Policy paper

Consultation report with the devolved governments on the implementation of the UK-Switzerland Recognition of Professional Qualifications Agreement

Published 12 November 2024

1. Introduction

This document is the report on the consultation with devolved governments on the regulations being made under the Professional Qualifications Act 2022 (PQ Act) to implement the Agreement between the Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) and the UK on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications (the Swiss RPQ Agreement). The report details the consultation process; any agreement, objection or views of the devolved governments; and an explanation of whether and how these views have been considered by UK government in making the regulations.

2. Background

The PQ Act introduced a new approach to the recognition of professional qualifications (RPQ) which supports international trade and gives regulators more autonomy in how they recognise the professional qualifications of individuals with overseas qualifications. The PQ Act was previously used to implement the RPQ provisions contained in in the UK’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (European Economic Area (EEA) European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states). The Recognition of Professional Qualifications and Implementation of International Recognition Agreements (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (the EEA EFTA Regulations) was implemented using section 3 powers in the PQ Act and came into force on 1 December 2023.

The PQ Act includes concurrent powers, meaning that they can be used either by the Secretary of State or the Lord Chancellor, or the relevant devolved government in areas of devolved competence.  In this case, the Secretary of State is again making regulations under section 3 of the PQ Act to implement the Swiss Agreement into UK domestic law. The Secretary of State is required, under section 17 of the PQ Act, to consult ministers from the devolved governments before making regulations under section 3 where the regulations make provision which could be made by the devolved governments themselves.

3. Changes in UK legislation for the recognition of professional qualifications

In June 2023, the UK and Switzerland signed the Swiss RPQ Agreement. Similar to the RPQ provisions in the UK’s FTA with the EEA EFTA States, the Swiss RPQ Agreement ensures that UK qualified professionals seeking to practice a regulated profession in Switzerland can access a smooth and transparent system to have their professional qualifications recognised, and vice versa. The Swiss RPQ Agreement applies to professions regulated in law in the UK or part of the UK (for example, in Scotland only). It places an obligation on the UK and Switzerland to put in place necessary measures and require their respective ‘relevant authorities’ to operate an RPQ system. 

The Swiss RPQ Agreement also contains an Annex which sets out additional provisions specific to certain legal professionals (advocates, barristers and solicitors). These provide that where a legal regulator requires such a lawyer to take an aptitude test or to complete an adaptation period, the regulator must give the lawyer the choice between the two. It then sets out detail on what an adaptation period is for Swiss lawyers (that is, generally 3 years practice of UK law under home title) and how it works (that is, the regulator must register the Swiss lawyer to commence the adaptation period). This provides certain Swiss/UK lawyers with a unique route to recognition of their professional qualifications as between the Swiss and UK jurisdictions.  

Existing arrangements for UK regulators to recognise Swiss qualifications are contained in the Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement (CRA)^{[footnote 1]}. These provisions came into force on 31 December 2020 and were designed to protect the rights of Swiss nationals living in the UK, and UK nationals living in Switzerland, after the end of the post-Brexit Transition Period. The CRA includes arrangements on RPQ for UK and Swiss nationals. While the CRA as a whole will remain in force beyond 31 December 2024, certain RPQ arrangements made under the CRA expire on 31 December 2024.  These will be replaced by the new Swiss RPQ Agreement – a standalone RPQ agreement was concluded separately from the process for the proposed Free Trade Agreement between the UK and Switzerland because of this 31 December 2024 expiry date. The UK and Switzerland have committed to implement the measures contained in the RPQ Agreement by 1 January 2025. As such, the UK Government is seeking to make implementing regulations which will come into effect on this date. 

4. Implementation approach

The UK government considers that legislation is required to implement the UK’s commitments under the Swiss RPQ Agreement. In the UK’s dualist legal system, the Swiss RPQ Agreement does not automatically form part of domestic law. In the absence of legislation requiring compliance, a professional would have no legal recourse if a UK regulator changed its system so that it no longer complied with the obligations in the RPQ Agreement.

Section 3 of the PQ Act provides a power to enable the UK government or devolved governments to make regulations to implement provisions on RPQ in international agreements. Therefore, the UK government is implementing the Swiss RPQ Agreement using a statutory instrument (SI) (‘the Regulations’) under Section 3 of the PQ Act. The Regulations will:

• place a duty on regulators to meet the requirements for the recognition of Swiss professional qualifications provided in the RPQ Agreement
• provide regulators with the legal basis to meet these requirements, where required

Given the similarities between the Swiss RPQ Agreement and the EEA EFTA provisions on RPQ, Switzerland will be added as a specified state to the EEA EFTA Regulations, which implemented the RPQ provisions of the EEA EFTA FTA. This means that where the obligations are identical between both sets of RPQ provisions, the ‘EEA EFTA Regulations’ as amended will apply to regulators for both EEA EFTA and Swiss qualified professionals.

The UK government is proceeding with implementing the Swiss RPQ Agreement for reserved professions. The Swiss RPQ Agreement is also being implemented on behalf of Scotland and Northern Ireland in a single UK SI, in respect of devolved professions. Wales will make a Welsh SI to implement the RPQ Agreement for Welsh regulated professions.

5. The Regulations

The Swiss RPQ Agreement provides for a comprehensive system for RPQ awarded in the jurisdictions of the other Party. The Regulations will require relevant authorities (regulators) to fulfil the requirements set out in the RPQ Agreement to assess and recognise professional qualifications obtained in Switzerland. The regulations will demonstrate the UK is compliant with its international obligations and enact its commitments on RPQ made to the Swiss Federation, and will ensure that UK regulators have the necessary legal powers to comply with the commitments

The regulations include bespoke provisions for certain legal professionals, that are contained in Annex A of the RPQ Agreement. These provisions mean that the regulators of UK lawyers, barristers and solicitors must provide Swiss lawyers with a choice between completing an adaptation period or undertaking an aptitude test.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has taken legislation through Parliament (the Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024 (AAPAO)) to bring the professions of Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) and Physician Associates (PAs) under the regulation of the General Medical Council (GMC). Regulation will begin in December 2024. Once this happens, these professions will be subject to the RPQ requirements of the EEA EFTA FTA and the Swiss Agreement. As well as placing a legal duty on the GMC to recognise comparable professional qualifications obtained in Switzerland, the regulations include amendments to the EEA EFTA regulations and the AAPAO, which will implement the EEA EFTA RPQ provisions in the EEA EFTA FTA for AAs and PAs. These particular amendments are proposed to come into force on 13 December 2024 to coincide with the coming into force date of the AAPAO. Therefore, the Regulations will contain two different coming into force dates:

• 13 December 2024 or later for the amendments relating to EEA EFTA provisions for AAs and PAs
• 1 January 2025 for the rest of the regulations

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) held a statutory regulator consultation before the consultation with the devolved governments. The department reflected relevant comments and feedback in the regulations. In particular, it identified that some regulators do not have the necessary powers to be able to operate the system outlined in the RPQ Agreement. The Regulations fix this by amending sector-specific legislation, where needed, to implement the terms of the Swiss RPQ Agreement.

6. The consultation process

The consultation with the devolved governments ran from 30 August 2024 to 27 September 2024.

As the Regulations implement the Swiss RPQ Agreement for England, Scotland and Northen Ireland, in respect of professions where regulation is devolved to each devolved government, the Scottish Government and the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland were formally consulted under section 17 of the PQ Act. During the course of the consultation, DBT officials engaged extensively with Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Civil Service officials on the Regulations.

The Welsh Government will implement the RPQ Agreement for professions that are regulated in Wales through a set of Welsh regulations and therefore were not required to be consulted formally. The consultation document and the draft regulations were, however, shared with the Welsh Government for sight and comment. DBT will continue to work closely with the Welsh Government on respective timelines for secondary legislation and alignment between the regulations. 

The UK government received responses to the consultation from the Scottish Government and the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland. UK government officials carefully considered the responses. The outcome of these considerations is detailed in the UK government response section of this report.

7. Responses from devolved governments

The response from each devolved government is outlined under the relevant nation name. For the consultation questions please refer to Annex A of this report.

7.1 Northern Ireland

In response to questions (a) and (c), the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland had no legal comments about the Regulations and confirmed that the legislation is sufficient to meet the obligations of the Swiss RPQ Agreement. No concerns have been identified about the provisions in the Regulations being unworkable in practice and no amendments have been identified as being required in relation to the implementation of Annex A of the RPQ Agreement.

The Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland recognised that the single legislative implementation route follows existing precedent, as a UK-wide approach was taken to implement the recognition of professional qualifications arrangements set out in the EEA EFTA FTA.

The Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland also confirmed that the Northern Ireland Assembly does not require its ministers to seek consent when Westminster is legislating in areas of devolved competence, where it is secondary legislation being made.

The Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland did not provide any amendments to devolved legislation that they require to be included in the Regulations.

7.2 Scotland

The Scottish Government appreciated that the expiry of the CRA and the shared obligation to implement the RPQ Agreement creates exceptional and urgent timescales, so a pragmatic approach to the implementation of the RPQ Agreement is appropriate to ensure that the regulations work in practice.

The Scottish Government noted their opposition to the conferral of powers on UK ministers in devolved areas with no requirement to seek consent from the Scottish ministers to exercise them in devolved areas. They noted their ongoing opposition to these powers within the PQ Act, and that it was passed in breach of the Sewel Convention. The Scottish Government raised that compliance with such agreements fall within the competence of the Scottish Government, and there should be no question of the Scottish Government’s ability to implement such agreements.

It was also raised that despite assurances from the previous UK government, these powers had been used to implement The Recognition of Professional Qualifications and Implementation of International Recognition Agreements (Amendment) Regulations 2023. They asked UK government to provide assurances that consent would be sought in the future for implementing such agreements.

In response to questions (a) and (c), the Scottish Government confirmed that the legislation is sufficient to meet the obligations of the Swiss RPQ Agreement and the Regulations compel regulators to meet the obligations set out in that Agreement. No concerns have been identified about the provisions in the Regulations being unworkable in practice.

The Scottish Government noted in their initial response that they are preparing an amendment to the Food Safety (Sampling and Qualifications) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 (SSI 2013/84) which will be laid in Parliament on 8 November 2024, to meet the 1 January 2025 coming into force date. The Scottish Government also confirmed that amendments to the Regulations were required. These amendments relate to Annex A of the RPQ Agreement and include similar appeal rights for decisions made on registration by the Law Society of Scotland as those made by the Law Society in England and Wales.

8. UK government response

The UK government is grateful to the Scottish Government and the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland for their responses to the consultations. The UK government has considered the responses accordingly. 

8.1 Northern Ireland

The UK government welcomes the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland’s decision to agree to a legislative implementation approach. We thank the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland and officials across Northern Ireland Civil Service for working collaboratively to ensure the Regulations will work in practice in Northern Ireland, and that no amendments to the Regulations or devolved legislation are required.

8.2 Scotland

The UK government welcomes the relevant amendments that have been provided by Scottish Government officials, which have been incorporated into the Regulations. The UK government notes that the Scottish Government will be making their own amendments via a technical Scottish SI, to the Food Safety (Sampling and Qualifications) (Scotland) Regulations 2013.

The UK government notes the points made by the Scottish Government around the use of concurrent powers in the PQ Act.

The UK government works collaboratively with devolved governments and respects the need to exercise concurrent powers with care and proper regard to our governments’ respective competence.

9. Conclusion

In line with its duties under section 17, the UK government has considered the views expressed by the Scottish Government and Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland.

The UK government is grateful to the devolved governments and their officials for their continued collaboration and inter-governmental working on these regulations in a timely manner.

10. Annex A

10.1 Consultation questions 

(a) The UK government will use a single SI to implement for reserved, Scottish and Northern Ireland professions. We are therefore consulting on the following questions:

• Is the legislation in your jurisdiction sufficient to meet the obligations in the Agreement?  

• Are there any amendments beyond those already contained in the draft regulations that will need to be made to your devolved legislation?  

• Where the draft regulations apply in areas of devolved competence, will they compel regulators of professions regulated by law to meet all the obligations set out in the Agreement?  

• If not, what changes need to be made to the draft regulations to ensure that your regulators comply with the provisions made in the Agreement? 

(b) Any amendments needed to sector-specific legislation to implement the obligations contained in the Agreement are intended to be included in the draft regulations.

• Are any of the provisions in the draft regulations unworkable in practice? If so, please explain why and provide specific comments about how they could be changed. 

(c) Should you wish to provide feedback, although this does not form part of the formal consultation, as mentioned earlier in the consultation document:

• Are there any amendments, or additional provision required, in relation to your devolved legislation to implement the legal services annex (Annex A) of the Agreement? 

1. The CRA also extended specific entitlements for UK and Swiss lawyers. It was implemented in England and Wales and Northern Ireland by the Services of Lawyers and Lawyer’s Practice (Revocation etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. The CRA contains provisions to facilitate the practise and recognition of certain legal professionals, including the right to register and permanently practice under their home professional title and the right to apply for requalification after three years of practice. The right to apply for requalification after three years practice is the only part of the CRA taken forward under the RPQ Agreement. ↩