Report of the Committee on the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications to the Joint Committee

October 13, 2021 (by videoconference)

Fifth Round of Negotiations on an Agreement between the EU and Canada on the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications of Architects

The fifth round of negotiations took place via videoconference on 13 October 2021. The Parties were represented by the European Commission on behalf of the European Union (EU), and Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Architectural Licensing Authority (CALA) on behalf of Canada. Representatives of Canada’s Provincial and Territorial Governments attended as observers.

The Parties continued to make progress and resolved outstanding issues in the text, in particular, Canada agreed to withdraw the proposal for an Appendix containing the signatures of Provincial and Territorial regulatory bodies.

The following elements of the text of the MRA were discussed in further detail during the round:

• The EU provided further information regarding non-conforming measures reserved by certain Member States under CETA where they could be relevant for recognition under the MRA, also proposing language to reflect this point in the MRA text.
• The Canadian online course fees and proposal to allow for the non-discriminatory imposition of additional pre-registration courses, other than the general knowledge course.
• The Parties’ respective proposals with regard to adding criminal record to the list of documents that may be required by competent authorities of the host jurisdiction.
• The issue of the rejection of an application, available procedures, and relationship of Article 3.6 of Chapter 12 of CETA (Domestic Regulation).

The Parties committed to advance their respective internal consultations until they meet again for a sixth round of negotiations scheduled on 15 November 2021.