Legislation: the law around engineering
Every signature an engineer puts down has legal consequences: a report, a contract, a drawing, an expert opinion. Law is not foreign to the profession; it is the framework in which the profession is practiced.
01Why an engineer studies law
Almost everything an engineer does at work has a legal side, even when it does not look like it. Accepting a quotation means entering into a contract. Signing the drawing of an installation means taking on a responsibility that can last for years. Hiring a technician means entering into an employment relationship with rules of its own. Testifying in a trial as an expert witness means acting as an auxiliary of the court. And setting up a company with a partner means choosing, knowingly or not, how much of your personal assets is exposed.
This subject does not train lawyers. It trains engineers who know when a problem has a legal dimension, what questions to ask a lawyer and what mistakes to avoid before it becomes necessary to call one. The Engineering and Society page on the profession and professional ethics introduced the topic at the first level; here it is developed with the specific rules.
These pages explain the general framework and cite the rules by their number. Laws change —labor law went through major reforms in 2024— and every real case has details that change the answer. For a specific situation, the current text of the law and a licensed lawyer have the final word.
02Legal rules and technical standards
Every day an engineer works with two kinds of rules that use the same word (“norma” in Spanish) and are very different things:
| Legal rule | Technical standard | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | A statute, a decree, a municipal ordinance | An IRAM, IEC or ISO standard; the AEA (Argentine Electrotechnical Association) wiring regulations for electrical installations |
| Who issues it | A state body with the competence to do so | A standards body, by consensus among manufacturers, users and specialists |
| Whether it is mandatory | Binds everyone from its official publication | It is voluntary, unless a legal rule makes it mandatory |
| If it is not complied with | A penalty is provided for | There is no penalty of its own; but departing from it can show that due diligence was not exercised |
The last row is the one that matters most in practice. Even if a technical standard is not mandatory, in a trial over an accident it is used as the measure of what a prudent professional would have done. Following it protects; departing from it without a documented reason exposes you.
03Where law comes from
The sources of law are the places from which the rules that a judge applies arise:
- Statute law, in the broad sense: any general rule issued by the competent authority, from the Constitution down to a ministry resolution. In the Argentine system it is the main source.
- Custom: repeated practices that people consider binding. The Civil and Commercial Code (Código Civil y Comercial, CCyC) admits it when a statute refers to it or in situations that the statute does not regulate.
- Case law (“jurisprudencia”): the way the courts decide cases. In Argentina one ruling does not bind other judges, but those of the Supreme Court strongly guide all of them.
- Legal scholarship (“doctrina”): what jurists write. It is not binding, but it helps with interpretation.
Article 8 of the Civil and Commercial Code lays down a principle worth keeping in mind: ignorance of the law is no excuse for failing to comply with it. No one can claim not to have known of a published rule.
04Where to look up the rules
| Source | What it has |
|---|---|
| Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina (the Official Gazette) | The official publication: a national rule exists from the moment it appears there |
| InfoLEG | National rules with their updated text and the rules that amended them |
| SAIJ (Argentine Legal Information System) | National and provincial legislation, case law and legal scholarship |
| Provincial official gazettes and municipal compilations of ordinances | Local rules: provincial professional-practice laws, building codes |
| Professional councils and associations | The professional-practice laws, codes of ethics and fee schedules of their jurisdiction |
A law cited from memory or copied from some random site may be out of date. The right habit is to look up the number of the rule in InfoLEG or SAIJ and read the updated text, which incorporates later amendments.
05The course roadmap
| Block | Contents | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Foundations | Public and private law, the Constitution, the legal system | Which rule applies, and which one prevails over which? |
| Economic activity | Companies, contracts, labor law | How do you organize, agree and employ? |
| The profession | Professional practice, ethics, rights and duties | Who may sign, and what is committed by doing so? |
| The consequences | Expert evidence and arbitration, liability | What happens when something goes wrong? |
| The work | Construction law | How is a public or private construction project contracted and carried out? |
06Where it shows up in electronics
| Situation | The legal issues it brings |
|---|---|
| Designing a medical device | Registration with ANMAT (the national drug, food and medical device regulator), liability for defective products |
| Installing a network in a building | Construction contract, technical regulations, municipal permit |
| Type-approving a transmitter | ENACOM (the national communications regulator) rules on the radio spectrum |
| Developing custom software | Intellectual property, confidentiality, warranty |
| Hiring a technician for the workshop | Employment Contract Act (Ley de Contrato de Trabajo), collective bargaining agreement, occupational risk insurance |
07Activities
Look up Law 19,587 on occupational health and safety in InfoLEG. Note its date, which decree regulates it and which later rules amended it.
Find out which legal rule makes the AEA wiring regulations for electrical installations in buildings mandatory in the jurisdiction where you live.
Choose a real or imaginary electronics project and list all the acts with legal consequences that it involves, from the first quotation to after-sales service.
08Common mistakes
- Believing that law is a matter for lawyers. The decisions that create legal problems are made by the engineer, long before a lawyer gets involved.
- Treating a technical standard as simply optional. It is voluntary, but it is the yardstick used to measure diligence.
- Citing a law without checking its current text. Many have been amended several times.
- Thinking that a verbal agreement is not binding. Most contracts do not require written form; the difficulty is proving them.
09Self-assessment
What is the difference between an IRAM standard and a statute as regards whether they are mandatory?
A statute binds from its official publication; an IRAM standard is voluntary unless a legal rule makes it mandatory.
What are the sources of law?
Statute law, custom, case law and legal scholarship; in the Argentine system, statute law is the main one.
Can you claim that you did not know about a published law?
No: under Article 8 of the Civil and Commercial Code, ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Where do you look up the updated text of a national law?
In InfoLEG or SAIJ, which incorporate later amendments.
10Further reading
- Julio César Rivera and Graciela Medina. Derecho civil. Parte general. Abeledo Perrot (in Spanish). The sources of law, persons and legal acts according to the Civil and Commercial Code.
- Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación (Law 26,994). Título preliminar. Official text in InfoLEG (in Spanish). The first eighteen articles: sources, interpretation, entry into force and the principle of good faith.
- Consejo Profesional de Ingeniería de Telecomunicaciones, Electrónica y Computación (COPITEC), the Professional Council of Telecommunications, Electronics and Computer Engineering. Normas de ejercicio y código de ética. Council publications (in Spanish). The framework governing the licensing of electronic engineers at the national level.