The Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Register aka APEC Engineer Register

Introduction

At the APEC leaders’ meeting in 1995 in Osaka, there were amongst the issues raised, the need to facilitate the mobility of qualified persons among the member economies. Consistent with the Osaka Action Agenda, the meeting of 18 member economies of the APEC Human Resources Development Ministers in Manila in January 1996, urged the acceleration and expansion of project initiatives on mutual recognition of skill qualifications.

The APEC HRD Working Group that met in Wellington, New Zealand, agreed to an Australia initiation on the project, focussing on professional engineering accreditation, recognition and development.

At the first Steering Committee meeting held in May 1996 in Sydney, Australia, a consensus was reached to proceed with a comprehensive survey on professional institutions and societies, registration of professional engineers and engineering education and development. The results of that would form the framework for the best practices in professional engineering accreditation, recognition and development.

Background

The APEC Engineer, developed under the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Human Resources Development Working Group, is an initiative to facilitate mobility of professional engineers among the APEC Economies.

The purpose of APEC Engineer project is to set up a framework to facilitate future bilateral or multilateral recognition of professional qualifications in accordance with free wishes of each individual economy.

The APEC Economies recognise that any agreement, which would confer exemption, in whole or in part, upon APEC Engineers from further assessment by the statutory bodies that control the right to practise in each economy, could be concluded only with the involvement and consent of those statutory bodies and the relevant governments. The APEC Engineer Coordinating Committee recommends that relevant governments pursue this within the broader APEC framework.

The APEC Economies note that only complete or partial exemption from assessment mechanisms operating within the jurisdiction in which an APEC Engineer seeks to become licensed or registered is at issue, not exemption from the requirement to become licensed or registered in the economy concerned.

Initially Hong Kong, China, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand and the United States have been authorized by the APEC Engineer Co-ordinating Committee to implement APEC Engineer Register in their own economies. The list has since increased with more countries joining the APEC.

The disciplines approved by the APEC Engineer Co-ordinating Committee for registration include Civil, Structural, Geotechnical, Environmental, Mechanical, Electrical, Information, Manufacturing and Chemical.

Purpose

The intent of the APEC Engineer Register is to recognised equivalencies in the qualifications and experience of practising professional engineers in the participating economies and to facilities trade in engineering services between those participating economies.

It is anticipated that engineers entered in the APEC Engineer Register will be granted a high degree of mutual exemption from further assessment when practicing in any of the participating economies.

APEC Registration In Malaysia

The APEC Engineer Register is an established regional register (a benchmark register) of professional engineers for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies. This register ensures that professional engineers are of substantial equivalence in competence, and it also recognises that further assessment by the statutory bodies that control the right to practise in each economy may be exempted in whole or in part.

The APEC Engineer Coordinating Committee is the Committee, which coordinates the monitoring Committees of all the economies. Each member economy shall have a monitoring Committee to ensure the professional engineers on their respective register have complied with the requirements of the APEC Engineer Framework. So far, eleven member economies including Malaysia have been approved to operate an APEC Engineer Register in each of the economies. The other economies are Australia, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand and United States of America. Later in 2011, Chinese Taipei, Russia and Singapore also joined as economies. As years past the number of economies would increase considerably.

The recognition to operate a Register is given only after the APEC Engineer Coordinating Committee has approved the Assessment Statement of an economy. The approval is based on compliance to the APEC Engineer Framework and subject to review by member economies.

This register ensures that professional engineers in Malaysia have the opportunity to have their professional standing recognised within the APEC region thereby contributing to the globalisation of professional engineering services. This is of particular benefits to engineering firms that are providing services to other APEC economies but it also adds value to individuals who may wish, at some stage, to work in these economies.

Definition Of APEC Engineer

An APEC Engineer is defined as a person who is recognized as a professional engineer within an APEC economy such as Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and New Zealand., and who has satisfied and authorized body in that economy, operating in accordance with the criteria and procedures approved by the APEC Engineer Coordinating Committee, that they have:

  • Completed an accredited or recognized engineering program, or assessed recognized equivalent; and
  • Been assessed within their own economy as eligible for independent practice; and
  • Gained a minimum of seven (7) years practical experience since graduation; and
  • Spent at least two(2) years in responsible charge of significant engineering work; and
  • Maintained their continuing professional development at a satisfactory level.

In addition all practitioners seeking registration as APEC Engineers must also agree to be:

  • Bound by the codes of professional conduct established and enforced by their home jurisdiction and by any other jurisdiction within which they practice; and be
  • Held individually accountable for their actions, both through requirements imposed by the licensing or registering body in the jurisdiction in which they work and through legal processes.

Each practitioner included on the APEC Engineer Register shall be identified with one or more recognised engineering disciplines, selected form a list approved by the Coordinating Committee, within which that practitioner has been assessed as being eligible for independent practice by the Monitoring Committee holding the Register.

The type of standards required as a continuous quality improvement of an APEC Engineer are :

Types Of Standards

  • Standards of Education
  • Standards of Professional Practice
  • Standards of Individual Practitioner Performance

Indicators

  • Input or process indicators to support learning outcomes
  • Demonstration of competence or achievement of learning
  • Practice guidelines

Title

The APEC confers the post-nominal title APEC (MY) for registrants in the Malaysia Section, which is an abbreviation of Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation. APEC Registrants may use this title as long as they remain on the APEC Engineers Register, which is subject to periodic confirmation of Continuing Professional Development submitted to the APEC member through which one is registered.

Use of the APEC title may be restricted in some countries for legal reasons. APEC Engineers are required to comply with domestic laws and should use the title in accordance with any restrictions or requirements to which nationals of the host country must submit.

Role Of The Monitoring Committee

The primary objective of each Monitoring Committee will be to develop and maintain a Register of APEC Engineers for practitioners based in the relevant economy.

Each Monitoring Committee seeking authorisation to operate a Register in their economy will prepare a statement setting out the criteria and procedures by which applicants for designation as APEC Engineers within that economy are proposed to be assessed. The APEC Engineer Coordinating Committee in accordance with its published Rules and the guidelines will review each statement.

Following that review, authorisation will require support from two-third of the Monitoring Committees authorised to operate Registers. The statement of criteria and procedures supplied by each authorised Monitoring Committee will form an integral part of this Framework.

Once a Monitoring Committee has been authorised by the APEC Engineer Coordinating Committee to establish a Register of APEC Engineers within an economy, the Monitoring Committee will arrange to provide timely and accurate information on the status of any practitioner claiming to be listed on that Register to any person or organisation having a legitimate need for access to such information, to exchange relevant data with the other authorised Monitoring Committee, and, within their economy, to function as a single point of contact on all matters relating to APEC Engineers.

For a list of the member economies, please click here.