Architects Registration Board UK - Charging annual fee for use of protected job title
<p>Background: The Architects Registration Board (ARB) in the UK has the following on its website</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Architects Register is the definitive record of all UK architects. If someone is not on the Register, they are not an architect – it’s as simple as that. The title “architect” is protected by law in the UK. It can only be used by people who have the appropriate education, training and experience needed to join the Architects Register.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Anyone with the appropriate education and work experience can apply and join the register and only then can they legally call themselves an architect. If one is not registered but calls oneself an architect e.g. on LinkedIn, the ARB can and does prosecute. It has even gone to absurd levels to enforce this rule e.g. <a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2013/08/01/arb-threatens-dezeen-for-calling-john-pawson-an-architec/" rel="noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
<p>I understand the need for protected job titles and the need to have a body that safeguards such protections but now comes the part I find a little absurd: The ARB charges every architect in the UK an annual fee to stay on their register. The fee is £119 this year. Failure to pay this fee results in a fairly swift removal from the register and one also loses the legal right to call themselves an architect. Even if you're unemployed, the fee is mandatory to retain the right to use the word &quot;architect&quot; in one's CV, LinkedIn, etc.</p>
<p>Is there any other country/profession where use of the protected job title requires payment of an annual fee? Does the ARB's policy of charging an annual retention fee seem reasonable and if not, is there a UK government agency that one can make a formal complaint to about this?</p>
<p><strong>EDIT:</strong></p>
<p>Moo's comment made me realize that the same holds for doctors too. As someone who works in neither field, the fact that some people must pay an annual fee to a government body for their entire lifetime just to call themselves a doctor or an architect feels very strange.</p>
<p>It surprises me that this money doesn't come out of taxpayer funds. After all, it is for the protection of the general public that some job titles are regulated so it seems unfair that the doctors/architects/etc. are the ones paying for this regulatory service.</p>

<h2>This is commonplace in many jurisdictions across many profession, trades and businesses</h2>
<p>The authorisation of the register and the amount of any fee (which can be zero) is spelled out in the legislation. As is who is authorised to collect it and maintain the register: sometimes it’s a government authority, sometimes it’s a professional association. Sometimes the title is protected and sometimes it isn’t.</p>
<p>Off the cuff, the following is an incomplete list for <a href="/questions/tagged/australia" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;australia&#39;" rel="tag">australia</a>. Some of these are Federally regulated and some are State based. Some of the State based ones are nationally recognised, meaning if you register in one state you are registered in all, and some aren’t. Some states require registration that other states don’t.</p>
<ul>
<li>Architect</li>
<li>Engineer</li>
<li>Doctor</li>
<li>Nurse</li>
<li>Physiotherapist</li>
<li>Nutritionist</li>
<li>Veterinarian</li>
<li>Solicitor</li>
<li>Barrister</li>
<li>Anyone working with children</li>
<li>Plumber</li>
<li>Drainer</li>
<li>Gasfitter</li>
<li>Roofer</li>
<li>Electrician</li>
<li>Waterproofer</li>
<li>Builder</li>
<li>Real Estate Agent</li>
<li>Used Car Dealer</li>
<li>Bus driver</li>
<li>Truck driver</li>
<li>Taxi/ride-share driver</li>
<li>Train driver</li>
<li>Ship’s master</li>
<li>Second-hand goods dealer</li>
<li>Security guard</li>
<li>Bartender</li>
<li>Forklift operator</li>
<li>Crane operator</li>
<li>Builder’s hoist operator</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>the ARB's policy of charging an annual retention fee</strong></p>
<p>It's not ARB policy, it's parliament's.  See s.8(1) of the Architects Act 1997:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Board may require a registered person to pay a retention fee of a
prescribed amount if he wishes his name to be retained in Part 1 of
the Register in any calendar year after that in which it was entered.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/22/section/8?timeline=false" rel="noreferrer">https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/22/section/8?timeline=false</a></p>

<p>There has been a long running debate in the UK about making the term Engineer a protected title similar to that described for Architects and Doctors.  This has always come up against the problem that most people think that a Heating Engineer is actually the gas repair man or an Automotive Engineer is a car mechanic.  For both of these types of Engineers, and many others, there are registers maintained by the Engineering Council for which we have to pay an annual fee.</p>

united-kingdom government