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Offences


Offences against the PE Act, such as unregistered persons carrying out professional engineering services, should be notified to BPEQ.

BPEQ is empowered to investigate and prosecute offences against the PE Act.

Before providing information, you must understand what BPEQ can and cannot do.

No rectification, remediation or compensation powers

  • BPEQ’s role with respect to any conduct about persons other than RPEQ’s is a prosecutorial role. This means that BPEQ can only impose or seek (by way of civil proceedings) disciplinary sanctions or seek criminal penalties (by way of criminal proceedings); only where the person is found (after an investigation) to have engaged in conduct in breach of the PE Act.
  • BPEQ has no power to resolve contractual disputes or other similar grievance.
  • BPEQ cannot require the person who is the subject of your notification to do anything.
  • It is important to understand that neither BPEQ; the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal nor the Queensland Courts can order the person to undertake rectification, remediation, pay compensation or other legal remedy against the person. We recommend that you obtain independent legal advice regarding these matters.

Legal advice, safety or other risks

  • BPEQ cannot provide legal advice or influence a matter before a court or tribunal.
  • BPEQ’s decision whether to investigate any information you provide is ordinarily made ‘on the papers’, that is, after considering the information you provide and any written response provided by the person who is the subject of the notification. This means that BPEQ will not, ordinarily, when assessing any information, visit the subject site and/or assess the safety of the conduct the subject of the notification.
  • Notifiers should seek their own professional advice from a RPEQ, registered in the appropriate area of engineering if they believe the engineering service that is the subject of their notification poses a safety risk.

No relationship with other legal processes

  • The notification, investigation and prosecution processes undertaken by BPEQ are independent of and have no relationship with other complaint or dispute resolution process (including civil litigation) in which the parties to the conduct notified of or other persons are involved.
  • BPEQ cannot assist you in any dispute resolution process unless required to do so by law.

Time limits on providing a notification

  • BPEQ cannot investigate any matter subject of your notification if the conduct occurred more than two years ago.
  • Pursuant to s139 of the PE Act, BPEQ can only initiate a proceeding for any offence within one year after the alleged offence comes to BPEQ’s knowledge but within two years after the commission of the offence.

BPEQ can only investigate suspected offences under the PE Act

Claims about being a RPEQ

Section 113

  • A person who is not a RPEQ must not
    • claim, or hold himself or herself out, to be a RPEQ; or
    • allow himself or herself to be held out as a RPEQ.
  • A person must not hold out another person as a RPEQ if the person knows or ought reasonably to know the other person is not a RPEQ.
Using Titles or Names

Section 114

A person who is not a RPEQ must not use:

  • the titles ‘registered professional engineer’, ‘registered professional engineer of Queensland’ or ‘RPEQ’; or
  • another title or name, prescribed under a regulation, that in the context in which the title or name is used suggests that the person is a registered professional engineer.
Who may carry out professional engineering services

Section 115

  • It is an offence section for a person who is not a RPEQ to carry out professional engineering services.
  • However, a person does not commit an offence under section 115(1) if the person carries out the professional engineering services under the supervision of a RPEQ.
  • It is an offence for a person who is a RPEQ to carry out professional engineering services in an area of engineering other than an area of engineering for which the person is registered under this Act.
  • However, a person does not commit an offence under section 115(3) if the person carries out the professional engineering services under the supervision of a RPEQ who is registered in the area of engineering.

Providing a notification

If after considering all the previous information and the Offences and Investigation Decisions Policy (2.2 (5A)) you wish to proceed to make a notification to us about a suspected offence:

  • Make the notification by way of the below form.
  • Provide clear and detailed information about your notification.
  • Attach copies of all relevant/supporting documents.
  • You must complete separate complaint forms for each RPEQ you wish to complain about.
  • You must complete the declaration at Section C for BPEQ to be able to deal with your complaint.
  • If you make a complaint, please be aware that BPEQ will ordinarily send your complaint form and supporting information/documents to the RPEQ the subject of the complaint and invite them to respond to it. Your personal information (address, telephone and email) will be removed from the copy of the complaint sent to the RPEQ if it is not already known to the RPEQ.

    I have read and understand the above and the Offences and Investigation Decisions policy (2.2 (5A)) and want to lodge a notification.

    Section A — Notification information

    Your details



    By selecting no, you are not authorised to submit this complaint.
    You must have authorisation to make a complaint on behalf of another person. You must seek written authorisation before lodging this complaint.

    Details of person you are making this notification about


    Information on non-compliance with the PE Act






    YesNo

    Full details of your notification








    Attach copies of all relevant documents to support your notification including:




    Witnesses


    If there are witnesses who can provide independent evidence that will help BPEQ deal with your notification, please provide their names and full contact details and explain why you think they could help.

    Section B – Other Information

    Privacy statement

    The information you provide on this form will be used by BPEQ to administer the Professional Engineers Act 2002 (Qld), which includes assessing the conduct of persons and offences under the Professional Engineers Act 2002 (Qld)Act.

    In the process of assessing and investigating any information provided, BPEQ will usually disclose the information to the person you are notifying us about, their legal representative, and any expert engaged to help with the investigation of any suspected offence.

    If BPEQ decides to initiate criminal proceedings against the person as a result of the notification, BPEQ will usually disclose your personal information to the Magistrates Court of Queensland. Criminal hearings are also open to the public.

    BPEQ may also provide your personal information to the Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen and Minister for Public Works and Procurement or the Department of Energy and Public Works to inform the Minister about an investigation being conducted by BPEQ.

    BPEQ will not use or disclose your personal information for any other purpose not connected with the administration of the Professional Engineers Act 2002 (Qld) without your consent, unless the use or disclosure is authorised or required by law.

    For more information regarding privacy or accessing or amending documents view BPEQ’s Privacy Policy.

    I have read and understand the privacy statement

    Section C – Declaration

    All notifiers must complete this declaration.

    Read through this form to check that nothing has been overlooked and all necessary documents are attached, then sign the declaration below.

    Declaration by the notifier

    I have read through this form and confirm that all of the information attached to it and contained in it is true, correct, and not misleading to the best of my knowledge and belief, and that no relevant information has been omitted.

    I declare that this information is true and correct.

    I understand that it is an offence under s65 and s66 of the Professional Engineers Act 2002 (Qld) to provide false or misleading information to BPEQ.

    I have read and agreed to the Declaration.