INNOVATION Mar-Apr 2020

A S S O C I A T I O N

UPDATE ON THE PROFESSIONAL GOVERNANCE ACT In November 2018, the Professional Governance Act (PGA) — the culmination of Government's Professional Reliance Review—was passed by the BC Legislature. And while the passing of the Act brought that review process to an end, it also signified the start of a new era as the PGA fully replaces the 100-year-old Engineers and Geoscientists Act later this year. Since its passing, it has been a challenge to understand the implications of the new Act , and what changes may be required of the organization and its members. (For example, the new Act no longer refers to “members,” but instead uses the term “registrants”.) The process to fully

The other significant change for registrants is that the PGA requires regulators to develop and implement a mandatory continuing education program. The core elements of this program were reviewed and approved by Engineers and Geoscientists BC Council at its November, 2019 meeting. Registrants can expect to soon hear more about the program, its requirements, and how it will work. Other items included in the Act that could have significant implications to the organization, and potentially to the practice of individual registrants, are independent practice rights for technologists, declarations of competence and conflict of interest, and regulation of firms.

Both independent practice rights and declarations require considerably more policy development work and consultation with regulators before any final decisions on how, and if, they will be implemented. That policy work is expected to take many months and no decisions are expected this year. The regulation of firms

understand the implications has been time consuming. It has involved frequent meetings with the Office of the Superintendent of Professional Governance (OSPG), and cross- referencing the old Act with every line of the PGA. That process is now substantively complete, and we are in a position to plan for the implementation

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section in the PGA is better defined and is

of the new Act in November 2020, and to better inform registrants of what changes they should be aware of. Primarily, the majority of the requirements of the new Act apply to the regulator—Engineers and Geoscientists BC—and not to individual registrants. Those changes that impact the organization are largely administrative and there are very few material changes to the way in which we will deliver our mandate. Overall, as the largest, most established, and best resourced of the affected regulators, most of our processes and procedures are already in alignment with the PGA. While most of the requirements fall upon regulators, there are some key changes that registrants need to be aware of. First, the new PGA requires some amendments to Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s Code of Ethics . The PGA specifies 12 ethical principles that the Code must include. Most of these principles are consistent with our current Code , but some are new. In addition, some elements of the current Code will be eliminated. (For more information, please see our article on the Code of Ethics, on Page 8.)

moving forward. The government has recognized the strength of the model that we have been developing, and has endorsed our suggested timeline of July 2021 for these regulations to come into effect. Affected registrants and firms can expect to hear much more about this beginning later this spring. Finally, it should be noted that the Act will introduce restrictions on certain advocacy activities. How “advocacy” will be defined, and whether any existing programs will be impacted, is not yet known. Engineers and Geoscientists BC continues to actively engage with the OSPG on this topic, and strongly believes that the organization’s existing programs, like promoting the professions, serve the public and should continue. The implementation of the PGA represents a time of significant transition. And while the majority of the changes impact regulators, rather than registrants, individual registrants are encouraged to stay informed, particularly about items that will directly affect them. More information will be provided regularly in Innovation , on our website at egbc.ca , and through monthly e-News.

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