Architects Registration in The United Kingdom - Categorisation

Categorisation

The Architects Registration Board is admittedly not a professional body or society in the sense explained in Wikipedia article "British Professional Bodies". The question whether or not it is a "regulatory agency" was publicly considered in 2003. The June 2003 issue of the RIBA Journal included the following:

"The words 'regulator' and 'regulation' are not used in the Act and that status is not conferred upon the Board. It could be argued that the Board's assumption of this role is adverse to the public interest... A contrary proposition to the Board's claim is that an essential characteristic of a regulatory body in this context is to have jurisdiction or control over particular functions or activities in the supply of goods or services... whether or not the regulatory method is in conjunction with a system of certificating or licensing (such as applies to solicitors or places of entertainment)... The Board's claim to regulatory status appears to be the result of want of understanding how it can usefully go about fulfilling the services that have been assigned to it by statute for the public benefit..."

In November 2003 the Architects Registration Board published a summary of a barrister's opinion which included the following:

"The Board as 'Regulator'. It has been suggested that the Board is not a 'regulator' of the architects’ profession... The precise generic description that any individual chooses to give to the collection of statutory duties imposed upon, and the powers available to, the Board under the 1997 Act is in any event irrelevant for the purposes of the questions asked," "for they largely involve issues of statutory interpretation which require the legislation to be construed and not given epithets."