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Chapter 2 The Discipline Committee and Operation Procedures
Article 5
The discipline committee shall have 19 members. The committee chairperson shall be government personnel in charge of related affairs and assigned by the central competent authority. Other committee members shall be selected as follows and at least 1/3 of that shall have legal professional background:
1. Five representatives from professional engineer association; at least two of them shall be from the professional branch of the subject professional engineer association or the several branches' united professional engineer association which the professional branch of the subject engineer belongs. If the professional branch of the subject engineer has neither solely nor jointly establish the professional engineer association, then at least two representatives shall be from the professional engineer association or several breaches' united professional engineer association which the subject engineer has joined according to Article 24 of this Act;
2. Seven representatives of academic expertise or impartial representatives in the society;
3. Six representatives from competent authority or relevant administration entities:
A. One representative from Ministry of Justice;
B. One representative from the central competent authority in charge of
professional engineers;
C. Four representatives from the authorities in charge of the relevant industries and the professional engineer affairs.
The members referred to in subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph shall be recommended by each professional engineer association and each several branches’ united professional association of which the central competent authority will compile into a recommended list. If there is only one professional engineer association in the professional branch or only one several branches’ united professional engineer association, then that (united) professional engineer association may recommend two people; the national federation may recommend five people. The committee chairperson shall select the members from the recommended list.
The members referred to in subparagraph 3, paragraph 1 shall be selected from a recommended list compiled by the central competent authority. Each relevant administration entity shall assign two representatives to be in the recommended list. Upon selecting the representatives to be on the recommended list, the committee chairperson shall select the members from that list. The representatives from government entities shall be replaced when the member has been transferred to another entity.
The committee members' tenure of office is two years, except the representatives specified in Subparagraphs 1 and 3 of Paragraph 1. The member can be reappointed for at most two times.
The recommended list referred to in Paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be reshuffled when the tenure regulated in the preceding paragraph expires. Upon such an occasion, the representatives shall be re-nominated or re-assigned. However, the number of times of nominating a recommended representative by the professional engineer association shall be unlimited. The number of times a representative may be re-assigned by the competent authority or relevant administration entities shall be limited to two.
If the professional engineer in the recommended list of representatives provided by the professional engineer association according to paragraph 2 receives a final punishment decision or is in situation of rejection decision according to Paragraph 1 of Article 44, a new representative shall be re-recommended by the original professional engineer association, and the effectiveness of recommendation shall be expired when the tenure of incumbent committee members are expired.
Article 6
If any of the following situations occurs in the reported discipline case received by the discipline committee, the discipline committee shall refuse to accept that case. However, if the case could be cured, the discipline committee shall demand the cure of the case within a limited time:
1. The case is not in the scope of discipline committee's authority;
2. The case is not reported by the interested parties, competent authority, authorities in charge of the relevant industries or the professional engineer association according to Article 42 of this Act
3. The case reported to the discipline committee is without facts and exhibits of the professional engineer's violation.
Article 7
The discipline committee shall take charge of a disciplinary action through the following procedures upon receipt of the case:
1. Notice the subject professional engineer named in the case to submit a contention or plea, and to speak up in the committee in person as necessary within twenty days from the date next to receipt of the notice. The discipline committee may come to the decision straight if the professional engineer fails to contend or speak up in person within the specified time limit.
2. Refer the case to the authorities in charge of the relevant industries and the professional engineer association of the subject professional engineer to offer opinions.
3. The chairperson shall appoint three members as the preliminary trial members to conduct a substantial review and to produce the preliminary trial report. At least one of the preliminary trial members shall be regulated in subparagraph1, paragraph 1 of Article 5. The representative of professional engineer association in the same professional branch or several branches' united professional engineer association which that branch has joined.
Article 8
The discipline committee meeting shall be chaired by the chairman. The chairman shall appoint a committee member to chair the meeting on his behalf in case of his absence.
Article 9
The decision of the discipline committee shall be resolved by a majority vote of the attending committee members who represent a majority of the total committee members.
Article 10
Under any of the following circumstances, the member of the discipline committee shall withdraw himself/herself and is thus prohibited from review, discussion, and decision-making of all related cases:
1. Where the member or his/her spouse , ex-spouse, relatives by blood within four degrees, relatives by marriage within three degrees, or former relatives in preceding relationship is the subject professional engineer;
2. Where the entitlement or the obligation of the case or the subject professional engineer is shared by the committee member or the member's spouse or ex-spouse;
3. Where the member is or was the subject professional engineer's litigation agent or assistant;
4. Where the member is or was the private prosecutor, plaintiff, whistleblower, witness, defense attorney, or expert witness in any litigation cases that involves the subject professional engineer; and
5. Where the member is a colleague of the subject professional engineer, or was a colleague of the subject professional engineer within the past three years.
Under any of the following circumstances, the member of the discipline committee can be ordered in accordance with the decision made by the committee to withdraw:
1. Where the member is knowingly involved in any of the circumstances listed in the preceding paragraph and fails to withdraw; or
2. Where there are other circumstances indicating that the member cannot be impartial in performing the duties.
If the withdrawal member referred to representative of professional engineer association in the preceding two paragraphs is selected according to Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph 1 of Article 5, the replacement member shall be selected in compliance with Paragraph 2 of Article 5 and Paragraph 3 of Article 7 If all representatives from the same branch of profession in the recommended list shall withdraw or fail to meet the necessary number of people because of avoidance, a representative from another branch of profession may be selected.
Article 11
During the trial process, the discipline committee should inform the subject professional engineer to attend and present his plea. If necessary, the defender can invite one to three agents to attend the hearing. If the subject professional engineer fails to attend on the designated date, the process shall be conducted nevertheless.
The aforementioned personnel shall withdraw before the resolving process, and the reasons and opinions posed by the personnel shall be entered into the minutes.
Article 12
The discipline committee shall hold meetings on a secret basis. All participants shall keep the contents discussed, contents of the meeting and the decisions so resolved in strict confidence.
Article 13
The minutes of resolution shall be worked out within one month after the decisions resolved in the discipline committee.
Article 14
The minutes of resolution of the discipline committee meeting shall bear the following particulars:
1. The name, birth date, ID Card number and domicile of the subject professional engineer; the file number of the, professional engineer certificate and the name of his professional engineer association.
2. The name, address of the business entity where the professional engineer practices and the file number of the professional engineer license.
3. Main text of the decision, facts and reasons.
4. The name of present committee member.
5. Date on which the decision was resolved.
6. The remedy procedure, deadline, and the competent authority of an appeal against the decision.
Article 15
The decision resolved by the discipline committee shall be served to the penalized professional engineer and the applicant who referred the case for disciplinary penalty within ten days from the day when the decision is resolved.
The penalized professional engineer may, if in disagreement with the decision resolved by the discipline committee, petition for a retrial in accordance with Article 45 of the Act.