(A) This chapter may not be construed to prevent or to affect:

(1) the practice of any other regulated profession or trade where the practice of the profession or trade may legitimately overlap the professions regulated by this chapter;

(2) the work of an employee or other subordinate of a person holding a certificate of registration under this chapter;

(3) the engineering work of full-time, non-temporary employees of the government of the United States officially performing their duties for their employer on federal lands within this State, in the practice of engineering for the government, and where specified by federal statute;

(4) the surveying work of full-time, non-temporary employees of the government of the United States officially performing their duties for their employer on lands within this State, in the practice of surveying for the government, and where specified by federal statute;

(5) the work or practice of a full-time, non-temporary employee of a public utility, a telephone utility, or an electrical utility by rendering to the employing company engineering service in connection with its facilities which are subject to regulation, supervision, and control in order to safeguard life, health, and property by the Public Service Commission of this State, so long as the person is actually and exclusively employed. Engineering work not related to the exemption in this item where the safety of the public is directly involved must be accomplished by or under the responsible charge of a professional engineer;

(6) the work or practice of a regular employee of an electric cooperative, when rendering to the employing cooperative engineering service in connection with its facilities which are subject to regulations and inspections of the Rural Utilities Service, if the person is actually and exclusively employed. Engineering work not related to the exemption in this item where the safety of the public is directly involved must be accomplished by or under the responsible charge of a professional engineer;

(7) the work or practice of a full-time, non-temporary employee of a state authority which is licensed by and subject to the safety regulations of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and which sells and distributes electric power to consumers, so long as the person is actually and exclusively employed. Engineering work not related to the exemption in this item where the safety of the public is directly involved must be accomplished by or under the responsible charge of a registered professional engineer;

(8) the work of a general contractor, specialty contractor, or material supplier in the preparation and use of shop drawings or other graphic descriptions used to detail or illustrate a portion of the work required to construct the project in accordance with plans and specifications prepared under the requirements of this chapter;

(9) the work or practice of a person rendering engineering services to a corporation that operates in South Carolina under a production certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Authority, provided that the general business of the corporation does not consist, either wholly or in part, of the rendering of engineering services to the general public. For purposes of this section, "engineering services" means design, construction, and maintenance of airplanes and airplane manufacturing equipment; and

(10) the activities of full-time employees of a manufacturing company or other personnel under the direct supervision and control of the manufacturing company, or a subsidiary of the manufacturing company, on or in connection with activities related to the research, development, design, fabrication, production, assembly, integration, installation, or service of products manufactured by the manufacturing company. This exemption does not apply to activities where the seal of a professional engineer is expressly required by statute, regulation, or building code, or to engineering services offered to the public. For the purposes of this item, "manufacturing company" means a company that produces or assembles tangible personal property and "other personnel" includes individuals employed by a staffing company working for the manufacturing company.

(B) If drawings and specifications are signed by the authors with the true title of their occupations, this chapter does not apply to the preparation of plans and specifications for:

(1) farm buildings not designed or used for human occupancy;

(2) buildings and structures less than three stories high and less than five thousand square feet in area, except that buildings and structures classified as assembly, educational, high hazard, institutional, or uses as defined by the International Code Series, as adopted by the State of South Carolina, regardless of size or area, are not exempt from the provisions of this chapter;

(3) one- and two-family dwellings in compliance with the prescriptive requirements of the International Residential Code, as adopted by the State of South Carolina. All other buildings and structures classified as residential occupancies or uses in the International Code Series and that are beyond the scope of the International Residential Code are not exempt from the provisions of this chapter; and

(4) alterations to a building to which this chapter does not apply, if the alterations do not result in a change which would otherwise place the building under the application of this chapter.

(C) This subsection may not be construed to prejudice a law, ordinance, regulation, or other directive enacted by another political body or a requirement by a contracting authority which would otherwise require preparation of plans and specifications under the responsible charge of a professional engineer or professional surveyor.

HISTORY: 2000 Act No. 311, Section 1; 2013 Act No. 55, Section 1, eff June 7, 2013; 2014 Act No. 157 (H.4604), Section 1, eff April 14, 2014; 2016 Act No. 259 (S.685), Section 15, eff June 3, 2016; 2017 Act No. 18 (S.342), Section 2, eff May 9, 2017; 2018 Act No. 138 (H.3649), Section 3, eff March 12, 2018.

Editor's Note

Prior Laws: 1991 Act No. 99, Section 1; 1976 Code Section 40-22-460.

Effect of Amendment

The 2013 amendment added subparagraph (A)(9).

2014 Act No. 157, Section 1, added subsection (A)(10), relating to exemptions for certain activities performed by full-time employees or other personnel of a manufacturing company, and made other non substantive changes.

2016 Act No. 259, Section 15, in (A), substituted "full-time, non-temporary" for "regular" throughout; rewrote (B)(2); and added (B)(3), relating to one- and two-family dwellings.

2017 Act No. 18, Section 2, in (A)(6), substituted "regular employee" for "full-time, non-temporary employee" and substituted "Rural Utilities Service" for "Rural Electric Administration".

2018 Act No. 138, Section 3, in (B)(2), substituted "less than three stories high and less than five thousand square feet in area" for "not requiring a permit by the authority having jurisdiction", and "educational, high hazard, institutional, or uses as defined by the International Code Series" for "business, educational, factory and industrial, high hazard, institutional, mercantile, storage, and utility occupancies or uses in the International Code Series".