INNOVATION Mar-Apr 2020

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PROFESSIONAL GOVERNANCE ACT INTRODUCES UPDATED CODE OF ETHICS The upcoming enactment of the Professional Governance Act in November 2020 will introduce changes to the Code of Ethics for professional engineers and geoscientists. The Professional Governance has prepared a draft Code of Ethics to ensure compliance with the Professional Governance Act . The changes are modest and generally consistent with our existing Code of Ethics ; however, new principles have been introduced and some existing principles have been removed. Engineers and Geoscientists BC has

Governance Act , councils now have the authority to make bylaws without the need for a ratification vote by registrants. Subject to Council’s passing of the proposed bylaw, along with ministerial approval through the Office of the Superintendent of Professional Governance, the new Code of Ethics will come into effect in November 2020. For more information on changes to

Act requires that each regulator under this legislation—including Engineers and Geoscientists BC, and the regulatory bodies for forestry, applied biology, agrology, and applied science technology—include a minimum of 12 standardized mandatory principles within their Code of Ethics for their registrants. The intent of standardized principles is to bring greater consistency to the governance expectations of these professions. In preparation for this change, Engineers and Geoscientists BC

also identified principles within the current Code that have not been covered by the mandatory principles, but are still applicable to professional practice, and are proposing their inclusion in the new version. The Code of Ethics is enacted through bylaw and will be submitted to the Engineers and Geoscientists BC Council in June 2020 for approval. In line with the provisions in the Professional

the Code of Ethics , visit egbc.ca/Code-of-Ethics.

HAVE YOUR SAY Last month, all Engineers and Geoscientists BC registrants received a link to a survey on the new Code of Ethics bylaw. The purpose of this survey is to understand how Engineers and Geoscientists BC can best support registrants through guidance on the new bylaw. This survey is open from March 20 to April 10, 2020. Feedback garnered from this survey will help inform what tools and activities may be required to help registrants understand their new ethical responsibilities under the Professional Governance Act.

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