Renewal of Registration and CPD

One of the major changes introduced into the Engineering Profession Act of 2000 (Act No 46 of 2000) was that registration for life was changed to registration for a period, which has been set at 5 years.
This means that all Registered Professionals (Engineers, Technologists, Certificated Engineers, Technicians), will be required to renew their registration every 5 years and will have to prove that they have maintained their competence by complying with the CPD requirements.

CPD started on 1 January 2006 and all Professionals were required to keep records of CPD activities from that date.

Renewal of registration started as from January 2007. In order to minimise the administrative work load to re-register all professionals, renewal of registration is being phased in over a 5 year period and Professionals initially registered in the following years - 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2002 will be required to re-register in 2007 on the anniversary of the original registration. Following the initial phasing in period renewal of registration will follow every 5 years. Persons registered in other years will be required to renew their registration in subsequent years according to the table published on the ECSA website and those initially registered in 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003 will be required to re-register in 2008.

In terms of the rules, a registered person must, at least 3 months prior to the prescribed expiry date of his or her registration, apply in the prescribed manner to the ECSA for the renewal of his or her registration.

ECSA must at least 5 months prior to the relevant expiry date applicable to the registered person notify him or her to submit an application for renewal at least 3 months prior to the expiry date.

It is vital for Professionals whose registration expires to apply for renewal of registration. Please ensure that those of you whose registration expires apply for renewal. The Application form for renewal requires details of CPD undertaken.

Registered persons are required to obtain at least 5 CPD credits per annum. CPD credits can be obtained in 3 categories. These are:

Category 1: Development Category. This category covers formal training and involves formal courses, conferences, congresses, large group workshops, lectures, seminars, refresher courses and colloquiums. These MUST BE VALIDATED in order to claim CPD credits. ECSA Accredited tertiary institutions may validate their own activities. ECSA recognised voluntary associations have been approved to validate their own and all other local activities for CPD purposes. Overseas activities that require CPD validation need to be submitted to ECSA who will arrange the validation. This category is a compulsory category and at least one credit with a maximum of 4 per annum is required in this category.

Note: Attendance of SAIEE meetings and lectures qualifies one for CPD credits under this category

Category 2: Work Based. This category covers day-to-day engineering responsibilities. Registered persons can claim up to 2 credits per year, one for every 400 hrs of engineering related work (including managing engineering work). In addition and applicant can claim and additional credit for 50 hrs of mentoring candidates towards registration. A maximum of 3 credits may be obtained in this category per annum.

Category 3: Individual Activities. This category covers your individual activities. Membership of a Recognised Voluntary Association will qualify you for 1 CPD credit per annum. A host of other activities qualify for CPD credits here such for example; part time lecturing, supervision of engineering students, oral exams, publication of papers, presentation of papers, participation in statuary, professional, institutional, technical, and non-technical committees or task groups, evaluation of technical programmes, evaluation of educational qualifications, evaluation of technical competence, completed post graduation qualifications, self study including studying technical journals, etc. A maximum of 3 credits may be obtained ion this category per annum.

At least 1 CPD credit must be obtained in each at least 2 of the 3 CPD categories, of which Category 1 is compulsory. Additional credits obtained in a year may be carried over to the next year but not beyond the 5 year registration period.

All registered persons are required to submit their CPD credits annually. IT is planned for this to be done electronically. At present the web facilities are not very user friendly and until this facility has been corrected and is working properly, it is recommended that the paper forms be downloaded from the ECSA web, www.ecsa.co.za and submitted to ECSA.

The SAIEE is committed to serve its members and members who need further information and assistance should please contact the secretary for assistance.