Professional Engineers Ontario Licence Applicant Rights and obligations

 Are you an engineer with a burning desire to get yourself licensed by Professional Engineers Ontario? If yes, then you must know your obligations and rights as an applicant. Taking this fact into consideration, we have written this article so that you can know them. However, before you know that, you must know why a PEO license is mandatory to work as a professional engineer in Ontario.

Why an engineering license from Professional Engineers Ontario is a must:

To protect and serve the public interest, PEO licenses only qualified engineering practitioners. For this, it uses fair, objective, impartial, and transparent registration practices.

Throughout the country, engineering is a self-regulating profession that is set up by provincial/territorial statutes. Only a license holder is allowed to take up the responsibility for engineering work. It protects the public from the consequences of incompetent or irresponsible engineering.

This Act also needs PEO to regulate the practice of professional engineering and to govern license holders in the public interest by not allowing them to hold themselves out as professional engineers or from taking part in the practice of professional engineering unless they are licensed.

Your obligation:

You need to provide all the necessary information in the license application and must disclose fully and truthfully anything that could be related to your ability to work competently and responsibly as a licensed professional.

Your rights as an applicant:

The following are your rights as a PEO Ontario license applicant:

1.   You are entitled to have your application evaluated and to be informed about the result of the evaluation.

2.   If the Registrar didn’t refer your file to the Academic Requirements Committee or/and the Experience Requirements Committee on their initiative in the evaluation process, you can request that your file be referred to either one or both committees and be reviewed to determine if you have fulfilled the academic or/and experience requirements for Professional Engineers Ontario engineering license. After that, the Registrar will provide you with a Notice of Determination and if the determination is negative, the notice will detail the specific needs you need to fulfill.

3.   If you fulfill all of the requirements, the Registrar will grant you a license.

4.   If you don’t fulfill all of the requirements and you indicated in writing your unwillingness to adhere to any or all of the requirements, the Registrar will give you a Notice of Proposal to Refuse to issue you a license, together with reasons why your application faced rejection. The Registrar will tell you that you have the right to have a hearing by the Registration Committee.

5.   If you demand a hearing, the Registration Committee will determine if you have fulfilled all of the requirements for licensing. It will not review the decision of the Registrar or the Academic Requirements Committee or/and the Experience Requirements Committee. This is a new chance to have your application evaluated.

6.   The decision of the Registration Committee is final and binding on the Registrar and you. However, the Registrar or you have the right to appeal the decision to the Divisional Court of Ontario.

What are the needs to be fulfilled for a P.Eng license?

The following are the requirements you need to fulfill to attain an engineering license as per the Professional Engineers Act:

1.   You need to be a minimum of 18 years old.

2.   You need to have complied with the academic needs given in the regulations for the issuance of the license.

3.   You must satisfy the experience requirements given in the regulations for the issuance of the license.

4.   You have to meet any other requirements given in the regulations for the issuance of the license.

5.   Your character must be good.