Commentary on provisions of Act Section 4: Authorisation to enter into regulator recognition arrangements
This Section enables the "appropriate national authority" to make regulations to enable the regulators of regulated professions to enter into regulator recognition agreements. Regulator recognition agreements (RRAs) are a broad term for any type of agreement between regulators which facilitates the recognition of professional qualifications or experience. As RRAs are usually country- and regulator-specific, their form can vary, but they are typically agreed on a profession-by-profession basis by the relevant regulators or professional bodies across two or more jurisdictions. They enable professionals who qualified in one regulator’s jurisdiction to gain recognition of their professional qualification in another regulator’s jurisdiction.
	This ability is intended to complement regulators’ existing powers and cannot be used to change regulators’ abilities to recognise overseas qualifications or to determine who can practise in the UK. Regulators will only be able to implement recognition arrangements through their existing provisions to recognise and assess overseas qualifications and overseas applicants. It is expected this power would only need to be used once for each regulator, to provide them with the necessary authorisation to enter into recognition agreements with overseas regulators.
	Subsection (1) of the Section contains the power to make regulations. Currently, not all regulators have specific provisions in their legislation that would enable them to enter into recognition agreements with overseas regulators, so allowing this ability to be conferred on them provides clarity to the regulators. This would be done by amending any legislation that governs the regulator’s existing powers. Subsection (1) includes the wording "in connection with". This is intended to cover the ability to impose limitations and conditions on a regulator’s authorisation to enter into a regulator recognition agreement. In other words, the regulations made permitting the regulator to enter into these agreements can authorise them to only enter into these agreements in particular situations, authorise them to only enter into particular kinds of regulator recognition agreement, or include requirements that have to be met before a regulator recognition agreement is entered into.
	Subsection (2) provides a definition of a regulator recognition agreement. This subsection explains who can be party to a regulator recognition agreement made using an authorisation provided by this power, namely a regulator of a UK profession and an overseas regulator who regulates a profession that corresponds to the UK profession. This would not require the UK regulator and the overseas regulator to regulate professions that were exactly similar in every way. Professions may vary between countries in their exact requirements and the activities that are regulated, but as long as they are substantially similar this would not prevent regulators making a recognition agreement. It also explains that a regulator recognition agreement is an agreement where the content relates to the recognition of UK or overseas qualifications and experience.
	Subsection (3) provides supplementary explanation of some of the terms used in subsection (2). Specifically, it explains how overseas qualifications and experience should be understood in this context. Qualifications are considered to have been obtained in a country or territory if they have been awarded by a body based in that country or territory. Experience is understood to have been obtained in a particular overseas country or territory where it has "mainly" been obtained in that country or territory. This means that some of the relevant experience could have been obtained in a different country, but the experience is counted as from a particular country where it has, for the most part, been obtained in that country.
	Subsection (4) defines "corresponding profession" and "overseas regulator" as used in this Section. It explains that a corresponding profession is one where ordinarily the activity the professional undertakes is the same, or substantially the same, as the UK version. It also explains that overseas regulators are those that carry out activities related to regulating professions anywhere outside of the UK. This definition differs from the definition of a regulator in the UK since it does not specify that overseas regulators need to have a legal basis for the regulation of the profession in that country. This allows the definition of overseas regulator to capture professions regulated overseas on a voluntary basis or by professional associations.
Section 4 should be read in conjunction with Section 14 (protection of regulator autonomy). This Section limits the potential effect of regulations made under Section 4, ensuring that they cannot remove the ability of a regulator of a regulated profession to prevent individuals who are unfit to practice from doing so, or have a material adverse effect on any regulated profession in terms of the knowledge and skills of the individuals practising it. Section 4 cannot be used by an appropriate national authority to require a regulator to enter into a regulator recognition agreement.