Guide–Do I need a certificate of authorization?
Are you offering services to the public or engaging in the business of providing services to
the public services within the practice of professional engineering?
The Professional Engineers Act states: “no person shall offer to the public or engage in the business of
providing to the public services that are within the practice of professional engineering except under and in
accordance with a certificate of authorization.” In the act, “person” means an individual or an entity through
which services are provided.
Is the service professional engineering?
According to the Professional Engineers Act, the “practice of professional engineering” means “any act of
planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising that requires the
application of engineering principles and concerns the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic
interests, the public welfare or the environment, or the managing of any such act”.
1. Are you planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or
managing any of these acts?
2. Are engineering principles required to carry out the act?
3. Does the act concern the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare or
the environment?
If you can answer yes to all three questions, the service you are offering or providing is professional
engineering.
Must the certificate of authorization holder carry liability insurance?
Every holder of a certificate of authorization must not offer or provide to the public services within the practice
of professional engineering unless the holder is insured for professional liability in accordance with the
provisions in section 74(1) of Regulation 941/90, unless:
(a) the holder participates in the Indemnity Plan of the Ontario Association of Architects and the holder’s
practice is limited to professional activities covered by that plan;
(b) substantially all claims arising out of the service within the practice of professional engineering would be
covered by other insurance whose terms of coverage are not materially less than the minimum
requirements set out in section 74(1);
(c) the professional liability insurance would be for pollution hazards, nuclear hazards, aviation hazards or
shipping hazards; or
(d) before entering into an agreement to provide professional engineering services, the holder notifies each
person to whom the holder intends to provide the services that the holder is not insured in accordance
with the minimum requirements of section 74(1) and receives from each of them written authority to
provide the services without that insurance.
What is PEO’s Enforcement Policy?
PEO’s policy is to seek compliance with the Professional Engineers Act. If compliance is not achieved, or the
circumstances represent a more serious violation, PEO will initiate court proceedings. If you have concerns
about either the work of an engineer, or suspect that a person or a company is practicing engineering and
may not be licensed, you can contact PEO's Enforcement hotline at: 416-224-9528 ext.1444 or 1-800-339-
3716 ext. 1444 or
[email protected].
