Provincial Acts protect the profession in two distinct ways, and the NPPE loves to test whether you can tell them apart.
- Reserved title means only a licensee may call themselves a "Professional Engineer," "P.Eng.," "Professional Geoscientist," "P.Geo.," or hold out as one. An unlicensed person who uses these titles, or implies them, breaks the law even if their underlying work was acceptable.
- Reserved scope of practice means only a licensee may perform the activities that legally constitute the practice of engineering or geoscience: applying engineering/geoscience principles where public welfare, safety, or the environment is at stake, and taking professional responsibility for that work.
📌 Exam tip: Title = what you call yourself; practice = what you do. A person can violate one without the other, e.g., doing reserved engineering work without a licence (scope breach) even while never using the title.
Some jurisdictions historically protected title more strongly than practice, but the modern trend reserves both. The practical effect of reserved practice is that engineering work serving the public must carry a licensee's seal/stamp and signature, marking that a professional has taken responsibility for it.