Who decides who can call themself an architect?

RIAI

And should it be the architects' own body, the RIAI? The Competition Authority is concerned about a proposed new registration system for the profession. How the professions are regulated in the public interest has long been a contentious issue - not least among the professions, whether they be doctors, lawyers or architects. The public increasingly demands openness, transparency and accountability - and it has a notable champion in the Competition Authority (CA). In its final report on the architectural profession, published in March, the authority was more benign than it had been in its preliminary (2003) report. Indeed, the CA said it now had "only a small number of concerns" about the profession, and concluded that consumers "are largely benefiting from competition in architectural services". Unlike some other professions reviewed by the authority, as its report acknowledged, architects "are not restricted by layers of unjustified or disproportionate restrictions on competition". How could it have possibly found otherwise, when their own professional institute frequently organises competitions among its members?

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