The ERB recognises Professional Membership of the above professional bodies based upon the reciprocal recognition agreements between the HKIE and these institutions. The following conditions apply to applicants who would like to make use of Membership of these institutions as qualification for registration.

Professional Members of the above institutions must have undergone a Professional Assessment/Review which includes an interview by the parent institution. For the Institutions in the United Kingdom, Professional Assessment/Review mentioned in this paragraph must be conducted at the level which would enable the applicants to satisfy the registration requirements for Chartered Engineer.

Applicants for registration who had obtained their professional qualification of the above institutions (with the exception of the Institution of Civil Engineers) by mature route are not considered as having acceptable qualification for registration.

The ERB may, at its discretion, require an applicant to undergo an interview and/or undertake a written examination of his knowledge of engineering within a discipline.

Repealed as at 29 May 2007.

Corporate Members of the IEE may apply for Electrical, Electronics, Manufacturing & Industrial, Information, Control Automation & Instrumentation Disciplines, subject to providing satisfactory proof to the ERB that they do possess the necessary experience and are competent to practice in the discipline(s).

The HKIE Council at its meeting held on 16 March 2006 resolved that the Reciprocal Recognition Agreement between the HKIE and the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) will come to an end after 31 March 2006 as the signing party of the Agreement will cease to exist after the said date following the merger of the IEE and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) to become Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Members of the IEE who had been qualified on or before 31 March 2006 and apply for registration as R.P.E. on and after 1 April 2006 would be assessed under sec12(1)(a)(iii) of the Engineers Registration Ordinance (Cap. 409), taking into consideration the previous conditions that applied in the previous reciprocal recognition agreement between the HKIE and the IEE.

Applies to Corporate Members of IPENZ who have been qualified through supervised training and have not less than four years experience; or those who have been qualified through having practical experience of not less than six years. Applicants for Registered Professional Engineers shall identify a Discipline in which they consider it would be relevant for them to be registered. Acceptance to a Discipline, however, be assessed by the ERB. Corporate Members of the IPENZ are not eligible for registration in Structural Discipline.

Applicants who have obtained their substantive training and experience in a jurisdiction shall apply for Professional Membership in that jurisdiction first. If these applicants wish to apply for Professional Membership in other jurisdiction first, they must possess relevant working experience in that jurisdiction of not less than 6 months at the time of submitting their applications in order to be eligible to make submissions under this Agreement.

Applicants for Registered Professional Engineer shall identify a Discipline in which they consider it would be relevant for them to be registered. Acceptance to a Discipline shall, however, be assessed by the ERB. The assessment will normally include an interview based upon education, training and experience reports for matching of Discipline.

* The Institute of Materials and the Institution of Mining & Metallurgy have merged and formed the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining on 10 July 2002.

With the appropriate professional qualification, you may apply to register in the following disciplines:

To be eligible to register you are required to be ordinarily resident in Hong Kong. A person is ordinarily resident in Hong Kong if he remains in Hong Kong legally, voluntarily and for a settled purpose (such as for education, business, employment or residence), whether of short or long duration.

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Engineers returning to Hong Kong who were either registered previously or who were qualified to be registered at the time they left Hong Kong may apply for registration on their return. In general they will qualify for registration, but the Board will exercise discretion on a case-by-case basis taking account of the requirements of particular disciplines and the time spent away from Hong Kong.

If you are able to comply with the requirements, please complete and submit the application form together with the appropriate fee.

If you are not a Member of the HKIE, you are required to present certified true copies of professional qualification certificates (verified by Registered Professional Engineers, HKIE Members or employers) and reference letters from current and previous employers (past five years only) stating the date of attainment of professional qualifications, your positions, employment dates and detailed job descriptions.

You should expect the process to take a few months. The process has 3 stages: secretariat checking, review by the Registration Committee and formal approval by the Engineers Registration Board. You will be notified of the outcome by mail. If your application is successful, you will be sent a Registration Certificate valid for one year. All registrations commence on the first day of the month following the Board's approval. Annual renewal is essential to maintain registration. After renewal, a new registration certificate in the form of a card will be sent to a R.P.E.

If you want to apply for registration in an additional discipline, you will need to apply again and pay the fee. Following approval a new registration certificate showing the additional discipline with the current registered discipline(s) will be issued and the new certificate will be valid for one year from the date of registration of the additional discipline.

Three months before your registration is due for renewal, notification of renewal will be mailed to your registered address. Normally, no renewal notices will be sent to R.P.E. with overseas addresses.

If you fail to renew your registration by the due date, you will cease to be a Registered Professional Engineer. However, if late renewal is received within three months of the due date for renewal, your registration will be reinstated for the remainder of the original renewal period following receipt of payment of the renewal fee. If the registration has expired for more than three months, a fresh application for registration will have to be submitted.

The Engineers Registration Ordinance was enacted into law on 2 May 1990 to establish the professional status of engineers practising in various disciplines, and to safeguard the rights of the consumer public. You are advised to familiarize yourself with the contents of the Ordinance as ignorance is not an acceptable defence in a case of failure to comply with the law.

Under the Ordinance the registration of engineers is undertaken by the Engineers Registration Board. The Board acts independently and is primarily responsible to the public at large. The Government appoints one member to the Board and liaison between the Board and the Government is through the Development Bureau. All other appointments to the Board are made by the HKIE, which also provides the administration services under the direction of the Board.

The concept of registration is to confer on suitable applicants a title, which demonstrates - both to professional engineers and to the public - a high standard of professional training, competence to practise, and a relevant background for working in Hong Kong.

A person who is on the register may use the title "Registered Professional Engineer", or "R.P.E.", with reference to the discipline(s). It is an offence for a person to use this title if one is not on the register.

Under the Ordinance, the qualification for registration is closely linked with the qualification standard for membership of the HKIE. However, HKIE membership is not a prerequisite for registration. Membership of an engineering body which is accepted by the Board as being of a standard not less than that of a Member of the HKIE within a discipline may also be acceptable, provided that all the conditions stipulated thereon are also met.

To qualify for registration an applicant must be ordinarily resident in Hong Kong and must have at least one year relevant post-qualification professional experience in Hong Kong.

Registration is required to be renewed annually and all registrants are required to make a written declaration of their current competence to practise, both at first registration and at each renewal of registration.

Registration is entirely voluntary. It is emphasized that the register is primarily for the use of the public, to permit them to identify appropriately qualified engineers, either with reference to the register, or by selecting engineers who use the protected title, "R.P.E.".

In certain circumstances, the Government, with the safety or well being of the public in mind, may require (by law or other means), or recommend, that certain duties be carried out only by Registered Professional Engineers in appropriate disciplines.

In connection with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, all Registered Professional Engineers should be aware that their names, addresses, disciplines and qualifications are recorded on the register and are made available to the public on request in accordance with the provisions in the Engineers Registration Ordinance.