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Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Number of hours required
Your registration and endorsement, if applicable, will expire three years from the date it was granted by the BLA.
To be eligible to renew your registration and endorsement, you must have completed Continuing Professional Development (CPD) during the past three years.
The CPD requirement is:
- a practising professional engineer working full time – 150 hours
- a practising professional engineer working part-time or who took a career break – 90 hours
- a non-practising professional engineer – 90 hours
- a professional engineer who transferred between practising and non-practising or vice versa – pro-rata based on the time working as a registered practising professional engineer and the time registered as a non-practising professional engineer.
For example, you work for two years as a practising professional engineer – pro-rata this would be 100 hours of CPD – plus one year registered as a non-practising professional engineer – pro-rata this would be 30 hours – totalling 130 hours of completed CPD to be eligible for renewal.
Career break
A career break is a period of a minimum of three months over the last three years during which you do not work as a professional engineer. For example, due to illness, travel, parental or carers leave, sporting commitments, cultural or ceremonial commitments, broadening knowledge and skill or unemployment.
CPD exemption
You do not need to complete CPD to renew your registration if:
- you are registered as a professional engineer in another Australian state or territory, or New Zealand, and
- that jurisdiction requires you to complete an equivalent amount of CPD to Victoria.
CPD areas and activities
These are the areas where CPD is required and the activities that you can undertake to complete your CPD to renew your registration.
| Areas and activities |
Requirements |
Areas of CPD training
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- At least 33 per cent of CPD hours must relate to technical matters relevant to the area/s of engineering in which the applicant is registered.
- The remaining CPD should be in related areas, for example, project management, ethics and law, risk management, communication, health and safety programs, occupational health and safety training and mentoring junior engineers.
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Types of CPD activity
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(i) Formal post-graduate study or tertiary course units whether or not undertaken for award purposes – no limit.
(ii) Short courses, workshops, webinars, seminars and discussion groups, conferences, technical inspections and meetings – no limit.
(iii) Learning activities in the workplace that extend competence in the regulated or a related area/s of engineering – maximum 75 hours.
(iv) Research which extends knowledge and skills – maximum 57 hours.
(v) Private study (engineering journals and magazines) which extend knowledge and skills – maximum 18 hours.
(vi) Service to the engineering profession (volunteer work, mentoring) – maximum 50 hours.
(vii) Publishing of articles in technical forums and preparation and presentation of papers for courses, conferences, seminars, etc - maximum 45 hours per paper or 75 hours per paper for papers subject to critical peer review before publication.
(viii) Professional engineers employed in tertiary teaching or academic research and registered as ‘practising’ – minimum of 40 hours of industry involvement in any three-year period.
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For further details of the CPD requirements under an assessment scheme, view Public record of approved assessment entities.
CPD record keeping
You must keep a log of your CPD activities along with any supporting documentation. This can include a certificate, academic record, attendance record or a receipt if you purchase or hire learning resources. If you are audited by an Assessment Entity or Business Licensing Authority, the log will prove you complied with the CPD requirements.
To prove you attended a training session or CPD activity, you can ask your trainer or event organiser to provide a standard record of attendance document. It is recommended that you also note the details of the session in your CPD log. Documents such as a Statement of Attainment or Certificate issued by a registered training organisation are also suitable records.
CPD Summary sheet
You may use this spreadsheet to keep a log of your CPD activities. Prior to renewing your registration, it is recommended that you tally the hours completed under each CPD category. You must ensure that you retain documentation to support the hours claimed under each category.
Ineligibility
You are ineligible to renew your registration if you are:
- disqualified from registration or have had your registration cancelled in Victoria or another state or territory
- a represented person under the Guardianship and Administration Act 1986, or
- not a fit and proper person to provide professional engineering services.
To decide whether you are a fit and proper person to provide professional engineering services in an area of engineering, the BLA may take into account whether you:
- have been convicted or found guilty in Victoria or elsewhere in the last 10 years of:
- an indictable offence (for information about spent convictions, view the Spent convictions page)
- an offence under a state, territory or Commonwealth law regulating the provision of professional engineering services
- have been suspended under the Professional Engineers Registration Act 2019 or Commonwealth, state or territory law, and the reasons for that suspension, and
- are or have been insolvent under administration or the officer of an externally administered company under the Commonwealth Corporations Act 2001, and
- have failed to comply with an order of a Victorian, Commonwealth, state or territory court or tribunal.
Fit and proper persons under the Building Act 1993
To decide whether you are a ‘fit and proper person’, the VBA will consider whether you:
- in the last 10 years (whether you were in Victoria or outside Victoria):
- have been convicted or found guilty of any offence involving fraud, dishonesty, drug trafficking or violence that was punishable by imprisonment for 6 months or more
- have been convicted or found guilty of an offence under any law regulating building work or building practitioners
- have had any registration, licence, approval, certificate or other type of authorisation as a building practitioner suspended or cancelled for any reason other than your failure to renew this authorisation
- have been convicted or found guilty of an offence* involving:
- misleading conduct in relation to goods or services; or
- false or misleading representation in relation to goods or services; or
- bait advertising; or
- accepting payment without intending or being able to provide services or goods; or
- harassment or coercion in connection to goods, services, payment of goods or services or the sale, grant (or possible sale or grant) of interest in land, or payment for interest in land.
* Offences as defined in the following legislation:
Fair Trading Act 1999 – section 10, 11, 12, 17, 19 or 21
Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) – section 53, 55, 55A, 56, 58 or 60
Australian Consumer Law (Victoria) – section 29, 33, 34, 35, 36, 50, 151, 157, 158 or 168
Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) – section 29, 33, 34, 35, 36, 50, 151, 157, 158 or 168
- in the last 10 years a court or the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) subjected you to an order that has not been complied with within the period required by the court or VCAT, where the order was issued under:
- the Building Act 1993 or regulations under that Act; or
- the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 or the regulations under that Act.
- an insolvent under administration
- an externally administered body corporate within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth);
- are or have been disqualified from managing corporations under Part 2D.6 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
- have had an insurer ever decline, cancel, or impose special conditions on any indemnity insurance or public liability insurance related to your work as a building practitioner in Victoria or in an equivalent building occupation in another State or Territory
- personally or as company director, have any outstanding judgment debt:
- for amounts recoverable by an insurer under a policy of insurance for domestic building work (referred to in section 137A or 137B of the Building Act 1993) that has not been satisfied within the period required to do so; or
- owed to the Victorian Building Authority as a debt due under this Act that has not been satisfied within the period required to do so; or
- in relation to a domestic building dispute that has not been satisfied within the period required to do so.
- have performed any of the following roles for a company (or companies) within two years of that company (or companies) going into external administration?
- Director
- Secretary
- Influential person (a person who is in a position to control or substantially influence the company's conduct).
Renewal notifications
180 days before the expiry date of your registration, we will send you an ‘upcoming renewal advice’ notification via your myCAV account. You will receive an email to advise that you have a notification in myCAV.
90 days before the expiry date, we will send you a myCAV notification inviting you to lodge a renewal application via myCAV.
When you receive this notification, you should lodge your renewal application in myCAV as soon as possible.
Reminders
We will also send reminder notifications via myCAV and SMS both 45 days and 14 days before the expiry date.
It is your responsibility to inform the BLA if you do not receive these notifications and reminders.
How to apply for renewal
You must use myCAV to renew your registration. For more information, view About myCAV – Registration and licensing.
Create or sign-in to your myCAV account
You must lodge your renewal application by your registration expiry date to avoid the automatic expiry of your registration and endorsement.
Lodging your renewal application does not guarantee that your registration and endorsement, if applicable, will be renewed. The BLA will need sufficient time to conduct probity assessments as required by law before it can decide whether to renew a registration and endorsement.
Note: If you are an endorsed professional engineer, you are not required to lodge an annual endorsement statement in a renewal year.
Failure to lodge your renewal
If you fail to lodge and pay your renewal application before your registration expires, your registration and endorsement will automatically expire. Once expired, your registration and endorsement cannot be reinstated. If you wish to be registered or endorsed, you must lodge a new registration application and satisfy the eligibility requirements.
Professional indemnity insurance renewal
If your professional indemnity (PI) insurance is current at the time of your renewal, you are not required to provide evidence of your PI insurance when lodging your renewal application via myCAV.
If your insurance coverage has expired, you must provide updated PI insurance details with your renewal application.
You will receive separate notifications advising you to provide updated PI insurance details.
Once your PI insurance has been renewed, you can update your insurance details by lodging a separate ‘maintain insurance details’ transaction in myCAV.
You can also update your professional indemnity insurance details as part of your annual endorsement statement transaction. If your annual endorsement statement is due to be lodged, you should make any insurance updates when lodging this transaction rather than lodging a separate ‘maintain insurance details’ transaction.
The VBA will assess whether the PI insurance satisfies the legislative requirements.
For specific questions about insurance requirements, contact the VBA.
You can check your insurance details and make any changes in myCAV at any time.
Records checks
You must provide proof of your identity as part of your application.
You can do this by verifying your identity online. For more information, view Identity verification.
If you can’t complete online identity verification, you must submit certified copies of four identity documents and a signed consent form with your myCAV application.
The correct documents, properly certified, will help your application avoid delays. For more information, view Records checks.
The BLA will conduct checks with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and other agencies to verify your eligibility to be registered. Any disputes about the accuracy of the results of the checks will be referred to ACIC. Visit Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.
Fees
These fees apply from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.
- Registration renewal (for 3 years) – practising professional engineer - $593.40
- Registration renewal (for 3 years) – non-practising professional engineer - $192.40
- Endorsement renewal (for 3 years) - $234.50
The fees must be paid at the time of application. The fees are the same if you apply for renewal in one area of engineering or multiple areas of engineering.
The fees are for renewal for a period of three years.
Refusal of renewal
If your application to renew your registration or endorsement, if applicable, is refused, we will send you a refusal letter, which includes details of the grounds of refusal, via ‘myCAV notifications’.
You may be entitled to a partial refund of your registration renewal fees. Contact the BLA for further information.
You can appeal the decision by applying to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) within 28 days of the decision.
Unregistered trading
It is an offence under the Professional Engineers Registration Act 2019 to provide professional engineering services while unregistered and unendorsed, if applicable. Significant penalties apply, view Penalties.
Definition of ‘officer’ under the Corporations Act 2001
Section 9 of the Commonwealth Corporations Act 2001 defines ‘officer’ as:-
officer of a corporation means:
(a) a director or secretary of the corporation; or
(b) a person:
(i) who makes, or participates in making, decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part, of the business of the corporation; or
(ii) who has the capacity to affect significantly the corporation's financial standing; or
(iii) in accordance with whose instructions or wishes the directors of the corporation are accustomed to act (excluding advice given by the person in the proper performance of functions attaching to the person's professional capacity or their business relationship with the directors or the corporation); or
(c) a receiver, or receiver and manager, of the property of the corporation; or
(d) an administrator of the corporation; or
(e) an administrator of a deed of company arrangement executed by the corporation; or
(f) a liquidator of the corporation; or
(g) a trustee or other person administering a compromise or arrangement made between the corporation and someone else.