After lying in a Cabinet sub-Committee since 2020, the draft Engineers Bill has been reviewed and will soon be laid in Parliament, Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Anil Nandlall has announced. The bill, however, still requires the committee’s endorsement.
“The intent is to create the most modern legal infrastructure available in order to create the type of regulatory framework necessary to bring efficiency and modernity to every sector, in particular those which involve infrastructural developments and the provision of social services to the people of Guyana. It is against this backdrop that the Engineers Bill of 2020 is to be situated,” Nandlall told the Stabroek News last week.
“Its intent is to create the legislative framework for the profession of engineering in accordance with the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement which was signed by CARIFORUM countries, including Guyana and the European Union in 2008. This Bill is therefore long overdue and in its protracted incubatory stage it has received inputs from various outstanding Guyanese engineers over the years. The drafting of the bill is now completed,” he added, while pointing out that following the committee’s approval, it will be sent to Parliament.
Nandlall explained that the bill provides for the registration, licensing, administration, and discipline of professional engineers and its primary purpose is to ensure that the profession operates in a manner that demonstrates a high level of professional integrity and protects consumers. Last October, and nearly two years since it had been to the Cabinet sub-committee for review, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill had said that the sloth in getting it approved and sent to parliament was because the legislative agenda was packed and items are treated in order of priority. He said that at the appropriate time it would be placed on the agenda.
In November 2020, less than three months after a request was made by the Guyana Association of Professional Engi-neers for an Engineering Bill to be considered by the government, Edghill had delivered a draft document for Cabinet sub-committee’s consideration. A release from the ministry said that this news was shared with the engineering association during a meeting held with Edghill. It noted too that the members were pleased to learn that Edghill had delivered on his promise to deliberate on the Engineering Bill with his Cabinet colleagues for possible inclusion in legislation.
Engineers have for decades called for such a bill but their appeal was ignored by successive governments including the PPP/C. The registering of engineers and setting out of standards has long been called for to ensure sound engineering work. Only last week, retired Guyanese/ American engineer Abraham David reiterated the need for not only a law for the sector but that it should include an Engineers Board.
“I can attest to the value of professional engineering registration, in terms of upholding engineering standards and safety, in the jurisdictions which I practised. Guyana’s advent into oil and gas and the many major engineering infrastructure works now makes it imperative for the constituting of a Board of Professional Engineering. Simultaneously, a Board of Professional Engineering will be required to address the developmental and maintenance needs in other sectors such as agriculture, the chemical industry, housing, transport, roads, structures, healthcare, forestry, mining, electricity, plumbing, fire protection and safety, sea and river defence, drainage and irrigation, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, pure water supply etc,” Abraham wrote in a letter to this newspaper.
“If properly constituted, a Board of Professional Engineering will be adjunct in addressing the needs and challenges to meet our engineering education and manpower development; registration, fees and insurance; designs and standards, and transfer of technology. In the absence of an Engineers Bill, the monetary loss to Guyana can be quantified in terms of millions of dollars annually,” he posited.
‘Necessary legislation’
Edghill said he was pleased that the review process of the bill was completed and looked forward to its enactment. Given the number of governmental infrastructure projects that are ongoing and those planned, he noted, laws needed to be in place to ensure certain standards and to hold contractors accountable. “I am looking forward to it coming out and enacted into law. It is a necessary legislation in all that is happening in terms of building construction [as] we want to ensure standards and accountability of engineers,” he told Sunday Stabroek. He informed that it is President Irfaan Ali’s wish to have measures in place that will simultaneously guide the infrastructural transformation agenda he has outlined.
Nandlall echoed that the Ali government was working to construct a modern legal framework and the requisite legal foundation that will cradle the economic and social transformation currently taking place in Guyana. “In this regard, almost every area of national endeavour is targeted for statutory reform,” Nandlall said. According to the draft bill seen by this newspaper, its main objective “is to bring the legislative framework of the profession of engineering in accordance with the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement which was signed by CARIFORUM countries (including Guyana) and the European Union in October 2008 and has been provisionally applied since December 2008.”
It further stated, “The agreement covers trade in goods, trade in services, foreign direct investment, trade defence measures, innovation and intellectual property, competition, public procurement, cooperation and various developmental issues. With respect to liberalisation for trade in professional services (market access), the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, also provides for mutual recognition of qualifications and co-operation in professional services.”
The bill consists of nine parts and provides the regulatory framework for the profession of engineering including the registration, licensing, administration and discipline of professionals. According to the explanatory memorandum, a primary objective of the bill is to ensure that the profession operates in a manner that demonstrates a high level of professional integrity and protects consumers. Part I of the bill provides for preliminary matters including the short title and the interpretation provision which defines various words and expressions used in the bill. Part II provides for the establishment of the Engineers Registration Board, a corporate body, “which shall be responsible for the management and administration of matters related to the engineering profession.”
The board shall be supported by committees, three of which shall be standing committees and others which may be established as necessary. The standing committees shall be the Qualification and Assessment Committee, the Complaints and Investigation Committee, and the Disciplinary Committee. This part also provides for the appointment of a registrar with specific functions, according to the draft. Part III provides for the registration of engineers. Provision is made for new entrants into the profession and, quite relevant to the Economic Partnership Agreement, the temporary and provisional registration.
Part IV provides for annual licensing of engineers as a requirement to practise which is separate and distinct from registration. Provision is also made for the issue of temporary and provisional licences to practise. These shall be particularly relevant in the context of temporary presence of professionals under the Economic Partnership Agreement. Under this part, provision is made for a major change in professional practice in Guyana. Part V concerns matters relating to complaints and the investigation of complaints with a view to determining whether disciplinary proceedings should be initiated. Part VI provides a wide range of disciplinary measures that may be imposed in different circumstances and for varying degrees of professional misconduct.
Other sections outline that the bill will seek “to provide the framework for a fair review and appeal proceedings. The existence of judicial procedures for prompt review of administrative decisions is an obligation under the Economic Partnership Agreement, which this part seeks to address.” Noted too were the provisions that various contraventions of the Act shall constitute criminal offences, the penalty for such being the imposition of a fine and a term of imprisonment. Part IX provides for various matters related to the regulation of the profession of engineering including recovery of fees, signing of certificates, limitation of action, and confidentiality. That part provides for the making of subsidiary legislation.
