NSW releases draft regs for professional registration

New South Wales has taken a major step towards starting its scheme for professional registration of engineers.

The draft Design and Building Practitioners Regulation 2020 has been released for public consultation, and is open for comment until Monday, January 11.

The Regulation has been developed to support the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020, which was passed by parliament on June 3, 2020, and will commence on July 1, 2021.

It includes registration schemes for design and building practitioners and engineers who work on multi-storey, multi-unit residential apartment buildings. The NSW government says it will expand the scheme over time to cover other building classes.

The regulation also covers the following key reforms: 

• A registration scheme for design practitioners, principal design practitioners, building practitioners and professional engineers
• The minimum requirements that these practitioners must meet in order to be registered
• New obligations for lodging regulated designs and compliance declarations
• Codes of practice for design practitioners, principal design practitioners, building practitioners and professional engineers that set minimum professional and ethical standards
• Continuing professional development (CPD) requirements that apply to these practitioners to maintain registration
• Prescribed penalty notice offences. 

More information about the regulation and how to make a submission is available at the Have Your Say website.

The NSW Building and Construction Policy team will also be holding a virtual information seminar on Tuesday, December 1. Details about how to access the seminar will be available on the website from Friday, November 27.