A capable member willing to provide consulting engineering or geoscience services, indirectly or directly, must attain APEGS Permission to Consult. Another thing to know here is that consulting services are geoscience or engineering services given by a member of a party. This part is other than the employer of that member.
There are not any application fees that are related to Permission to Consult. However, a member needs to maintain their annual membership and licence.
Things to remember:
An ‘employee’ geoscientist or engineer doesn’t need to have Permission to Consult. Its condition is that if the professional services are for the employer and not for, directly or indirectly, another person.
A capable member can obtain Permission to Consult within an area of practice in which they have competency.
The applicant must offer the area(s) of practice in which they want to offer consulting services.
If the Permission to Consult holder is on a Certificate of Authorization list, they must place their signature. Besides that, they need to place registration numbers on all documents under their supervision. The C of A seal must appear on the document.
Permission to Consult holders will not provide consulting services, nor supervise professional activities in an area of practice. If they provide consulting services, that has to be other than for which Permission to Consult has been acknowledged.
Eligibility criteria for APEGS Permission to Consult:
For eligibility for Permission to Consult, a member has to:
- Hold registration with APEGS as a professional engineer, professional geoscientist, geoscience licensee, engineering licensee or temporary licensee
- Have all Continuing Professional Development reporting up to date. It should be either with APEGS or another Canadian engineering or geoscience regulator.
Application process:
- Complete the Notice of Intent to Consult form.
- After that, mail the authority the completed form via the Contact Us page.
- There are not any application fees.
- APEGS will reach you by mail if it needs additional information. However, it may also contact you if requiring changes to the description in the ‘Area of Practice, section on the application.
General requirements for Permission to Consult:
APEGS’s main concern is to protect the public. It does so by making sure that those people providing engineering and geoscience services are competent. In administering the Engineering or Geoscience Professions Act, APEGS tries to ensure that professional engineers and geoscientists are qualified to practice their profession. It also ensures that they practice their professions ethically. Besides that, it also ensures that only a licensed person performs engineering or geoscience work.
There are many ways to do so, beginning with a review of the candidate’s education and experience to determine eligibility. The authority reviews both educational qualifications and work experience for registration and licensure as a professional engineer or geoscientist. APEGS Academic Review and Experience Review Committees carry out this task.
Many professional engineers and geoscientists work in industry or occupations. Here, their employer owns and operates the projects or applications. For these engineers, registration as a professional engineer or professional geoscientist is enough.
Other geoscientists and engineers provide consulting engineering or geoscience services to the public. As per APEGS Regulatory Bylaw 17(1)(a) definition, ‘consulting engineering or geoscience services’ as ‘engineering or geoscience services given a member (or temporary licensee) to be utilized by people other than the employer of that member’. It is because clients are mostly not technically trained. Due to this, they bank on the judgment of the consulting engineer or geoscientist they have appointed. They must feel secure that their consultant is eligible for working in the appropriate fields of practice. For this, the professional geoscientist or engineer willing to offer services must have Permission to Consult. It is a requirement from APEGS Regulatory Bylaw 17.
A licensed engineer or geoscientist can obtain Permission to Consult by providing a Notice of Intent to Provide Consulting Services. It declares the individual’s field of competency in which they want to provide consulting engineering or geoscience services. Licensees and members have to report on their ongoing professional development activities. They have to do it through APEGS’s Continuing Professional Excellence (CPE) framework. One can also do it through compliance with mandatory reporting requirements in another Canadian jurisdiction. APEGS staff reviews all Notice of Intent. An applicant will get from the Registrar an acknowledgment of the fields of practice for which they have permission. If a licensee or member wants to change their fields of practice, they need a new Notice of Intent. This intent must show the modified fields. After that, the applicant needs to submit it and have acknowledgment.
There are not any fees associated with Permission to Consult.
They also pay heed to requirements in The Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act and Bylaws for a Certification of Authorization. They need it when professional services are given through a partnership, association of a corporation or person.
Why you should hire an APEGS expert?
Although we provide you with the general eligibility criteria for Permission to Consult, you should hire a professional. It is because you also need to know about the detailed requirements for Permission to Consult. Apart from that, you need to fulfill them systematically.
Besides that, you also need to know about APEGS much better and the APEGS self-assessment. The better you know all these things, the easier it will be for you to achieve Permission to Consult.
