Self-Regulation or State Regulation?
Abstract – This paper is about the analysis of the effectiveness of self-regulation and state regulation of the engineering profession in Canada and in the United States. Canada uses self-regulation while the United States uses state regulation. In analyzing the nature, advantages and disadvantages of both of the models of professional regulation, one could recognize that they are equally effective in regulating the engineering profession.
Keywords – engineering, professionals, self-regulation, state regulation, and licensure.
Introduction
Professionals are considered as a vital part of the society. Professions such as engineering could be helpful in the society through helping in the building establishments, operating industrial processes and developing new technologies which could benefit the communities. In general, engineers help the society through economic, social and community development. However, professionals such as engineers could also harm the society when it is not regulated properly [1]. It could harm the society through malpractice, fraud, low-quality standards and lack of control. Before the time where professions are not regulated, the communities suffer from incompetent services provided by the professionals as well as due to the low-quality standards of services [2]. In other cases, people who are not qualified to practice the profession also get away with their activities due to the lack of regulatory policies to avoid these problems. In this case, regulation of professions is required to address these issues.
Regulation of professions such as the engineering profession could be useful in defining the required behavior, attitude and professionalism among the professionals. It would set the rules and guidelines for practicing the engineering profession and to set standards on the quality of services that should be provided throughout the communities. Lastly, regulation of the engineering profession is required in order to set out penalties and offenses for those people who do not follow the standards and let the consumers suffer from their incompetent services [3]. In general, regulation of engineering profession results to the protection of public welfare. It means the public is protected from incompetent services from engineering professionals and inappropriate professional behavior. It also means the public’s interests is prioritized and considered by professionals.
However, there are also issues associated to the regulation of the engineering profession. Regulation of any type of profession is expensive and various interests could arise which could lead to numerous conflicts. In this case, proper regulatory model or strategy is required in order to avoid these problems.
There are two major models of regulation of professions which are commonly used around the world. These models include self-regulation which is implemented in Canada and the state regulation which is implemented in the United States [2]. In self-regulation, professionals are the ones who assess the standards, accreditation rules and professional behaviors which are used in regulating the profession within their territory [1]. In state regulation, the state government implements regulatory policies associated to a certain profession with the help of their legislative power in order to control the professionals and their activities. Both of these models have their own advantages and disadvantages. In analyzing the two models, this paper opts to argue that both of the professional regulatory models are equally effective and should be implemented in both ways. In this case, co-regulation of engineering profession is a better option.
Self-Regulation: Case of Canada
In self-regulation, there is no third party or external organization which monitors or regulates the professional’s adherence to high-quality standards. In this case, the professionals are the ones who set the rules and guidelines for the regulation of the professionals. One of the main advantages of this type of model of professional regulation is the high knowledge and expertise of the members of the regulatory organization [2]. Since the professionals are the ones who will create the rules and guidelines, it would be easy for them to regulate the professionals since they have enough knowledge and expertise in the field.
Another main advantage of self-regulation is the assurance that no external interests or parties are involved in establishing and enforcing the regulations or standards. In this set-up, only the professionals are allowed to interfere with the regulatory organization’s activity and it could not be easily influenced by external parties such as industries and businesses. In addition, self-regulation is considered more flexible and adaptable to changes especially due to technological changes. It also allows more participation for the professionals themselves. Lastly, it is considered a cheaper option than state regulation since the government does not provide funds for the activities of the regulatory organization.
One of the well-known nations using the model of self-regulation of the engineering profession is Canada. In 1922, the government of Canada issued the Professional Engineering Act which states that only licensed engineer could use the engineering title [3]. It also provides the policy which allows the creation of the self-regulatory organization in order to monitor and regulate the engineering profession. In Canada, self-regulatory organizations are established in each province. For example, the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) is the regulatory organization in the province of Ontario [3]. The self-regulation model for regulating the engineering profession in Canada has been a success for many years. It has been a successful model due to the high expertise of the professionals to regulate their own and the efficiency of the activities which promotes professionalism and corporate social responsibility [2].
In state regulation or government regulation, the local government provides or implements policies in which the professional standards, rules, regulations and guidelines are included or embedded in the laws. In this model, the engineering license is only valid within the state. The state government controls the regulatory agency for the engineering profession. In this type of model, some of the advantages which could not be provided by the self-regulation model could be achieved [3]. One of the main advantages of self-regulation is the effectiveness of enforcements of policies since it could involve court hearings. In this model, non-compliance to the standards set by the government regulatory agency is more severe such as imprisonment or removing the license.
Another advantage of state regulation is the balancing of the playing field or removing the “free riders” among the professionals. Since the state government provides the rules, all professionals are expected to follow unlike in self-regulation, only interested parties or individuals participate in the regulatory organization’s activities [1]. In this model, domination of industries and businesses are also avoided since the standards set by the regulatory agencies are protected by the state government’s law. In addition, state regulation could also avoid conflict of interests since these policies would not be implemented if it could harm the interests of other sectors. Lastly, state regulation could promote transparency and accountability among the regulatory agencies as well as for the professionals themselves.
One of the nations which use state regulation as the model for regulating the engineering profession is the United States. In the United States, regulation and licensing of engineers are controlled and funded by the states. This method is used in order to avoid practicing of engineering profession to other states and to promote uniformity in standards. The differences in the standards or rules in different states are considered minimal. In this model used by the United States, the graduate engineers are separated from the professional engineers through the licensing method.
A Better Choice
Self-regulation is considered by most people as a better option since it could result to best decisions due to the expertise and knowledge of the professionals in regulating their own profession. On the other hand, state regulation is promoted by other experts due to the efficiency in enforcing the policies and standards as well as avoiding the dominance of industries and businesses. In analyzing the case of the United States and Canada, it could be argued that both models of regulation are equally effective in regulating the engineering profession. In this case, co-regulation of the professionals could be a better option in regulating engineers [2].
In co-regulation model, the professionals are allowed to assess or to take part in the development of standards and regulatory policies which could affect their profession while public authority or government is involved in enforcing the policies that promote these standards. It could be considered as a combination of self-regulation and state regulation. In this model, the disadvantages of both models are avoided or compensated by each other. Co-regulation allows the expertise and knowledge of engineering professionals to set their own standards to promote professionalism and corporate social responsibility [1]. It also allows the participation of the government in order to effectively enforce the policies associated to the standards and to effectively punish people who behave in misconduct.
In general, the advantages of self-regulation are important to society since it could promote innovation and development within the society. On the other hand, state regulation is also important to ensure that these standards are properly enforced and to protect the professionals from the dominance of businesses and industries. In choosing the best option, one could argue that both of the models are equally effective. However, ethical and logical decisions must be always considered in order to properly regulate the engineering profession regardless of the model of regulation used.
Conclusion
Regulation of professions such as the engineering profession could be useful in defining the required behavior, attitude and professionalism among the professionals. There are two major models of regulation of professions which are commonly used around the world. These models include self-regulation which is implemented in Canada and the state regulation which is implemented in the United States. In self-regulation, there is no third party or external organization which monitors or regulates the professional’s adherence to high-quality standards. In this case, the professionals are the ones who set the rules and guidelines for the regulation of the professionals. In state regulation or government regulation, the local government provides or implements policies in which the professional standards, rules, regulations and guidelines are included or embedded in the laws. In this model, the engineering license is only valid within the state. In analyzing the nature of both models, it could be argued that these models are equally effective in regulating the engineering profession.
References
[1] I. Bartle and P. Vass. “self-regulation and the regulatory state a survey of policy and practice”. University of Bath School of Management, 2013.
[2] E. H. Gorman. “Professional Self-regulation in North America: The Cases of Law and Accounting”. Sociology Compas, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 491-508, 2014.
[3] P. Grajzl, and P. Murrel. “Allocating lawmaking powers: Self-regulation vs government regulation”. Journal of Comparative Economics, vol. 35, pp. 520-545, 2007.
