EU-qualified architects working in the UK are being urged by the RIBA to register with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) if they plan to continue working here beyond 29 March 2019 to ensure their right to practice under the title ‘architect’.
Last week the government issued its latest set of technical notes outlining contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit. They make it clear that mutual recognition of professional qualifications (MRPQ) across the EU, including those for architecture, would no longer apply from that date in the absence of a deal.
The government’s advice and the continuing impasse between the UK and EU negotiators over Brexit underlines the urgency for EU architects in the UK to begin their registration process, if they have not already done so.
Government guidance on providing professional services in the absence of a deal makes it clear that there will be no system of reciprocal recognition of professional qualifications once the MRPQ Directive ceases to apply.
The UK government is promising that professionals arriving in the UK from the European Economic Area (EEA) after the exit date will be given a means to seek recognition of their qualifications, but no details are available at this time beyond a confirmation that they will differ from current arrangements.
These same arrangements will apply to any EEA-qualified professionals already in the UK who have not started an application for a recognition decision before the exit date.
However, the guidance says that where an application for recognition has been made before the exit date, and the applicant is still waiting for a decision, the application will be treated ‘as far as possible’ in line with the existing MRPQ Directive, so the RIBA is advising unrecognised EU architects to take advantage of this window before it closes in March.
Individuals with UK qualifications seeking professional recognition to work in other EEA countries will need to check the national policies of the host state. The EU Commission has stated that decisions on the recognition of UK qualifications in EU countries made before exit day will not be affected.
Responding to the latest guidance, RIBA chief executive Alan Vallance said the scenario outlined in the case of a no-deal Brexit would be disastrous for the profession.
‘With just six months to go, not only will the existing recognition regime be ripped up, but the UK Government has failed to provide any details on how architects arriving from Europe after March will have their qualifications recognised. This leaves more questions unanswered, further denting the confidence of a deeply unsettled profession,’ said Vallance.
He called upon the government to set out a clear roadmap for what registration will mean in practice as a matter of urgency. One in five architects working in the UK today are from the EEA.
For EEA professionals already established in the UK with a recognition decision from ARB, the government says recognition will not be affected by a no-deal Brexit and will remain valid.
The end of MRPQ is just one of many implications of a no-deal Brexit that architects need to consider. UK architects and practices may face restrictions on their ability to own or control companies registered in the EU, depending on the sector and the EU member state, for instance.
There will also be additional accounting and audit requirements for UK companies operating across borders or operating subsidiary companies in the EU.
The RIBA provides guidance and summaries of the government’s technical advice on a no-deal Brexit as it applies to architects and the architectural profession, and will update them as more notices are published.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a Professional Feature edited by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas
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Posted on 18 October 2018.
