. So would the Minister consider a separate category of engineering educator licence to cater to the various engineering lecturers that we have in the polytechnics and the universities?

Next, in new section 4A, the Act is amended to include compulsory voting. I would like to ask the Minister to clarify on the rationale for this compulsory voting.

The next query I have is on section 8, which provides for the creation of a new register of specialist professional engineers, and section 15A provides for the registration of these specialist professional engineers. What are the aims and objectives of introducing this new category of professional engineers called the specialist professional engineers? Is it specially to cater to those graduates who have a post-graduate degree? I hope the Minister can further clarify on this. And what are the branches of professional engineering services that will fall into this category of "specialist professional engineers", besides considering the qualification of the applicants for this particular category of PEs? And in looking at the post-graduate degrees that will be considered, can the Minister also provide more details on what kind of post-

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graduate degrees are we considering, eg, Master of Science, Master of Engineering, doctorate degree?

The next query I have is on section 15, which changes the qualifying requirement for the registration of PE to include an examination. Sir, for the registration to include an examination by the Board, what kind of examination would this be? Would it be a written examination or an interview, for example? I hope more details can be provided on this examination.

My next query is on this examination to be passed by the applicants. In the US, many PE Boards in the different states actually provide for an eligibility requirement for waiver of examination, ie, applicants can apply for a waiver of this examination, so that they can be exempted from taking this when they apply for a PE. The current Bill itself does not provide for such a waiver. So, would the Ministry consider providing such an alternative, an examination waiver to the applicants?

Mr Heng Chee How: Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the Member for her comments and questions.

First, on the intention behind defining the category of engineering services, it is to enable the set-up of limited liability corporations to provide such services. That is why you will see in the definition that it points to the provision of consultancy services in this area of engineering. Therefore, for the Member's question on lecturers, academic staff members who lecture in the subjects of engineering, it is not the intention to cover them under this particular definition.

As to the Member's question on compulsory voting, actually we would assume that every professional would be keenly interested in the affairs pertaining to his own profession. So, such a

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requirement would actually not impose any heavy burden on any professional. Indeed, it is to signal the interest of the Government that people of that profession should actively know what is going on and, for a Professional Engineers Board to be formed, who leads it and so on. They should participate in the decision-making leading to the election of that Board.

On the question of why do we want to license specialist engineers, one big part of the reason came out of the joint MND and MOM study post-Nicoll Highway, and it was found that there are certain categories of specialist engineers, eg, those doing geo-technical works, these are important specialisms, and, therefore, they should be looked at very carefully. So, this was set up in order to keep a keen eye on this particular category. But the provisions also enable us to include other categories in future, if there is a requirement for that.

As to the question on the examination, it will be a written examination. The idea now is for the PEB to offer it at least twice a year, or more often if there is a need. As to the suggestion whether particular pre-existing qualifications can be considered for a waiver, the Ministry will take that into account when drawing up the rules.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Heng Chee How].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.