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PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATED ENGINEER


Any person who desires to be registered as a Professional Certificated Engineer or as a Candidate Certificated Engineer may lodge an application form with ECSA. The application must be complete in all respects to obviate unnecessary delays in the processing of the application.
 
 
Applications from persons holding a recognised certificate of competency, including those already registered as candidate certificated engineers, will not be subjected to a detailed evaluation of their qualifications.
 
An application is administratively checked for completeness. If incomplete the applicant is advised of the deficiency, which must be rectified as soon as possible. Our experience shows that incomplete and badly prepared applications cause serious delays in the processing and finalisation of applications. It is strongly advised that applicants carefully read the information sheet in the application form and meticulously follow the instructions. Applicants will be expected to have consulted Policy Statement R2/1D and to have completed their application forms strictly in accordance with the requirements. Applications that do not comply with all the requirements will cause delays. It should be noted that the quality of a person’s application reflects on his or her professionalism.
 
 
Assuming that an applicant’s qualification is recognised, the process of evaluating an applicant’s training and experience starts. The applications received are submitted to the members of the Registration Committee for Professional Certificated Engineers in time for the next meeting. Meetings take place once every two months. The members of this committee, who are volunteers and evaluate applications in their own spare time, advise the administration of their findings and recommendations and the files are prepared for discussion at the forthcoming meeting.
 
 
At a scheduled meeting the committee members discuss each application and if the committee is unanimous in finding that an applicant meets the requirements, the committee decides to register the applicant and the decision is reported to the next meeting of the Central Registration Committee. Meanwhile the registration is immediately effected by the administration and the applicant is advised accordingly.
 
 
If the committee is not satisfied that an applicant meets the requirements for registration, the committee may make the following decisions:
Refuse, if the deficiencies are serious;
Defer, (for a maximum of one year) to enable the applicant to rectify the deficiencies;
Offer registration as a "candidate certificated engineer", if the applicant is not already registered as such.
 
 
Since any one of these decisions constitutes a "refusal", a recommendation to that effect is made to the Central Registration Committee for consideration. It is the responsibility of the Central Registration Committee (CRC) to ensure that all the Registration Committees under its structure have applied their minds thoroughly to the merits of each application. The CRC is the most senior committee in the registration hierarchy and is empowered to confirm refusal of an application, which will complete the process, or to refer the application back to the Registration Committee for reconsideration or such other action as may be necessary.
 
 
The Central Registration Committee consists of two representatives from each of the four Registration Committees.
 
 
It is important to note that persons who were registered as "Registered Certificated Engineer" in terms of the Engineering Profession Act, 1990 are deemed to be registered as "Professional Certificated Engineers" in terms of Act 46 of 2000.