Government legislation ministry rules architects face penalty points for lax supervision

The Ministry of Government Legislation said Tuesday that architectural firm founders who fail to diligently perform construction supervision duties are subject to demerit points under the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Promotion of Engineering Services. The ruling, issued in response to a public inquiry (Case No. 26-0642), addresses whether specific penalty standards apply to these professionals.

The decision prevents a situation where the law mandates penalties for poor performance but lacks a clear mechanism to calculate them for unregistered firm founders. "Excluding these supervisors from the specific measurement criteria would create a situation where the law mandates penalties but provides no mechanism to calculate them," a company representative said regarding the interpretation.

The ministry determined that construction supervision as defined in the Building Architects Act falls within the scope of construction project management at the construction stage. This classification means negligence in verifying whether buildings are constructed according to design drawings or in overseeing quality and safety can trigger the demerit system outlined in Appendix 8 of the enforcement decree. Specific infractions now subject to scoring include neglecting step-by-step verification of construction against design documents and failing to review the suitability of construction materials and machinery.

Founders of architectural offices are included in the category of construction project management service providers for the purpose of assigning penalties, regardless of whether they have separately registered as a construction engineering business operator. While the law defines service providers as registered engineering firms, officials noted that the Act explicitly lists architectural firm founders alongside them as subjects of penalty, necessitating their inclusion in the measurement criteria to align with the statutory framework.

The ministry based its decision on the legislative history of integrating various supervision systems into a unified construction project management framework in 2013. In light of this interpretation, it recommended that relevant laws be revised to explicitly state that architectural firm founders are subject to these specific demerit measurement standards.