2021 Georgia Code
Title 43 - Professions and Businesses
Chapter 15 - Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
§ 43-15-2. Definitions

As used in this chapter, the term:

1. "Board" means the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors created in subsection (a) of Code Section 43-15-3.
2. "Certificate" means any certificate issued under Code Section 43-15-8 or 43-15-12.
3. "Certificate of registration" means any certificate issued under Code Section 43-15-9 or 43-15-16.
4. "Current certificate of registration" means a certificate of registration which has not expired or been revoked and the rights under which have not been suspended or otherwise restricted by the board.

   (4.1) "Current license" means a license issued under Code Section 43-15-13 which has not expired or been revoked and the rights under which have not been suspended or otherwise restricted by the board.

5. "Engineer-in-training" means an individual who meets the qualifications for and to whom the board has duly issued an engineer-in-training certificate.
6. "Land surveying" means any service, work, or practice, the adequate performance of which requires the application of special knowledge of the principles of mathematics, the related physical and applied sciences, and the requirements of relevant law in the evaluation and location of property rights, as applied to:
   1. Measuring and locating lines, angles, elevations, natural and manmade features in the air, on the surface of the earth, in underground works, and on the beds of bodies of water, for the purpose of determining and reporting positions, topography, areas, and volumes;
   2. Establishing or reestablishing, locating or relocating, or setting or resetting of monumentation for any property, easement, or right of way boundaries, or the boundary of any estate or interest therein;
   3. The platting and layout of lands and subdivisions thereof, including alignment and grades of streets and roads, excluding thoroughfares;
   4. The design, platting, and layout, incidental to subdivisions of any tract of land by a land surveyor, of:
      1. Grading plans and site plans;
      2. Erosion and sediment control plans, including detention ponds, provided that no impoundment shall be designed on a live (perennial) stream; provided, further, that such detention ponds:
   5. Contain no more than five acre-feet of water storage at maximum pool (top of dam) or are no more than ten feet in height for a dry storage pond;
   6. Are no more than six feet in height for a permanent (wet) storage pond; or
   7. Contain no more than three acre-feet of water storage at maximum pool (top of dam) if the height is more than ten feet but less than 13 feet for a dry storage pond;
      1. Storm-water management plans and facilities, including hydrologic studies and temporary sediment basins, provided that the contributing drainage area shall not be larger than 100 acres; and
      2. Extension of existing water distribution piping and gravity sewers, eight inches in diameter or smaller, provided that off-site length shall not exceed 1,000 feet, the design and construction of which shall conform to the local government ordinances and regulations, and such extensions shall be subjected to the review and approval of a local government which has been delegated approval authority by the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources,

      provided that the design of any storm-water management plans, facilities, water distribution lines, and sanitary sewer collection systems shall be performed only by such professional land surveyors who are qualified to do so as provided in Code Section 43-15-13.1;

   8. Conducting horizontal and vertical control surveys, layout or stake-out of proposed construction, or the preparation of as-built surveys which relate to property, easement, or right of way boundaries;
   9. Utilization of measurement devices or systems, such as aerial photogrammetry, geodetic positioning systems, land information systems, or similar technology for evaluation or location of property, easement, or right of way boundaries; or
   10. The preparation and perpetuation of maps, record plats, drawings, exhibits, field notes, or property descriptions representing these services.
7. "Land surveyor intern" means an individual who meets the qualifications for and to whom the board has duly issued a certificate as a land surveyor-in-training.
8. "Person" means an individual or any legal or commercial entity, including, by way of illustration and not limitation, a partnership, corporation, association, or governmental agency.
9. "Professional engineer" means an individual who is qualified, by reason of knowledge of mathematics, the physical sciences, and the principles by which mechanical properties of matter are made useful to mankind in structures and machines, acquired by professional education and practical experience, to engage in the practice of professional engineering and who possesses a current certificate of registration as a professional engineer issued by the board.
10. "Professional engineering" means the practice of the arts and sciences, known as engineering, by which mechanical properties of matter are made useful to mankind in structures and machines and shall include any professional service, such as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning, designing, or responsible supervision of construction or operation, in connection with any public or private utilities, structures, buildings, machines, equipment, processes, works, or projects, wherein the public welfare or the safeguarding of life, health, or property is concerned or involved, when such professional service requires the application of engineering principles and data and training in the application of mathematical and physical sciences. An individual shall be construed to practice or offer to practice professional engineering, within the meaning of this chapter, who by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, card, or in any other way represents or holds himself or herself out as a professional engineer or engineer or as able or qualified to perform engineering services or who performs any of the services set out in this paragraph. Nothing contained in this chapter shall include the work ordinarily performed by individuals who operate or maintain machinery or equipment.
11. "Professional land surveyor" or "registered land surveyor" or "land surveyor" means an individual who is qualified to engage in the practice of land surveying and who possesses a current license as a professional land surveyor issued by the board. An individual shall be construed to practice or offer to practice land surveying within the meaning of this chapter who by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, cards, or in any other way represents or holds himself or herself out as able or qualified to perform or who does perform land surveying services.
12. "Professional structural engineer" means a professional engineer with specialized knowledge and expertise in the practice of structural engineering. Such person shall be qualified by reason of knowledge of mathematics, physical sciences, and principles by which mechanical properties of matter are made useful to man in structures, acquired through professional education and practical experience, to engage in the practice of structural engineering. Such persons shall further possess a current certificate of registration as a professional structural engineer issued by the board.
13. "Structural engineering" means the practice of a specialized branch of professional engineering involving the design or analysis of designated structures as defined by the board, and shall include any professional service, such as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning, designing, analyzing, or responsible supervision of construction or operation, in connection with any public or private designated structures, wherein the public welfare or the safeguarding of life, health, or property is concerned or involved, when such professional service requires the application of structural engineering principles and data and training in the application of mathematical and physical sciences. A person shall be construed to practice or offer to practice structural engineering, within the meaning of this chapter, who by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, card, or in any other way represents or holds himself or herself out as a professional structural engineer or as able or qualified to perform structural engineering services or who does perform any of the services set out in this paragraph.

(Ga. L. 1937, p. 294, § 2; Ga. L. 1945, p. 294, § 4; Code 1933, § 84-2103, enacted by Ga. L. 1975, p. 1048, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1133, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 3297, § 1; Ga. L. 2003, p. 817, § 1; Ga. L. 2018, p. 583, § 1/SB 425; Ga. L. 2019, p. 1056, § 43/SB 52; Ga. L. 2020, p. 642, § 1/SB 310.)

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, added "created in subsection (a) of Code Section 43-15-3" at the end of paragraph (1); substituted "43-15-9 or 43-15-16" for "43-15-9, 43-15-13, or 43-15-16" in paragraph (3); added paragraph (4.1); in division (6)(D)(iv), substituted a comma for the semicolon at the end and added the proviso; deleted former paragraph (7), which read: "'Land surveyor' means an individual who is qualified to engage in the practice of land surveying and who possesses a current certificate of registration as a land surveyor issued by the board. A person shall be construed to practice or offer to practice land surveying within the meaning of this chapter who by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, cards, or in any other way represents or holds himself or herself out as able or qualified to perform or who does perform any of the services defined as land surveying."; redesignated former paragraphs (8) through (11) as present paragraphs (7) through (10), respectively; substituted "surveyor intern" for "surveyor-in-training" near the beginning of paragraph (7); substituted "individual or" for "individual and" near the beginning of paragraph (8); substituted "mankind" for "man" in the middle of paragraph (9) and in the first sentence of paragraph (10); in paragraph (10), substituted "arts" for "art" near the beginning of the first sentence, in the second sentence, substituted "An individual" for "A person" at the beginning, inserted a comma following "this chapter" near the middle, inserted "or herself" in the middle, and substituted "performs" for "does perform" near the end, and substituted "individuals" for "persons" in the last sentence; and added paragraph (11).

The 2019 amendment, effective May 12, 2019, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted "Storm-water management" for "Storm water management" at the beginning of division (6)(D)(iii).

The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, added paragraphs (12) and (13).

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1991, "as-built" was substituted for "as built" in subparagraph (6)(E).

Activities set forth in the definition of "land surveying" are not reserved for performance exclusively by land surveyors and nothing in O.C.G.A. § 43-15-2 prohibits the performance of these activities by other qualified professionals who are lawfully authorized to undertake the activities. Cobb County v. Crusselle, 274 Ga. 78, 548 S.E.2d 306 (2001).

- Surveying and preparing of topography map of lot of prospective customer, and preparing plans and specifications for building to be placed on lot for purpose of selling ice cream and containing machinery, are services comprehended within those which may be performed by a licensed engineer and land surveyor. Flatauer Fixture & Sales Corp. v. Garcia & Assocs., 99 Ga. App. 685, 109 S.E.2d 818 (1959).

- City cannot tax engineers and architects pursuant to Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 207, § 1 (see now O.C.G.A. § 48-13-5) who, although the engineers and architects hold certificates, work as employees in firms in which principals who were responsible for final design decisions hold certificates. City of Atlanta v. Georgia Soc'y of Professional Eng'rs, 220 Ga. 62, 137 S.E.2d 41 (1964).

Cited in Georgia Ass'n of Am. Inst. of Architects v. Gwinnett County, 238 Ga. 277, 233 S.E.2d 142 (1977); Sembler Atlanta Dev. I, LLC v. URS/Dames & Moore, Inc., 268 Ga. App. 7, 601 S.E.2d 397 (2004).

Definition of "professional engineering" found in Ga. L. 1975, p. 1048, § 1 (see now O.C.G.A. § 43-15-2(11)) includes all professional engineering services regardless of where the product of such services will be utilized. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-69.

- Extent to which an engineer may practice should not be determined solely by looking to provisions defining practice of engineering; the legislature did not intend that engineers should be permitted to plan, design, or supervise construction of structures and buildings to the same extent that an architect may do so. 1967 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 67-144.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- What amounts to architectural or engineering services within license requirements, 82 A.L.R.2d 1013.