Legal rights and duties of the professional
The signature both authorizes and binds: the same act that gives legal value to a drawing makes the signer responsible for what it says.
01The signature both authorizes and binds
The professional license gives the engineer a set of rights that other people do not have, and in return imposes more demanding duties. Both are concentrated in the same act: the signature. A drawing, a certificate or a report signed by a licensed professional has legal value because someone qualified answers for it. The unit on professional practice explained how the license is obtained; this one explains what comes with it.
02The professional’s rights
| Right | Basis and scope |
|---|---|
| Carrying out the reserved activities | With exclusivity as against anyone who does not hold the degree; the professional can report illegal practice |
| Charging fees | Those agreed; if none were agreed, those set by the judge using the fee schedules as a reference |
| Intellectual property in their work | Law 11,723 protects drawings, designs, reports and software: the client pays to use them for the purpose commissioned, not to reproduce them in other works, unless otherwise agreed |
| Technical autonomy | To decide according to their professional judgment and to refuse to sign what they consider unsafe or incorrect, even when working as an employee |
| Defense before the disciplinary tribunal | A procedure with the right to respond and to present evidence before any penalty, by virtue of the due process guarantee |
03Legal duties
The professional’s duties are not found in a single law: they come together from the professional-practice law of each jurisdiction, the Civil and Commercial Code, the Criminal Code and technical standards.
| Duty | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Acting only within your own competence and with a current license | The professional-practice law of the jurisdiction |
| Acting with prudence and full knowledge of the facts | Article 1725 of the Civil and Commercial Code: the greater that duty, the greater the diligence required, and a professional is held to that of an expert |
| Preventing harm | Article 1710: every person must avoid causing unjustified harm and take reasonable measures to prevent it from occurring |
| Informing the client | Article 1256: the essential aspects of the work, the risks, the limits of what can be guaranteed |
| Complying with technical and regulatory standards | Those that are mandatory by legal rule, and the others as a measure of good practice |
| Keeping professional secrecy | Code of ethics and Article 156 of the Criminal Code |
| Keeping the documentation | To be able to show what was done and by what criteria if there is a claim years later |
Article 1725 is the one that weighs most in a trial: a professional is not judged like an ordinary person, but as someone who knew, or should have known, what a good engineer knows. “I didn’t know that the regulations required that” is not a defense: it is a confession of a breach.
04Obligation of means or obligation of result
Article 1768 of the Civil and Commercial Code regulates the activity of the liberal professions: their liability is governed by the rules on obligations to do and is, in general, fault-based —it must be proven that the professional acted with fault—, unless a specific result was promised. The difference is the one between a work contract and a service contract:
- If the engineer undertook to advise on a technology, they have fulfilled the obligation if they advised diligently, even if the technology later chosen does not perform as expected.
- If they undertook to deliver a working system with certain performance, they are liable if it does not work, unless they prove an external cause.
That is why it matters so much how the scope of a job is written: promising results where you can only guarantee diligence transforms the liability.
05The professional and consumer protection
Law 24,240 on consumer protection expressly excludes the services of liberal professionals who require a university degree and a license: the relationship with the client is governed by the Civil and Commercial Code and by the oversight of the professional association. But the exclusion does not extend to the advertising that the professional does for their services, which must comply with that law. And when an engineer also manufactures or sells products, that activity is fully covered.
06Where it shows up in electronics
| Situation | Right or duty at stake |
|---|---|
| A client reuses a system design at another plant without telling you | The designer’s intellectual property |
| The employer asks you to certify a piece of equipment that failed its tests | Technical autonomy and the duty not to sign |
| A grounding installation that does not meet the regulations and causes an accident | Duty of prevention and the expert standard |
| Advertising installation services with promises of results | Law 24,240 on advertising and the obligation of result |
07Activities
Write two versions of the scope of an advisory job on an industrial network: one that commits to a result and another that commits only to diligence. Discuss the differences in liability.
Write a clause that defines who may use and reproduce the drawings and software of a commissioned project.
Make a list of the documents an engineer should keep for a signed installation, and for how long, considering the liability periods.
08Common mistakes
- Believing that the client buys the drawings forever. Unless otherwise agreed, the client buys their use for the purpose commissioned.
- Promising results in an advisory job. It turns an obligation of means into an obligation of result.
- Throwing away the project documentation when it is finished. It is the only proof of how the work was done.
- Signing out of obedience to the employer. The responsibility remains with whoever signs.
09Self-assessment
What does Article 1725 of the Civil and Commercial Code establish?
That the greater the duty to act with prudence and full knowledge of the facts, the greater the diligence required: a professional is judged as an expert.
Is the liability of a liberal professional strict or fault-based?
In general fault-based, unless a specific result was promised (Article 1768).
Does the consumer protection law apply to the services of a licensed engineer?
No, except as regards the advertising of those services.
What does Law 11,723 protect in an engineer’s work?
Their drawings, designs, reports and software as intellectual works.
10Further reading
- Ricardo Luis Lorenzetti (editor). Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación comentado. Rubinzal-Culzoni, 2014-2015 (in Spanish). Articles 1710, 1725 and 1768, commented with their application to professionals.
- Félix A. Trigo Represas and Marcelo J. López Mesa. Tratado de la responsabilidad civil. La Ley (in Spanish). Includes the study of the liability of professionals, with case law on engineers and builders.
- Law 11,723 and Law 24,240. Updated texts. InfoLEG (in Spanish). Intellectual property and consumer protection, as they bear on professional practice.