2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 40 - Professions and Occupations › Chapter 22 - Engineers And Surveyors › Section 40-22-250. Certificate of authorization to practice as firm; conditions; application and registration fee; discipline.

(A) The practice of or offer to practice professional engineering or surveying through a firm is permitted only through entities holding a valid certificate of authorization issued by the board. For the purposes of this section a certificate of authorization is also required for a firm practicing in this State under a fictitious name. However, when an individual is practicing engineering or surveying in his name as individually licensed, that person is not required to obtain a certificate of authorization.
(B) The practice or offer to practice of engineering and surveying by individual professional engineers or professional surveyors licensed under this chapter through a firm offering engineering services or surveying services to the public is permitted, provided:
(1) one or more of the corporate officers, one or more of the principal owners, or a full-time licensed employee are designated as being responsible for the professional services regulated by this board and are licensed under this chapter;
(2) all personnel of the firm who act on behalf of the firm as professional engineers or surveyors in this State are licensed under this chapter; and
(3) the firm has been issued a certificate of authorization by the board as required by this section.
(C) Before the issuance of a certificate of authorization, the board must be in receipt of the firm's appropriate documentation issued by the Secretary of State.
(D) A firm desiring a certificate of authorization shall file with the board an application on forms provided by the board accompanied by the registration fee as provided in regulation. Each certificate of authorization must be renewed biennially beginning April 1, 2009. A renewal form provided by the board must be completed and submitted with the biennial registration fee, the fee being an amount as provided in regulation.
(E) Disciplinary action against a firm must be administered in the same manner and on the same grounds as disciplinary action against an individual. No firm is relieved of responsibility for conduct or acts of its agents, officers, or employees by reason of its compliance with this section, and an individual practicing engineering or surveying is not relieved of responsibility for professional services performed by reason of his employment or relationship with the firm.
(F) A professional engineer and a professional surveyor engaged in practice through firms may maintain branch offices in addition to a principal place of business. A principal place of business as well as each branch office providing services in this State must have a resident professional engineer in responsible charge of engineering work or a resident professional surveyor in responsible charge of the field and office surveying work provided. A professional engineer must supervise the engineering activities of each branch office and a professional surveyor must supervise the surveying activities of each branch office. The resident professional engineer or resident professional surveyor is considered in residence in only one place of business at a given time.
(G) Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit firms from joining together to offer engineering or surveying services to the public, if each separate entity providing the services in this State otherwise meets the requirements of this section. For firms practicing as a professional corporation under the laws of this State, the joint practice of engineering or surveying or both with the professions of architecture, landscape architecture, and geology is specifically approved by the board.
(H) If the requirements of this section are met, the board shall issue a certificate of authorization to the firm, and the firm may contract for and collect fees for professional engineering and/or surveying services. The board, however, may refuse to issue a certificate or suspend or revoke an existing certificate for due cause. A person or firm aggrieved by an adverse determination of the board may file an appeal as provided for in this chapter.
(I) Nothing in this section may be construed to mean that a firm may practice or offer to practice engineering or surveying without meeting individual licensure.
HISTORY: 2000 Act No. 311, Section 1; 2016 Act No. 259 (S.685), Section 12, eff June 3, 2016.
Editor's Note
Prior Laws: 1991 Act No. 99, Section 1; 1976 Code Section 40-22-40.
Effect of Amendment
2016 Act No. 259, Section 12, in (B)(1), substituted "one or more of the principal owners, or a full-time licensed employee" for "in the case of a corporation, or one or more of the principal owners, or a full-time employee, in the case of other firms,"; added (F), relating to branch offices; redesignated the remaining paragraphs accordingly; and made other nonsubstantive changes.