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Select committee: International Agreements Committee

Letter from Lord Johnson to IAC Chair

Published 20 November 2023

International Agreements Committee UK-Swiss Professional Qualifications Agreement Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to 24th Report - Scrutiny of International Agreements: Agreement with Switzerland on the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications.

This is the government's response, published 20 November 2023.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government sets out how the Switzerland agreement will be implemented and states that it is consistent with the Professional Qualifications Act 2022, while "not convinced" that a separate call for input is the best means of consultation for future agreements.

  • On regulators' concerns, the government says it sought to balance continuity for businesses with minimising the burden on regulators, and that changes to existing arrangements have been kept "to a minimum".
  • On implementation, DBT "aims to have these regulations in force by 1 January 2025", using secondary legislation under the Professional Qualifications Act 2022. Regulator consultations will "likely" take place in the first half of 2024.
  • On monitoring, the agreement establishes a Joint Committee that will, among other things, monitor implementation by both countries and develop guidelines for sector-specific arrangements.
  • On use as a model, the government states the agreement "is consistent with both the principles and the requirements" of the 2022 Act, and that regulators remain responsible for deciding comparability and compensatory measures.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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