• Professional engineers who do not satisfy the mandatory continuing education requirements shall not practice until they have met such requirements, and have been issued a registration certificate, except that a professional engineer may practice without having met such requirements if he or she is issued a conditional registration certificate pursuant to the Law.
  
• Professional engineers employed on a full time basis by the state of New York, its agencies, public authorities, public benefit corporations or local governmental units do not need to satisfy the continuing education requirement.
  
• During each triennial registration period an applicant for registration shall complete a minimum of thirty-six hours of acceptable continuing education, provided that no more than eighteen hours of such continuing education may consist of non-course activities. Excess credits on one triennial period cannot carry over to the next period. There are a few special provisions regarding hours required and carry over PDH credits only in the phase-in period from 2004 through 2006. A $45 triennial fee paid by the licensees will offset costs associated with implementing a continuing education program in New York.
  
  
• "Acceptable continuing education" shall mean courses of learning and educational activities which contribute to professional practice in professional engineering and which meet the standards prescribed by regulations. Courses must be accredited by a New York State approved sponsor (P.I.E., AIA, State Education Department, IACET).
  
  
• Professional engineers shall maintain adequate documentation of completion of acceptable continuing education and educational activities for six years after the registration period, and shall be subject to audit by the State Education Department.

A professional development course or activity that does not have an approved sponsor can be submitted to P.I.E. for evaluation by a P.I.E. PDH Evaluator in order to gain NYS PDH approval. The Evaluator would review the specific technical content of the course/activity to confirm that it is sufficient in content to either develop, maintain improve or expand the skills and knowledge of the Professional Engineer pertaining to the practice of engineering. The Evaluator would also review the instructor's resume to confirm that he/she has the proper knowledge to teach the subject, and would either accept or reject the course/activity. If accepted, the Evaluator defines the PDH credits.

Continuing Education Credits:

   - 1 college semester hour: 15 PDH
   - 1 college quarter hour: 10 PDH
   - 1 hour of professional development: 1 PDH
   - Teaching activities: 3 times the course PDH
   - Technical presentation activities: 3 times the course PDH
   - Each paper or article: 9 PDH
   - Each patent: 9 PDH
   - Active participation in professional society: none

Note that for teaching or presenting activities, PDH's are only given for the first such instance. Repeating the same program does not qualify for additional PDH's.

Approved Providers:

The AIA and other organizations can "approve" sponsors of educational activities. The following entities are authorized to approve sponsors of continuing education for New York State professional engineers. If the courses and educational activities are offered by sponsors approved by one of these entities and the subject area of the courses and educational activities meet the requirements of the P.I.E., then the courses or educational activities would be considered approved New York State mandatory continuing education.

• The Practicing Institute of Engineering (P.I.E). P.I.E's list of recognized sponsors is available from P.I.E., RPI Technology Park, 385 Jordan Road, Troy, NY 12180-7620, Phone: (518) 283-7490, Fax: (518) 283-7495, www.pie-cpc.org or www.nysspe.org. New York State Professional Engineers may join P.I.E. for an annual fee of $10. Organizations may join for a higher fee. P.I.E. welcomes New York State P.E.s to apply to become PDH Evaluators and welcome organizations to apply to become P.I.E. Sponsoring Organizations.
  
• International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). IACET's list of recognized sponsors is available from IACET, 1620 I St. NW Suite 615, Washington, DC 20006, Phone: (202) 463-2905, Fax: (202) 463-8497 or www.iacet.org
  
• The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Continuing Education Program. AIA's Continuing Education System list of recognized sponsors is available from the Continuing Education Program, 1735 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006-5292 or at AIA's web site at www.aia.org
  
• Colleges, universities and other degree granting institutions offering degree (e.g. AAS, BS, MS), certificate or diploma programs carrying degree credit that are registered by the State Education Department or have authority to offer equivalent programs accredited by an acceptable accrediting agency. The State Education Department's "Inventory of Registered Programs" includes all degree granting institutions in the State and can be found on our web site at www.highered.nysed.gov/ocue
  
• The NYS Education Department directly approves sponsors (providers). www.op.nysed.gov/pelscesponsor.htm. Further information and an application form are available on this site. An application fee of $900 is required for this service.