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Architects Regulations 2015
Architects Regulations 2015
003
Architects Regulations 2015
S.R. No. 28/2015
Authorised Version incorporating amendments as at
19 December 2023
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Regulation Page
Part 1—Preliminary 1
1 Objectives 1
2 Authorising provision 1
3 Commencement 2
4 Revocation 2
5 Definitions 2
Part 2—Professional conduct 5
6 Standard of practice 5
7 Guidelines 5
8 Board may advise an architect on compliance 5
9 Unprofessional conduct 6
Part 3—Registration of architects and approval of partnerships
and companies 7
Division 1—Process 7
10 Classes of registration 7
11 Application for registration as an architect 8
12 Application for approval of a partnership or company 9
Division 2—Qualifications 10
13 Qualifications—standard of professional practice 10
14 Qualifications in architecture 10
15 Prescribed course of study 11
16 Board may approve list of qualifications or courses of study 11
Division 3—The Register 11
17 Contents of the Register 11
18 Notification of changed information 13
19 Certified extract of Register 13
Endnotes 41
1 General information 41
2 Table of Amendments 43
3 Explanatory details 44
Part 1—Preliminary
1 Objectives
The objectives of these Regulations are—
(a) to regulate the professional conduct of
architects; and
(b) to prescribe procedures for the registration of
architects and the approval of partnerships
and companies; and
(c) to prescribe—
(i) fees for applications for registration or
approval under the Architects Act
1991; and
(ii) annual fees for registration and
approval; and
(d) to prescribe the procedures for the
nomination of architects to the Architects
Registration Board of Victoria; and
(e) to prescribe other matters to give effect to
the Architects Act 1991.
2 Authorising provision
These Regulations are made under section 69 of
the Architects Act 1991.
3 Commencement
These Regulations come into operation on 19 May
2015.
4 Revocation
(1) The Architects Regulations 2004 1 are revoked.
(2) The following Regulations are revoked—
(a) Architects (Amendment) Regulations 2005 2;
(b) Architects (Amendment) Regulations 2007 3;
(c) Architects Amendment (Fees) Regulations
2013 4.
5 Definitions
In these Regulations—
AACA means the Architects Accreditation
Council of Australia ACN 109 433 114;
APEC Architect Supplementary Assessment
means the domain specific professional
examination process maintained by the
AACA as the Australian domestic
monitoring committee for the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation Architect Project;
Architectural Practice Examination means the
Architectural Practice Examination
maintained by the AACA;
ballot paper means a ballot paper prepared in
accordance with regulation 33 and includes a
ballot paper prepared for the purposes of
conducting a technology-assisted vote;
building practitioner has the same meaning as in
the Building Act 1993;
candidate profile means the profile of a candidate
provided by a nominee under regulation 26;
9 Unprofessional conduct
(1) An architect who contravenes the Code is guilty
of unprofessional conduct.
(2) An architect who contravenes regulation 18(a)
without reasonable excuse is guilty of
unprofessional conduct.
(3) An architect member of an approved partnership
who contravenes regulation 18(b) without
reasonable excuse is guilty of unprofessional
conduct.
(4) An architect director of an approved company
who contravenes regulation 18(c) without
reasonable excuse is guilty of unprofessional
conduct.
(5) Nothing in this regulation limits the meaning of
unprofessional conduct.
Note
The Mutual Recognition (Victoria) Act 1998 and the
Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition (Victoria) Act 1998
may apply in relation to registration as an architect in Victoria.
12 Application for approval of a partnership or
company
(1) For the purposes of section 12(2) of the Act, an
application for approval must—
(a) be in writing; and
(b) include the information referred to in
regulation 17(c) or (d), as applicable; and
(c) include the information referred to in
regulation 17(e) in relation to any architect
member or director.
(2) In the case of an application for approval of a
partnership—
(a) each member of the partnership must verify
the information in the application by
statutory declaration; and
(b) the prescribed fee is 6·5 fee units. Reg. 12(2)(b)
amended by
S.R. No.
28/2023
reg. 5(1).
Division 2—Qualifications
Reg. 13 13 Qualifications—standard of professional practice
substituted by
S.R. No. (1) For the purposes of section 10(b) of the Act, the
135/2023
reg. 3.
Board must have regard to the applicant's
successful completion of the Architectural
Practice Examination.
(2) An applicant for the Architectural Practice
Examination must pay the relevant fees specified
in subregulation (3) to the Board.
(3) The relevant fees for the Architectural Practice
Examination conducted to assess the standard of
professional practice under section 10(b) of the
Act are—
(a) submission of logbook and statement of
practical experience (Part 1) and sitting the
written examination (Part 2), $670; and
(b) re-sitting the written examination a second or
subsequent time, $265; and
(c) examination by interview (Part 3), $510.
14 Qualifications in architecture
For the purposes of section 10(c)(i) of the Act, the
prescribed qualifications are—
(a) a qualification specified in column 2 of
Schedule 2 given by a body specified in
column 1 of that Schedule in accordance
with a condition, if any, specified in
column 3 of that Schedule; or
(b) a qualification set out in a list of approved
academic qualifications published by the
Board under regulation 16; or
(c) a qualification recognised by a
corresponding registration board and
accepted by the Board; or
Reg. 20(1)(c)
amended by
(c) for an approved company is 34 fee units.
S.R. No.
28/2023
reg. 7(1)(c).
Reg. 20(2)
amended by
(2) For the purposes of section 15(4) of the Act, the
S.R. No. prescribed additional fee for a practising architect,
28/2023
reg. 7(2).
an approved partnership or an approved company
is 7 fee units.
21 Prescribed time for Board to make decision
For the purposes of sections 42(1)(b), 42(1)(f),
43(b) and 43(e) of the Act, the prescribed time is
3 months.
Part 5—Transitional
45 Transitional—retired architects to be registered as
non-practising architects
(1) An architect registered as a retired architect in
accordance with the Architects Regulations 2004
as in force immediately before their revocation is
taken to be registered as a non-practising architect
on and from the commencement of these
Regulations.
(2) The Registrar must update the Register to reflect
the operation of subregulation (1).
(3) Despite regulation 18, a person is not required to
notify the Registrar of a change in information
caused by the operation of subregulation (1).
8 Changes in circumstances
An architect must promptly advise a client in
writing of any circumstance that is likely to
prevent the architect from providing the services
under the agreement or from following the client's
instructions in relation to the services, including a
circumstance that imposes on the architect an
obligation to withdraw from the provision of
services under clause 14.
9 Documents and record keeping
(1) An architect who has entered into an agreement
under clause 4 must keep documents in
accordance with this clause.
(2) The following documents in relation to the
provision of architectural services must be kept—
(a) an agreement in writing signed by the client;
(b) correspondence;
(c) records of financial transactions;
(d) records of client instructions and meetings
related to the services provided to the client;
(e) photographs of work in progress;
(f) project journals, diaries or the like;
(g) drawings and other relevant documents.
(3) Documents must be kept for the longer of—
(a) a period of 10 years after the completion of
the architectural services; or
(b) the limitation period under section 134 of the
Building Act 1993.
10 Confidentiality
(1) An architect must not disclose a client's
confidential information without authority.
(2) For the purposes of this clause, a client's
confidential information means any information,
agreed or understood by the architect and the
client to be confidential, that is acquired from or
provided to a client in the course of providing
architectural services to the client.
(3) An architect may disclose a client's confidential
information if—
(a) the client consents in writing to the
disclosure; or
(b) the disclosure is required by law.
11 Duty to disclose paid referrals
(1) An architect must disclose the nature of a referral
arrangement to a client before entering into an
agreement under clause 4.
(2) An architect who is a member of an approved
partnership, or a director of an approved company,
must ensure that the nature of a referral
arrangement is disclosed to a client before the
partnership or company enters into an agreement
under clause 4.
(3) For the purposes of this clause, referral
arrangement means any arrangement between an
architect, an approved partnership, or an approved
company, and another person to introduce or refer
clients to the architect, approved partnership, or
approved company for valuable consideration.
12 Conflicts of interest
(1) An architect must not enter into an agreement
with a person under clause 4 for the provision of
architectural services if the agreement would
result in an actual or potential conflict between the
interests of—
(a) the architect and that person; or
(b) a current client and that person.
(2) An architect member or director of an approved
partnership or an approved company must take all
reasonable steps to ensure that the partnership or
company does not enter into an agreement with a
person under clause 4 if the agreement would
result in an actual or potential conflict between the
interests of—
(a) a member of the approved partnership and
that person; or
(b) an officer of the approved company and that
person; or
(c) a current client of the approved partnership
or approved company and that person.
(3) An architect must not continue to provide
architectural services to a client that result in a
conflict between the interests of—
(a) the architect and that client; or
(b) 2 or more current clients.
(4) An architect does not contravene this clause if the
architect first—
(a) discloses the actual or potential conflict of
interest to each affected person; and
(b) obtains the written consent of each affected
person.
Endnotes
1 General information
See www.legislation.vic.gov.au for Victorian Bills, Acts and current
authorised versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.
The Architects Regulations 2015, S.R. No. 28/2015 were made on 28 April
2015 by the Governor in Council under section 69 of the Architects Act
1991, No. 13/1991 and came into operation on 19 May 2015: regulation 3.
The Architects Regulations 2015 will sunset 10 years after the day of making
on 28 April 2025 (see section 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994).
• Punctuation
All punctuation included in a Statutory Rule which is made on or after
1 January 2001 forms part of that Statutory Rule. Any punctuation inserted
in a Statutory Rule which was made before 1 January 2001, by a Statutory
Rule made on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Statutory Rule.
See section 36(3B).
• Provision numbers
All provision numbers included in a Statutory Rule form part of that
Statutory Rule, whether inserted in the Statutory Rule before, on or after
1 January 2001. Provision numbers include regulation numbers, rule
numbers, subregulation numbers, subrule numbers, paragraphs and
subparagraphs. See section 36(3C).
• Location of "legislative items"
A "legislative item" is a penalty, an example or a note. As from 13 October
2004, a legislative item relating to a provision of a Statutory Rule is taken to
be at the foot of that provision even if it is preceded or followed by another
legislative item that relates to that provision. For example, if a penalty at the
foot of a provision is followed by a note, both of these legislative items will
be regarded as being at the foot of that provision. See section 36B.
• Other material
Any explanatory memorandum, table of provisions, endnotes, index and
other material printed after the Endnotes does not form part of a Statutory
Rule. See section 36(3)(3D)(3E).
2 Table of Amendments
This publication incorporates amendments made to the Architects
Regulations 2015 by statutory rules, subordinate instruments and Acts.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Architects Amendment (Fees) Regulations 2023, S.R. No. 28/2023
Date of Making: 9.5.23
Date of Commencement: 9.5.23
Architects Amendment (Architectural Practice Examination Fees) Regulations 2023,
S.R. No. 135/2023
Date of Making: 19.12.23
Date of Commencement: 19.12.23
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
3 Explanatory details
1
Reg. 4(1): S.R. No. 51/2004 as amended by S.R. Nos 53/2005, 40/2007
and 33/2013 and extended in operation by S.R. No. 38/2014.
2
Reg. 4(2)(a): S.R. No. 53/2005.
3
Reg. 4(2)(b): S.R. No. 40/2007.
4
Reg. 4(2)(c): S.R. No. 33/2013.
——
Fee Units
These Regulations provide for fees by reference to fee units within the
meaning of the Monetary Units Act 2004.
The amount of the fee is to be calculated, in accordance with section 7 of that
Act, by multiplying the number of fee units applicable by the value of a fee
unit.
The value of a fee unit for the financial year commencing 1 July 2023 is
$15.90. The amount of the calculated fee may be rounded to the nearest
10 cents.
The value of a fee unit for future financial years is to be fixed by the
Treasurer under section 5 of the Monetary Units Act 2004. The value of a
fee unit for a financial year must be published in the Government Gazette and
a Victorian newspaper before 1 June in the preceding financial year.