Improve the proposal, together.

This regulation is made by the board of directors under section 91 of the Professional Code, following communication to members under section 95.3, and approved by the Office under section 95.2.

This Regulation governs the creation, maintenance, custody, preservation and continuity of professional records of members of the Order, including members employed by an organization or practising in a firm. It applies within the powers conferred by the Professional Code and the proposed constituting Act.

Responsibility for professional acts, reports, conclusions and approvals rests with the member who performs, signs or approves them. Physical custody of a record may be assigned to an eligible custodian; filing with the central registry is a separate duty. Neither mechanism transfers professional judgment.

One properly created and preserved professional record held by the self-employed member or by an eligible organization satisfies the recordkeeping requirement. An employee or firm member need not maintain a second identical personal archive where the organization has a compliant system.

The member ensures that records relating to their mandates can be retrieved through an adequate filing system. This Regulation requires no additional personal register, systematic parallel inventory or duplicate documentary filing.

As warranted by the mandate, the record contains the identifying information needed for the client, building and mandate; relevant preliminary, final and corrected reports; observations and test results; useful photographs and technical material; essential calculations, notes and reasons; important communications; and confirmations of registry filings and required transmissions.

For acceptance, commissioning or integrated tests, relevant records include, as required by the scope, test plans or sequences, allocation of responsibilities, pertinent results and evidence, tests not performed and stated reservations, without requiring duplicate copies or documents unrelated to the mandate.

Materials must be kept insofar as needed to understand or substantiate the professional act. This Regulation does not require indiscriminate retention of every draft, duplicate, professionally irrelevant datum or document outside the mandate.

Where a member is an employee, the employer may maintain and preserve the records of services performed by that member if the member can enter their professional acts and supporting information and the custodian complies with this Regulation. Being an employer alone does not constitute authorization to practise through a regulated professional firm.

The member obtains the organizational custodian’s necessary undertakings to access, during and after employment, only those portions of their records needed to fulfil professional rights and obligations, including responding to a complaint, claim, syndic investigation or professional inspection. Such access is restricted, secured and subject to applicable law and confidentiality; it conveys no general right to take or exploit an employer’s files.

An eligible professional firm may create, organize and preserve records shared by members practising there. It designates a records officer and makes the required information available to each member while maintaining documentary continuity. Each member remains individually accountable for the acts they perform or approve.

Where records are shared with other professionals, information is accessed according to legal authority and actual need for the mandate. Professional secrecy, legal protections and privileged information belonging to other professions do not become generally accessible solely through joint practice.

Filing a report or other document in the central registry never replaces the duty to create and preserve a professional record, including supporting material, outside that registry. The “My reports” registry feature does not replace observations, notes, results, photographs or other parts of the professional record.

The document filed in the registry remains the official reference for that filing. The local custodian keeps an appropriate independent copy and must not silently alter a signed or filed version; any correction follows the applicable procedure and identifies the versions and their authors.

Records may be kept on paper, in digital form, in a business system or with a compliant storage provider. The custodian implements reasonable and proportionate protections against loss, illegitimate access, alteration, accidental destruction and unauthorized disclosure.

Digital records must have recoverable backups, intelligible filing, appropriate access controls and a reasonable ability to export or transfer records when the custodian changes. No physical vault, notarial repository, specialized facility or general paper-printing requirement is imposed.

A closed professional file must be retained for at least ten years from its actual closure. A longer valid statutory or contractual duty, active inquiry, complaint, claim or litigation takes precedence over that minimum.

The ten-year period governs the separate professional file, not the retention lifecycle of filings, EDF_ identifier or data in the central registry. The final duration remains subject to legal validation of authority and suitability for fire-safety risks.

The custodian retains every active file during the mandate and for at least ten years after its actual closure under section 15 (REGULATION RESPECTING THE KEEPING, PRESERVATION, TRANSFER AND INTERIM CUSTODY OF PROFESSIONAL RECORDS OF MEMBERS OF THE OPSI). Retention is extended where required by a complaint, claim, investigation, professional inspection, litigation, preservation order or another valid statutory or contractual duty, until the reason for the extension has actually ended.

An employer or firm holding compliant records applies the same rule and arranges necessary PSI access without automatically requiring a duplicate personal archive. A scheduled destruction date never authorizes destruction of evidence that must still be preserved.

After the ten-year period in section 15 (REGULATION RESPECTING THE KEEPING, PRESERVATION, TRANSFER AND INTERIM CUSTODY OF PROFESSIONAL RECORDS OF MEMBERS OF THE OPSI) and all extensions under section 16 (REGULATION RESPECTING THE KEEPING, PRESERVATION, TRANSFER AND INTERIM CUSTODY OF PROFESSIONAL RECORDS OF MEMBERS OF THE OPSI) have expired, the custodian may securely destroy materials no longer legally required, protecting confidentiality and documenting destruction where appropriate. Remaining access rights and the separate retention rules for the central registry continue to apply.

A self-employed professional who holds their own records designates an eligible successor custodian who accepts the designation in writing. The professional keeps the custodian’s details and consent current and provides an alternate person or fallback procedure if that custodian becomes unavailable.

An employee or firm member need not designate a personal successor custodian where the employer or firm maintains records under this Regulation and has an effective continuity plan. The organization then arranges an eligible successor or interim custodian in the event of closure.

Continuity measures apply in particular upon death, incapacity, cessation of practice, suspension or removal from the roll that jeopardizes custody, dissolution or closure of an organization and prolonged unavailability of the custodian.

On a continuity event, the custodian or representative gives the Order the notices legally required, prepares an adequate inventory of the affected records, identifies the successor or interim custodian and arranges a secure, traceable transfer respecting professional secrecy. Deadlines and formalities must reflect urgency and the size of the practice.

A successor or interim custodian undertakes only custody, protection, legally authorized access and retrieval of records. They do not assume prior reports, earlier conclusions or incomplete mandates without a new express acceptance permitted by law. Past reports do not require fresh approval.

The client retains, under applicable law, the choice of the authorized professional who will continue a mandate. Documentary transfer needed for that choice does not automatically transfer the mandate to the custodian.

If the designated successor is unavailable or no eligible custodian preserves continuity, the Order may use the subsidiary custody or appointment mechanisms legally assigned to it, within its powers and without automatically becoming permanent custodian of all private professional records.

Retirement, removal from the roll or cessation of practice does not transfer professional liability for prior acts to a custodian. Former practitioners retain lawfully necessary defensive access through a secured and proportionate process distinct from general registry access.