PEO changes rules for limited licences

Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) has filed amendments to Regulation 941 of the Professional Engineers Act, a move which it says is intended to enhance the “transparency, accountability and effectiveness” of regulating engineering. The organization licenses 83,000 people in the province.

Several of the changes relate to limited licences. One change under Section 46 of Regulation 941/90 follows through on earlier legislation, the Open for Business Act of 2010. It added limited licence holders to those engineers who can provide services to the public under a Certificate of Authorization. PEO says that the new amendments just filed will “strengthen the requirements to obtain a limited licence” in order to protect the public under the new situation.

Another change makes the academic requirements for a limited licence more general. This move is: “to accommodate applicants with technical degrees/diplomas in a broader range of disciplines than those to which the licence historically applied.”

And there will be a new class of limited licence, the Licensed Engineering Technologist, or “LET.” These designated individuals will be engineering technologists (“CETs”) who are certified with OACETT. They will be issued a seal that is different from that of other limited licence holders. “The new LET designation provides a pathway for qualified members to practise professional engineering within a defined scope of practice,” says PEO.

Engineering Interns (“EITs”) are also now to be recognized by PEO. Amendments to section 32.1 of the regulations formally establish the “EIT” designation for the engineers in training: “to reflect their commitment to professionalism and place on the path to becoming professional engineers.”

All the above changes will come into effect on July 1, 2015.

Other changes filed are to provide greater clarity to applicants for a licence. PEO’s committees that look into applicants’ academic qualifications and experience must now be more specific about what requirements an applicant must meet when he or she does not meet the usual requirements for licensure.

PEO Registrar Gerard McDonald, P.Eng., MBA, said: “We’re pleased PEO can make these changes to improve our transparency, accountability and effectiveness in regulating professional engineering, as well as recognize the important role played in the profession by the holders of our limited licences and new licensed engineering technologist class of limited licence.”

For more details in the PEO press release, click here.