California Code of Regulations
Title 16 - Professional and Vocational Regulations
Division 5 - Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
Article 1 - General Provisions
Section 404.1 - Responsible Charge - Professional Engineering

(a) As used in the Professional Engineers Act, the term "responsible charge" directly relates to the extent of control a professional engineer is required to maintain while exercising independent control and direction of professional engineering services or creative work and to the engineering decisions which can be made only by a professional engineer.

(b) Responsible Charge Criteria. In order to evaluate whether an engineer is in responsible charge, the following must be considered: The professional engineer who signs engineering documents must be capable of answering questions asked by individuals who are licensed by the Board in the appropriate branch of professional engineering relevant to the project and who are fully competent and proficient by education and experience in the field or fields of professional engineering relevant to the project. These questions would be relevant to the engineering decisions made during the individual's participation in the project, and in sufficient detail to leave little question as to the engineer's technical knowledge of the engineering performed. It is not necessary to defend decisions as in an adversarial situation, but only to demonstrate that the individual in responsible charge made, or reviewed and approved, them and possessed sufficient knowledge of the project to make, or review and approve, them.

Examples of questions to be answered by the engineer could relate to criteria for design, methods of analysis, methods of manufacture and construction, selection of materials and systems, economics of alternate solutions, and environmental considerations. The individual should be able to clearly express the extent of control and how it is exercised and to demonstrate that the engineer is answerable within said extent of control.

(c) Successor Licensee. In situations when the professional engineer in responsible charge of an engineering project is unavailable to complete the project or when the project is a site specific adaptation of a previous design, a professional engineer (hereinafter referred to as the "successor licensee") may assume responsible charge of the project as long as the successor licensee exercises the requisite extent of control and assumes responsibility for the engineering decisions as required by subdivision (a) and meets the criteria described in subdivision (b), as well as meeting the requirements of the Professional Engineers Act and Sections 411 and 415. Except as provided in Section 6735, 6735.3, and 6735.4 of the Code, the original licensee is not relieved of any responsibility arising from the engineering services of which he or she was in responsible charge.

(d) Portions of Projects. Nothing in this section prohibits a professional engineer from providing services for portions of or to add to or to modify an engineering project engineered under the responsible charge of another licensee as long as the professional engineer exercises the requisite extent of control and assumes responsibility for the engineering decisions as required by subdivision (a) and meets the criteria described in subdivision (b), as well as meeting the requirements of the Professional Engineers Act and Sections 411 and 415. The professional engineer need only be in responsible charge of the portions, additions, or modifications or the portion of the project affected by the addition or modification and not of the entire project. Except as provided in Sections 6735(b), 6735.3(b), and 6735.4(b) of the Code, the original licensee is not relieved of any responsibility arising from the engineering services of which he or she was in responsible charge.

(e) The term "responsible charge" does not refer to any of the following: