Andrey Bokov, President of the Union of Architects of Russia:
The draft law "On Amendments to the Law on Architectural Activity of the Russian Federation" was initiated by the Union of Architects of Russia and the National Chamber of Architects with the aim of returning to life and updating the law "On Architectural Activity". For a long time, this document was the subject of discussion within the professional community and, finally, began the path along which all legislative acts of the Russian Federation are moving. A working group has been created in the Federation Council, consisting of representatives of public organizations and ministries. Until the fall of this year, she must collect all the comments, amendments and include them in the base material.
After the first meeting of the working group, comments appeared in the media, including the assertion that the basic document prepared by the Union and the Chamber is not supported by the entire professional community, as if the professional community does not have a single point of view. As President of the Union of Architects of Russia and President of the National Chamber of Architects, on behalf of two organizations representing professional interests, I would like to declare that this is not the case. We considered the provisions of the new draft law, discussed them, voted on the main points both at the meetings of the Board of the Union of Architects of Russia and at the meetings of the National Chamber. I can say with confidence that today the entire architectural community unambiguously shares the principles that are laid down in the foundation of this document.
These principles boil down to three main ones.
First: compulsory professional certification, as a generally accepted method of qualification confirmation in world practice, organized by the professional community itself. Today, attorneys, lawyers, notaries pass this kind of certification, and we will act based on the already established practice. It is also important that representatives of the above professions create their own associations with compulsory membership in order to ensure the level of professional qualifications and adherence to the code of professional ethics.
Second: the return to the practice of creative competitions, the removal of creative competitions from the 44-FZ of the Russian Federation. We are in solidarity with those cultural institutions that today insist on the need for a different procedure for choosing a performer, in which the price is not a decisive argument.
Third, the law introduces provisions on the chief architect of municipalities and regions. The chief architect, who is responsible for urban planning discipline, for the implementation of the general plan of the city, for the observance of the PZZ, cannot be a dependent, dependent, deprived of the necessary rights and powers, which affects the appearance of cities and causes anxiety for both the professional community and citizens.
We are not inventing anything new, we want to build that system of relationships within the professional community, the community with the authorities, business and the public, as is done in most countries of the world that have a longer experience in regulating professional activities. We strive to follow the example of the best practices of this kind and in accordance with those examples that are closer culturally and socially to what is characteristic of the Russian Federation.
At no meeting of professionals have these basic provisions been revised and criticized. This is what gives me reason to declare with full confidence that there is no intraprofessional conflict and cannot be. There is something else that we have to talk about and what we have to work on. The problem of qualification concerns not only the interests of the Union of Architects of Russia and the National Chamber, but also the existing institutions of self-regulation of legal entities, which are SRO and NOPRIZ. Their position differs from the position of the CAP and the NLA, and this is natural, because these organizations are fighting for their place in professional practice, and the emergence of a new institution for certification of individuals cannot but worry them. NOPRIZ represents the interests of legal entities, their administrators and owners. Neither me nor my colleagues have any prejudices towards them, but we must proceed from the reality that the interests of managers, entrepreneurs and the professional community do not always coincide - these are different groups, with different roles and different ideas about goals and values. … We are obliged to work and interact with them, and we see a completely harmonious system of such interaction: when we take into account the interests of legal entities, and legal entities take into account the interests of individuals.
The organization of Russian architects, as individuals, should be self-reliant, independent, as it was before the revolution and as it is organized around the world. We do not infringe on the interests of NOPRIZ, but we believe that normal professional practice is impossible today without certification of individuals. Moreover, the consequences that we associate with deprofessionalization, with the presence of a huge number of incompetent people on the market, cannot but worry us. All documents that are being prepared today are absolutely open, there are clearly formulated proposals, they can and should be taken into account.
The contradictions today are not within the community, they are different - in the principles of self-regulation of the old system and the new one, where the subjects of self-regulation are individuals, specialists with surname, name, patronymic, who in the future have their own insurance and are responsible for their work.
