Engineering profession told to get competitive

ADVERTISING restrictions, lack of fee competition and methods of selecting members using age as a criteria must be halted to make the engineering profession more competitive, a State watchdog said yesterday.

A report by the Competition Authority of Ireland (CAI) found several rules and practices of Ireland’s two main professional engineering bodies, the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (ACEI) and the Institution of Engineers of Ireland (IEI) have the potential to restrict competition.

These relate to some aspects of the membership criteria for the ACEI, several rules governing the competitive conduct of members of both the IEI and the ACEI, as well as statements published by the ACEI regarding fees, competition between members and methods for selection.

In a set of draft regulations for the engineering profession, the CAI outlined a number of areas the sector could improve to boost competition. However, the report described these recommendations as relatively minor as it found a generally healthy amount of competition in the sector.

“Then general level of satisfaction with the engineering sector in Ireland, the lack of complaints concerning high prices and low quality, is further evidence of the advantages of a light regulatory approach,” chairperson of the Competition Authority John Fingleton said. “This report highlights strong competition among engineers and engineering firms but also indicates a number of areas for improvement. The key areas the Competition Authority is looking at include the barriers to entry into the profession, limitations on advertising by practitioners and the membership and rules of the professional bodies.”

The report is the first of a series by the Competition Authority as part of its investigation into a number of professions. A report on architects is due at the end of September followed by reports on medical practitioners, dentists, veterinarians, optometrists, solicitors and barristers every couple of months after that.

The report contains 10 draft recommendations for the improvement of competition among engineers and 13 questions for the ensuing public consultation process. A final report on each profession will be published after the consultation process and it will be up to the professional bodies to adopt the recommendations. However, a spokesperson for the Competition Authority pointed out that while the bodies don’t have to adopt the recommendations they can be taken to court if they are found to be in breach of the Competition Act. “We have done this in the past,” the spokesperson added.

The report was impressed with the light regulation used among engineers, saying it “provides evidence the approach of relatively light regulation concerning entry into the profession can be an appropriate method of facilitating competition without harming quality and risking the safety of buyers and the general public”.

The report found included: the absence of restrictions on anyone wishing to provide engineering services, including foreign-based firms

a range of institutions offering large numbers of courses for individuals wishing to study engineering

the existence of relatively transparent and objective procedures that allow the recognition of titles held by foreign-trained engineers.