Professional Conduct and Discipline

1. Every member shall be bound by the Constitution, Bylaws and Regulations of the Institution.
2. Every Corporate Member shall at all times so order his conduct as to uphold the dignity and reputation of his profession, and to safeguard the public interest in matters of safety and health and otherwise. He shall exercise his professional skill and judgement to the best of his ability and discharge his professional responsibilities with integrity.
3. Every member of any grade shall at all times so order his conduct as to uphold the dignity and reputation of the Institution,and act with fairness and integrity towards all persons with whom his work is connected and other members.
4. For the purpose of ensuring fulfillment of the requirements of Sections 9.2 and 9.3 of the Bylaws, but without prejudice to their generality, the Council may make, vary and rescind the Professional Conduct Regulations to be observed by all members of all grades with regard to their conduct in any respect, which may be relevant to their positions or intended positions as members of the Institution, and may publish directions or pronouncements to the specific conduct which is to be regarded as proper or as improper as the case may be.
5. No such regulation, variation or rescission shall be in any way repugnant to the Constitution or Bylaws, nor take effect until the same has been notified to all members in writing not less than sixty days, and during which time any fifty Corporate Members may by notice in writing to the Honorary Secretary, require a Special General Meeting to be convened for the purpose of considerinq, confirming or revoking the same.
6. Every member of any grade in so far as he shall be engaged or employed in any advisory or consultative capacity, shall observe and be bound by the following Code of Professional Conduct and the Professional Conduct Regulations made thereunder.
   
   • He shall act strictly in a fiduciary manner in relation to his clients, and his charges to such clients shall constitute his only remuneration in connection with such work, except as provided by paragraph (d) of this Bylaw.
   • He shall not accept any trade commissions, discounts, allowances, or indirect profit in connection with the work upon which he is engaged.
   • He shall not, without disclosing the fact in writing to his clients, be a director or member of, or a shareholder in or act as agent for, any contracting or manufacturing company or firm or business with, which he may have occasion to deal on behalf of his clients, or have any financial interest in such a business.
   • He shall not receive, directly or indirectly, any royalty, gratuity or commission on any patented or protected article or process used on work which he is carrying out for his clients, unless such royalty, gratuity, or commission has been authorised in writing by those clients.
   • He shall not under any circumstances solicit advisory or consultative work, either directly or by an agent, nor shall he pay, by commission or otherwise, any person who may introduce clients to him.
   • He shall not be the medium of payments made on his clients' behalf to any contractor, or business firm (unless specially so requested by his clients), but shall only issue certificates or recommendations for payment by his clients.
7. If a complaint in writing, supported by evidence, is made to the Honorary Secretary that a member has acted in any improper or unprofessional manner, the Executive Committee may, if it considers there are reasonable grounds for so doing, appoint an Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Conduct of not less than three and not more than five Corporate Members consisting wholly or partly of Members of the Council, to investigate the complaint.
8. Before any meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee is held, the Honorary Secretary shall send by registered post to the member concerned a notice stating the time and place where such meeting is to be held and stating the nature of the matters to be investigated and that he is entitled to attend and to be represented.
9. Any member whose actions are the subject of such an investigation may appear at such meeting to make representations on his own behalf and or may be represented by another member of the Institution, or by both and may call witnesses and may submit representations in writing, except that in the absence of the member concerned the Ad Hoc Committee may disregard any written representations not in the form of a statutory declaration.
10. The Institution shall not be liable for any expenses incurred by the member in connection with the investigation, but the Council, at its discretion and without prejudice or any admission of liability by so doing, may make a grant to such member, to cover the whole or any part of such expense.
11. If the member fails to appear to the appointed time and place or to make representations as specified in Section 9.9 the Ad Hoc Committee may proceed in his absence.
12. For purposes of its enquiries the Ad Hoc Committee may:
    
    • make or employ any person to make any preliminary enquiries it deems necessary;
    • engage counsel who may be present at the enquiry into any matter and advise the committee on matters of law, procedure and evidence;
    • receive such evidence, whether legal or otherwise as it thinks fit, and in particular receive evidence by way of the statutory declaration of any person;
    • require the member whose conduct is the subject of the investigation to give all information in relation to any books, documents or papers which may be reasonably required by the Committee or by any person employed by it as aforesaid.
13. Subject to the Bylaws, the Ad Hoc Committee may regulate its procedure as it thinks fit.
14. If in the opinion of the Ad Hoc Committee the complaint is not substantiated this decision shall be transmitted to the Council and the member concerned.
15. If, in the opinion of the Ad Hoc Committee, the complaint is substantiated, such Committee shall lay the facts before the Council, which shall consider the report at a meeting at, which not less than two-thirds of the members of the Council are present.
16. If at such meeting not less than two-thirds of the members of the entire Council decide that the member whose conduct is the subject of the investigation has acted in an improper or unprofessional manner, the Council may make one or more of the following orders:
    
    • Expulsion from membership of the Institution; or suspension from membership for any period.
    • A fine not exceeding RM200.
    • Reprimand or admonition.
    • Payment of a contribution towards the costs and expenses of the Institution and incidental to any hearing before the Ad Hoc Committee.

Bylaws

1. In the event of the Council making an order against the member, the Council may also refer all the facts of the case to the Board of Engineers for any action such Board may consider necessary under the provisions contained in the Registration of Engineers Act 1967.
2. The decision of the Council shall be communicated by registered post by the Honorary Secretary to the member concerned. If the Council has found that the member acted in an improper or unprofessional manner, the Honorary Secretary shall at the same time inform the member of his rights to an appeal.
3. In any case where the Council has made a finding that a member has acted in an improper or unprofessional manner such member may, not later than 28 days from the date of posting of the notification of the decision of the Council to him, submit an appeal in writing. Such appeal may be against the finding of improper or unprofessional conduct or the order made by the Council or both.
4. Upon receipt of an appeal, it shall be referred by the Honorary Secretary to a Committee of Appeal comprising a barrister of the Supreme Court and two Past-Presidents of the Institution nominated by the President.
5. Unless the Committee of Appeal otherwise directs it shall not be permissible to recall witnesses who gave evidence before the Ad Hoc Committee or to call other witnesses. The material before the Committee of Appeal shall be the record of the proceedings of the Ad Hoc Committee and its report including all relevant supporting documents.
6. The Committee of Appeal may confirm, vary or reverse the decision or order of the council and may in addition make such order as to the payment of costs of the investigation and the appeal as it thinks fit.
7. The decision of the Committee of Appeal shall be communicated in writing to the Honorary Secretary who shall lay it before the Council. After consideration of any action required under Section 9.16 the Council shall direct the Honorary Secretary to inform the member of the decision of the Committee of Appeal.
8. Subject to the Bylaws, the Committee of Appeal may regulate its procedure as it thinks fit.
9. In all cases when the Council imposes any of the penalties prescribed in Section 9.16, the circumstances leading to the imposition of the penalty shall be notified to all members either by publication in the Annual Report or in such other manner as the Council may decide. In addition, the Council may disclose to the general membership the name of the member on whom the penalty was imposed. The Council may, and if the member concerned so requests, shall similarly publish the fact that a complaint has not been substantiated.
10. Any fine or costs imposed under Section 9.16 shall be immediately due and recoverable as a civil debt. The existence of such debt shall be sufficiently proved by the production of:
    
    • The Bylaws and Regulations of the Institution;
    • The declaration signed by the member on his form of application for membership;
    • The minutes of the meeting of the Council at which the penalty was imposed, such minute to be certified as a true and correct record by the affixing thereto of the signatures of the chairman of such meeting and of two other members of the Council who were present.
11. If a member be convicted by a competent tribunal of an offence, which in the opinion of the Council renders him unfit to be a member of the Institution the Council shall have the right to expel him from the Institution or to suspend his membership for any period provided that not less than two-thirds of the members of Council vote in favour of such action.

Regulations on Professional Conduct

NOTE: A Code of Professional Conduct designed to cover all eventualities must necessarily be written in general terms expressing broad ethical principles. Almost every case of doubt as to the proper course of action required to conform to the Code of Professional Conduct arises from a conflict between a member's personal interest and his duty to others.

Regulations issued by the Council to interpret the Code indicate the manner in, which members are required to conduct themselves in a number of situations that are frequently encountered. In other situations, members are required to order their conduct in accordance with the principle that, in any conflict between a member's personal interest and fair and honest dealing with other members of the community, his duty to the community must prevail.

The following Regulations on Professional Conduct are made by the Council under Section IX of the Bylaws. In these regulations 'member' means a member of any grade referred to in Section II of the Bylaws, and 'employer' includes 'client'.

1. A member shall at all times take care to ensure that his work and the products of his work constitute no avoidable* danger of death or injury or ill health to any person.
2. A member shall take all reasonable steps to avoid waste of natural resources, damage of the environment, and wasteful damage or destruction of the products of human skill and industry.
3. A member shall take all reasonable steps to maintain and develop his professional competence by attention to new developments in science and engineering relevant to his field of professional activity and, if he is an employer, shall encourage his professional employees to do likeness.
4. A member shall not undertake responsibility as professional engineer which he does not believe himself competent to discharge.
5. A member shall accept personal responsibility for all work done by him or under his supervision or direction, and shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that persons working under his authority are competent to carry out the tasks assigned to them and that they accept personal responsibility for work done under the authority delegated to them.
6. A member called upon to give an opinion in his professional capacity shall to the best of his ability, give an opinion that is objective and reliable.
7. A member whose professional advice is not accepted shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that the person overruling or neglecting his advice is aware of any danger which the member believes may result from such overruling or neglect.
8. A member shall not make any public statement in his capacity as a professional engineer without ensuring that his qualification to make such a statement and any association he may have with any party, which may benefit from his statement are made known to the person or persons to whom it is directed.
9. A member shall not, in self-laudatory language or in any manner derogatory to the dignity of the profession advertise or write articles for publication, nor shall he authorise any such advertisement or article to be written or published by any other person.
10. A member shall not recklessly or maliciously injure or attempt to injure, whether directly or indirectly, the professional reputation, prospects or business of another engineer.
11. A member shall inform his employer in writing of any conflict between his personal interest and faithful service to his employer.
12. A member shall not improperly disclose any information concerning the business of his employer or of any past employer.
13. A member shall not accept remuneration in connection with professional services rendered to his employer other than from his employer or with his employer's consent; nor shall he receive directly or indirectly any royalty, gratuity or commission on any article or process used in or for the purposes of the work in respect of, which he is employed unless or until such royalty, gratuity or commission has been authorised in writing by his employer.
14. A member shall not improperly solicit work as an independent adviser or consultant, either directly or by an agent, nor shall he pay any person, by commission or otherwise, for the introduction of such work.
15. A member acting as an independent adviser or consultant shall not be the medium of payment made on his employer's behalf unless so requested by his employer; nor shall he place contracts or orders in connection with work on, which he is employed, except with the authority of and on behalf of his employer.

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