Engineers file injunction to block legal amendments regulating their profession

An injunction filed by the Malta Association of Professional Engineers against the Engineering Professional Board, is seeking to block changes to the law regulating the profession.

The association wants to stop the changes before they reach parliament.

The application was notified to the Transport Minister and the State Advocate.

The union claimed that amendments being put forward by the Engineering Professional Board, would effectively eliminate the status of a professional engineer.

The application, signed by lawyer Michael Tanti-Dougall, was provisionally upheld by the First Hall Civil Court.

The union contested the amendments which the Engineering Professional Board has taken years of consultation and discussion to arrive at, without, however, having ever consulted with MAPE, the only trade union representing the professional engineers in Malta.

The association said the lack of consultation was in breach of EU directives that required a test of proportionality before any new regulations on professionals were introduced.

MAPE argued that it was totally ignored by the Engineering Professional Board which limitedly consulted itself with the Chamber of Engineers, not being a trade union.

After various attempts, on 5 November, 2019, the union managed to obtain a copy of the drafted amendments from the Engineering Professional Board.

However, the board failed to accede to the union’s request for a meeting on the amendments.

MAPE argued that the board’s amendments had every intention to “eradicate the professional engineer” and consequently sought the court’s protection to block attempts to forward the amendments through the channels to reach Parliament.