The Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications (MRPQ) Directive (Directive 2005/36/EC) on the mutual recognition of qualifications will no longer apply from 1 January 2021

The MRPQ Directive will no longer apply to the UK and there will be no immediate system of reciprocal recognition of professional qualifications between the remaining EEA states and the UK

Mutual Recognition Agreement

The text of the Future Relationship with the EU features a framework under which the UK and the EU may agree arrangements on the recognition of professional qualifications (such as Mutual Recognition Agreements) covering the UK and all 27 EU Member States. Once an arrangement is adopted under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), UK professionals will be able to use the terms outlined in the arrangement to secure recognition of their professional qualifications within EU Member States.

Under the agreement, regulatory authorities can submit joint recommendations for arrangements to be adopted under the FTA. Arrangements are implemented on a profession-by-profession basis and depend upon reciprocal cooperation from both sides. For the architects profession, the relevant authority is the Architects Registration Board.

Over the coming years, professionals will be able to take advantage of any profession-specific EU-wide arrangement agreed under the FTA framework.  As of 1 January 2021, UK-qualified architects who wish to supply services in the EU should seek recognition for their qualifications using the national rules in the EU Member States.

Implications

There are implications for all the professions named in this notice as well as businesses:

• For EEA and Swiss professionals (including UK nationals holding EEA and Swiss qualifications) who are already established and have received a recognition decision in the UK, this recognition decision will not be affected and will remain valid.
• EEA and Swiss professionals (including UK nationals holding EEA and Swiss qualifications) who have not started an application for a recognition decision in the UK before 1 January 2021 will be subject to future arrangements, as detailed above.
• European Economic Area and Swiss professionals (including UK nationals holding European Economic Area and Swiss qualifications) who have applied for a recognition decision and are awaiting a decision on 1 January 2021 will, as far as possible, be able to conclude their applications in line with the provisions of the MRPQ Directive.

Individuals with UK qualifications seeking recognition to offer services in the EEA or Switzerland should check the host state national policies. The EU Commission has stated that decisions on the recognition of UK qualifications in EU Member States before 1 January 2021 are not affected. EEA and Swiss individuals presently studying in the UK who expect to secure UK qualifications after 1 January 2021 should check the host state national policy on what recognition will apply.

Mutual Recognition in New Normal

The ICM are working towards a solution for the Construction Sector ─ in 2018 the UK Institute launched the National CDM Competence Registry™® ─ but, as yet, the landscape and detail of mutual recognition of professional qualification is undefined ─ the Brexit Agreement is in the final stages of the last part of the 'easy bit' ─ the next bit ─ how the UK government and it's EU neighbours will work and collaborate together to effectively construct the future‼ ...

ICM's Director of Education & Training David Jones was invited to speak at the International Conference Centre in Stuttgart back in 2012 on his vision to create a Pan-European Unified training Platform ...

David Jones was supported by colleagues at Greenwich University through the Enterprise Europe Network [EEN] to travel to Stuttgart where The Ministry of Finance and Economics of Baden-Württemberg invited representatives from European small and mediums-sized companies to attend a Forum on “Market Opportunities through Innovative Material Use” which took place on Wednesday, 14th November 2012 in Stuttgart, Germany. The forum presented innovative approaches for more efficient use of resources and the prospective market opportunities in international business.

Deputy Minister- President and Minister of Finance and Economics of Baden-Württemberg Dr. Nils Schmid and The Ministry of Finance and Economics of Baden-Württemberg hosted the event in the context of the Enterprise Europe Network Baden-Württemberg, in cooperation with Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum and Handwerk International Baden-Württemberg.   The innovative use of materials, resource efficiency and the associated market opportunities were the key topics of five forums product design, production technology, sustainable management, sustainable construction and innovations in lightweight construction.

David's expansive 2012 vision covered the EU construction industry market; the UK's then Energy UK plans for the then ‘Green Deal’; Competence in the UK in the form of ‘CDM’ and how the true culture of the EU Directive 92/57/EEC ‘Mobile Construction Sites’ had been so poorly enacted; looked at the EU Energy Roadmap and how a pan-European Unified Training portal would work and even had the vision of digital innovation to create a robust competence card ─ ‘EU-CLIC’™ ─

During the multi-lingual workshop in Stuttgart back in 2012 David explained

"these seven points set out the journey … which has to start with a market and which, for me, started as far back as 1995 in the UK where I was an early driver for change and compliance with our UK CDM Regulations when they were initially enacted in compliance with EU Directive 92/57/EEC ~ and then later when they changed in 2007 ~ but I quickly saw the connections to the wider EU community of the construction industry with its open borders and migrant construction workers moving freely around ... the recent announcement by the UK Chief Inspector of Construction at the HSE who are the enforcement agency that the next change in the UK CDM regulations due in 2014 will be a ‘copy over’ from the Directive at last!" ─ "I can see the strong synergy between safety and sustainability … and hope you will also see that too … safety on construction operations is driven by statute across Europe by directive 92/57/EEC but energy is only advisory … but, link them together through a competence structure of learning to embed essential knowledge ~ I believe we find a strong driver for a sustainable future too!"

David Jones' 2012 vision to bring Europe's whole construction industry of appoximately 16.4 million workers around a common framework developed from his award-winning 2007 online training platform he led while working at senior management officer level in several local authorities in London was well received by the EC ... David was an early chartered professional adopter driver of CDM - the UK's enactment of the EU Mobile Construction Sites Directive 92/57/EEC - and has since held appointed statutory duties in all disciplines - including Planning Supervisor; CDM-Coordinator; Principal Designer; and CDM Client officer

link them together through a competence structure of learning to embed essential knowledge ~ we find a strong driver for a sustainable future too!

David Jones 2012

20/20 Vision ─ 2021 Future ─ New Normal ...

Although 2020 will go down in history as the year the whole World changed when Covid-19 roared across the globe spreading a new and deadly coronavirus pandemic which has killed so many people and affected the lives of communities all around the World ─ no area remains unaffected, even the far inaccessible polar regions! ─ in 2021 the World will start the reset into New Normal ...

... for David Jones his long-term vision has remained focused ─ after research into how the diverse parts of the construction sector were using the cliche term 'competent' David realised there was really no clear unifying definition any of the various professional membership bodies or trade associations were applying to any common metrics ... so it currently is impossible to benchmark across the sector although, perhaps, the underlying  functionality remains largely the same! ─ creating a nightmare for those who need to appoint competent professionals to undertake safety related roles and statutory duties upon which many ordinary people have to place their trust they and their families will be safe ...

March 2020 was the most recent opportunity for David to speak about and share his vision for competence at the well attended conference event in Coventry meeting of the Direct Works Forum [now renamed Direct Works] to an audience representing the professionals who own, build, repair, maintain, and manage more than 2-Million social homes across the UK ...

... through the covid-19 lockdowns the ICM Competence Working Group has been able to continue its groundbreaking work online - all thanks to the brilliant technology of Zoom and Teams! - in 2019 David had started to assist the CITB to develop the Digital Competecies Framework that originated in the CITB's whitepaper 'Unlocking Construction's Digital Future: A skills plan for industry' [published: Oct 2018] ...

... essentially, the CITB Digital Competencies Framework is a three-dimensional matrix with capability to cover every conceivable functional role in the industry and, David Jones is delighted that BSI Flex 8670 v1.0 Built Environment ─ Specification of the overarching British Standard for Competence of Individuals provides much BS detail within the Framework ...

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Available : 1 January 2021

Sovereign State registration of professional qualifications!

'Open Door' ─ Competence Registration available to all!

In February 2020 the ICM celebrated its unique historic 178-years of continuity since 1842 when our original London Association of Builders Foremen and Clerks of Works came together at offices in Conduit Street off Regent Street West with its main objective of "registering, combining and educating its membership ...

In December 2020 both nothing has changed and everything has changed! ─ ICM remains true to its original objective roots as a true member-led UK Registered Charity as it had existed for 131-years before the United Kingdom joined the European Communities on 1 January 1973 ─ it really matters not whether the UK is bound by EU Directives or governed by its own Sovereign Laws and Regulations when considering Competence and Safety ...

 From January 2021 the ICM continues to provide its Open Door to all competent property professionals in the construction and built environment sectors and for those who manage the safety of facilities ─ whether to become a Member and/or retain membership of another body and be appropriately admitted onto the National CDM Competence Registry™® is entirely a personal choice ─ the Door is Open!