Legal Corner: The rights and duties of engineers Thursday, 22 September 2011 01:47

By Abdelaal A Khalil

In a previous article, we reviewed the terms for practising the profession of engineering and engineering consultancy and we shed light on their rights and duties according to the law of regulating the practice of engineering professions (19/2005). One of the main duties stipulated by law is that the engineer registered in the record of engineers is not allowed to practise the profession without taking the oath in front of the Committee for enrollment of engineers and engineering consultancy offices with following words:

(I swear by Allah Almighty that I will perform my work with honour and honesty and preserve the secret of the profession and will respect its traditions and ethics). The oath will be taken in the presence of a Committee.

The law requires the registered Engineer to mention his name and registration number on all drawings, designs and reports prepared by the office where he works, that he has designed or prepared or participated in, and he is not allowed to copy any design developed by another engineer without a written permission.

The law also says the engineering consultancy offices must own a suitable place to carry out their works, as the law prohibits the owners of engineering consultancy offices, their partners, engineers and employees from carrying out construction works or trade in building materials or other materials relating to the implementation of projects of any size, or kind, or any other profession contrary to their profession, or to seek any work of their profession in a way that violates the professional ethics and its traditions.

The law prohibits the owners of engineering consultancy offices, their partners, engineers and employees, from working in any of the ministries or other government agencies or public bodies and institutions.

The law obliges local and international engineering consultancy offices to keep the assets of studies, reports, drawings and designs prepared by it for at least ten years after completing its preparation.

As far as the rights of engineers and engineering consultancy offices and the privileges enjoyed by them are concerned, the law of regulating the practicing of engineering professions No 19/2005 noted the ministries or other government agencies or public bodies and institutions or companies and individuals are not allowed to entrust the work of engineering consultancies to other than the offices of engineering consultancies who have been licensed to practice the profession. The referred authorities are not allowed to accept the reports or architectural drawings or designs or schemes without the signature of the engineer in charge of one of these offices.

As the professionals of engineering and engineering consultancy offices are enjoying the legal immunity, the law stated that the engineer or the Office of engineering consultancy is not allowed to take any legal proceedings against another engineer or office of engineering consultancy because of an act of the profession before obtaining the written permission of Engineers Committee and engineering consultancy offices. If such permission was not granted within one month from the date of application, the engineer or office is allowed to take these actions before the court, and this immunity enables the engineering professionals generally to refer to the competent authority to organize their work, and this action is considered as an opportunity to resolve the dispute and end the conflict before resorting to the court, the thing that helps to enable the engineering professionals to resolve their differences quickly and maintain their connections and strengthen the bonds of relation between same professionals.