The five areas, and the work outside them
The offence in s 67 came into operation on 1 July 2021. Consumer Affairs Victoria says mandatory registration “was phased-in across the 5 areas of engineering between 2021-23”, and that registration “is now mandatory for all professional engineers across the five areas of engineering (fire safety, civil, structural, electrical and mechanical)”.
Other kinds of engineering sit outside the scheme until an area is prescribed. Consumer Affairs Victoria gives two examples: “chemical or process engineering and software engineering are not currently prescribed under the Act, so you are not required to be registered to provide professional engineering services in these areas”.
Inside the five areas, the scheme covers professional engineering services, not every engineering task. The Act’s definition turns on applying engineering principles and data to engineering design, or to construction, production, operation or maintenance work tied to engineering, and it leaves out services provided only in accordance with a prescriptive standard (s 3). Consumer Affairs Victoria describes them as “a specialist subset of engineering services”, distinguished by “a high degree of engineering judgement, knowledge and skill”, and adds: “Many, but not all, engineering services are professional engineering services.”
When work done elsewhere still needs Victorian registration
Consumer Affairs Victoria says registration is needed for professional engineering services provided “in or for Victoria”, and sets out three cases.
- Located in Victoria. An engineer working from a location in Victoria must be registered, whether the project is in Victoria or in another state, territory or country.
- Outside Victoria, working for Victoria. An engineer located elsewhere must also be registered if the service is for Victoria: for a project or purpose in Victoria, or specifically related or connected to Victoria in some way.
- Outside Victoria, not for Victoria. No registration is needed. The page’s example is a service for a generic product with no specific connection to Victoria, “such as a television or car”.
Supervision and prescriptive standards
Consumer Affairs Victoria lists two exemptions: services provided “under the direct supervision of a registered professional engineer, or only in accordance with a prescriptive standard”.
- Direct supervision
- For s 67, the Act says a person gives direct supervision when they direct another person in carrying out professional engineering services, and oversee and evaluate how the other person carries them out (s 67(2)). The supervisor must be registered as a practising professional engineer in the same area (s 67(1)(b)).
- Prescriptive standard
- In the Act, a document stating procedures or criteria for a design, or a construction or production activity, relating to engineering, whose application needs no advanced scientifically based calculations (s 3). Consumer Affairs Victoria calls it “a procedural document that provides a well-described and comprehensive approach and criteria to complete an engineering service”.
The titles and claims Victoria protects
Section 68 sets four offences about holding out, each with a penalty of 500 penalty units. The penalty for the s 67 offence of providing services without registration is also 500 penalty units.
- s 68(1)
A person not registered as a practising professional engineer in an area must not represent that they are able to provide professional engineering services in that area.
- s 68(2)
Claiming to be an “endorsed building engineer” without being one is an offence. An endorsed building engineer is a registered professional engineer whose registration is endorsed under Part 2.
- s 68(3)
A person not registered as a non-practising professional engineer must not represent that they are.
- s 68(4)
Anyone not registered as a professional engineer “must not use the title professional engineer”. Under s 68(5), a person who holds equivalent registration under Commonwealth, interstate, territory or New Zealand law does not commit that offence.
Registration and the public register
A natural person applies to the Business Licensing Authority to be registered as a professional engineer, and the Authority must register an applicant in an area once satisfied the applicant is eligible in that area and the prescribed fees are paid. Registration lasts for a period of up to 3 years, as the Authority determines. A registered engineer must tell the Authority of any material change to their information within 14 days (penalty: 10 penalty units), and must comply with any approved code of conduct for their area.
The Licensing Registrar keeps the Register of Professional Engineers, and anyone may search it and take a copy of an extract on payment of the prescribed fee, if there is one (s 28). Consumer Affairs Victoria says the public register can be searched by name or registration number. For engineers themselves, the same page offers RegCheck for Engineers, an online tool to help decide whether registration is required.
A change Parliament has already passed
The Building and Plumbing Administration and Enforcement Act 2026 (No. 17 of 2026) received assent on 19 May 2026. Parliamentary Counsel’s commencement list dated 17 August 2026 showed none of its sections in operation. It comes into operation on days to be proclaimed, and any provision not in operation before 1 December 2027 comes into operation on that day.
Its amendments to this Act, in ss 983 to 999, replace references to the Victorian Building Authority with the Building and Plumbing Commission, including in s 6, which sets out the Business Licensing Authority’s functions, and update references to the Building Act 1993 to refer to the new Act. None of those sections amends s 4, s 67 or s 68. A proclamation after 17 August 2026 is not reflected here.
Queensland protects different titles: see registered professional engineers in Queensland. Section 68(5) mentions other registrations; the ACT’s is on engineers in the other states and territories. The full comparison is on the home page table.