ABSTRACT
The title of architect in the UK is protected in law so that only those individuals who are properly registered can use the title. The Act of Parliament which establishes this legal protection of the title is the Architects Act 1997 and the body that ensures that the provisions of this Act are applied is the Architects Registration Board (ARB). At the European level the competencies of an architect are defined in the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive (PQD) (2005/36/EC). The EU PQD was approved in 2005 and was transposed by member states by October 2007. From this time any architect properly registered in an EU member state was entitled to be registered in any other member state through the process of mutual recognition. In law an EU member state cannot discriminate against an architect from another member state who wishes to join its register by requiring that person to meet additional country-specific criteria.
