General:
PEO statuses | PEAK requirements | Exceptions | Fees | Supporting documentation
PEAK elements:
Status and records | Practice evaluation | Professional practice module | CPD report
General
PEO statuses
The Professional Engineers Act describes the practice of professional engineering as: “any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising that requires the application of engineering principles and concerns the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare or the environment, or the managing of any such act.” If your work—paid or unpaid—involves any of these elements, you are practising professional engineering.
Your licence status reflects whether PEO allows you to practise professional engineering, and there are two licence status options available: “Eligible to practise” and “Not currently eligible to practise.” Licence statuses are displayed on the public-facing PEO directory.
Your practice status reflects whether you are currently engaged in the practice of professional engineering in Ontario. Two practice status options are available: “Practising” and “Not Practising.” Practice statuses are displayed in your private PEO portal account.
Yes, you can use the P.Eng. title when you hold a P.Eng. licence; but you cannot use the P.Eng. title while your licence is suspended.
No, if you are not practising—either because you self-declared as “Not practising” or your licence is suspended—you are not permitted to use the licence seal. You should only use the licence seal to stamp engineering documents when you are practising and confirming your responsibility for the work.
You must have both a licence status of “Eligible to practise” and practice status of “Practising” to be eligible for a PEO Consulting Engineer designation.
You must have both a licence status of “Eligible to practise” and practice status of “Practising” to be eligible to be a designated licence holder for a PEO certificate of authorization.
PEAK requirements
If you are not practising and have a licence status of “Not currently eligible to practise,” you must complete two PEAK elements: a practice evaluation and a professional practice module.
If you are not practising and have a licence status of “Eligible to practise,” you must complete all three PEAK elements: a practice evaluation, a professional practice module and a CPD report.
If you declare your practice status as “Practising” in January, then change it later in the year to “Not practicing” for valid circumstances, PEO will waive your CPD report requirement for this year.
If you resume practice later this year, you must change your practice status to “Practising” within 30 days of resuming practice by updating the entire practice evaluation element.
PEO automatically assigns you a licence status of “Not currently eligible to practise” and a practice status of “Not practising” when your licence is suspended for administrative reasons (like not completing PEAK requirements on time). You must complete any overdue PEAK requirements that caused the administrative licence suspension to lift the suspension; depending on your situation, this could mean completing two elements or three elements.
Please note: A person with a suspended licence cannot call themselves a professional engineer or limited licence holder, cannot use the licence title, cannot practise professional engineering and cannot be the designated person for certificates of authorization.
PEO automatically assigns you a licence status of “Not currently eligible to practise” and a practice status of “Not practising” when your licence is suspended for disciplinary reasons. You must still complete two PEAK elements: a practice evaluation and a professional practice module. Failing to complete PEAK requirements on time could result in an additional licence suspension for administrative reasons.
Please note: A person with a suspended licence cannot call themselves a professional engineer or limited licence holder, cannot use the licence title, cannot practise professional engineering and cannot be the designated person for certificates of authorization.
Exceptions
Beginning in 2024, licence holders enrolled in PEO’s fee remission program (such as retired engineers) are exempt from all PEAK requirements. Note: Fee remission can only be requested at your next licence fee cycle.
Individuals with a new or reinstated licence, or who exit fee remission, will not have any PEAK requirements for their first calendar year; instead, they will start the PEAK program the next year.
Individuals who change their statuses again later in the same year will have their CPD requirement waived for that year.
Please note: individuals with a suspended licence will not have a PEAK CPD report requirement that year but they still have to complete the other two PEAK elements that year to avoid an administrative suspension of their licence.
Currently, there is no process for requesting a PEAK deadline extension. However, PEO will provide plenty of notice before enforcing the program and starting in 2024, individuals enrolled in fee remission will automatically be exempt from all PEAK requirements. Note: Fee remission can only be requested at your next licence fee cycle.
Currently, there is no process for requesting a PEAK exemption. However, PEO will provide plenty of notice before enforcing the program and starting in 2024, individuals enrolled in fee remission will automatically be exempt from all PEAK requirements. Note: Fee remission can only be requested at your next licence fee cycle.
Fees
PEO does not charge you a fee to participate in the PEAK program. You can pursue CPD activities at any cost, including free activities, if the learning content meets PEAK CPD admissibility criteria.
Supporting documentation
What proofs should I save for an audit of my PEAK declarations (statuses and CPD reports)?
The following supporting documentation would be acceptable proofs for your CPD activities:
- Registration records such as enrollment confirmation, conference registration, sign-in sheet and attendance log.
- Content records such as your dated notes for the activity, course transcript, description of topics covered by the session, session resources like presentation slides, speaker notes or recording of the session, and agenda for the meeting, discussion or event.
- Attendance records such as letter of attendance, certificate of completion and attendance receipt.
Retain your supporting documentation for three years in the event you are selected for an audit of your PEAK declarations. PEO is developing the requirements and procedures for auditing PEAK declarations. Stay tuned for more details.
PEAK elements
Statuses and records
Your PEO and PEAK statuses are recorded in your PEO portal licence holder account. Log in to the PEO portal, follow the instructions to launch the program and then select “My Statuses” to view your PEO statuses. Your current and historical statuses will be listed.
You can confirm completion of each of your PEAK requirements by logging into the PEO portal, clicking on the PEAK tab, then clicking on “My Statuses” to view your PEAK completion statuses. Your PEAK activities will be listed. You will also receive an email completion receipt after completing each annual PEAK requirement.
Entries for the voluntary version of the PEAK program that ended in December 2022 are not available.
Practice evaluation
The practice evaluation should take you 15 to 20 minutes to complete.
You can change your practice status—practicing or not practicing—anytime through the PEAK program in the PEO portal. Just log in to the PEO portal, click the PEAK tab, then click the “Restart the declaration” button to change your practice status.
You can change your questionnaire responses through the PEAK program in the PEO portal. Just log in to the PEO portal, click the PEAK tab, then click the “Resume program” button followed by the “Practice Evaluation” tab and then select the proceed button for the questionnaire to update your questionnaire responses at any time.
You can change your survey responses through the PEAK program in the PEO portal. Just log in to the PEO portal, click the PEAK tab, then click the “Resume program” button followed by the “Practice Evaluation” tab and then select the proceed button for the survey to update your survey responses at any time.
You should choose the engineering discipline(s) in which you are competent to practise and you currently practise. For every discipline you click, a bubble called “Scopes of Practice” will appear. You must briefly describe your practice in that discipline.
Professional Practice Module
The professional practice module should take you 30 to 45 minutes to complete.
Yes, you can exit the module and resume it anytime. The system will save your progress and you can resume from where you had reached. Please ensure it’s completed by the due date (January 31) or you risk possible sanctions for not completing this PEAK requirement.
Yes, you can review the module as many times as you like. Only your first attempt will be tracked. There is no pass mark requirement for the module; you are only required to complete the module.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Report
Submitting a CPD report takes only a minute. However, the time to complete the CPD activities you declare on the CPD report(s) depends on your CPD target and the number and length of the CPD activities you choose to pursue.
The number of CPD hours you must complete depends on the number of target CPD hours assigned to you following your practice evaluation. The maximum target is 30 hours per year but you can report more CPD hours than your target. CPD hours should be reported on a one-to-one basis, meaning that the actual time spent on an admissible CPD learning activity is reported.
A CPD activity is admissible for the PEAK program if the learning content helps you reduce your professional practice risks. An activity is acceptable if it addresses knowledge of the responsibilities of professional engineers, understanding of pertinent codes and standards, and knowledge of best practices in acts of professional engineering (all of which must be relevant to your practice areas).
In 2024, CPD admissibility criteria will be expanded to include supplementary learning (such as project management, business management, communications, health and safety, etc.) that supports core engineering practice activities. Note: Eighty per cent of your required CPD hours must come from core engineering learning.
The PEAK program accepts all learning formats. These include admissible activities that are free or paid; self-paced or instructor-led; delivered virtually or in person or in a hybrid manner; as well as events that are held locally or overseas.
To submit a CPD report, log in to the PEO portal, click the PEAK tab and navigate to the Continuing Professional Development Report page. Then, click the “Add activity” button at the top of the page to launch the CPD Report Activity form. When the form pops up, fill in all the mandatory fields and select the "Submit" button at the bottom of the form. Scroll to the bottom of the CPD Report overview page to see each entered individual activity.
If you want to adjust your CPD Report, click on the entry’s “edit” button to edit the item. You cannot edit a CPD Report after December 31.
If you want to adjust your CPD Report, click on the entry’s “edit” button to edit the item.
Possibly; the program will allow you to report CPD activities you completed last year only if you still have a CPD reporting balance for last year. Once you have met last year’s CPD requirements and have no overdue balance for last year, you will not be able to report more CPD activities from last year.
No, the program will not allow you to complete CPD activities this year and carry forward any portion to a future year. That’s because you will be engaging in CPD every year on a continuous basis.
If you also complete CPD activities for another regulator or your employer, you can add those activities to your CPD Report if they meet PEO’s CPD admissibility criteria.
No, you cannot declare the completion of the professional practice module as a CPD activity because the module is a separate mandatory element of the PEAK program.