Journal

Regulatory overhaul

On 10 November, we at IPReg were able to submit our proposals for a major overhaul of all of our regulatory arrangements to the Legal Services Board. We have worked very hard on our Regulatory Arrangements Review for two years now, issuing first a call for evidence, then a detailed consultation, holding a range of discussions with key stakeholders, analysing evidence gleaned from across the IP sector, and submitting a draft application for initial comment to the LSB. Now the final document is in, and we will await the LSB’s response over the next few months.

One of things I was most determined to do when I became Chair of IPReg was to set about simplifying and clarifying our rules and procedures. They weren’t well drawn up, there were too many overlaps and anomalies, and I was certain we could do better. I hope that this is precisely what we have now achieved with our submission. We have now been able to set out, in one place, all of the regulatory arrangements relevant to patent and trade mark attorneys. We begin by setting out a series of overarching principles: the need for ethical behaviour, and for attorneys always to act with integrity, for example. (I can’t help thinking that government could do with something like this, these days.) We set out a Code of Conduct. We emphasise the importance of consumer protection, in matters like cost transparency. We bring in greater clarity around admission and authorisation processes. We propose the modernisation of CPD requirements, to make them more meaningful and less of a box-ticking exercise. And we set out what I hope will be a set of clear operational rules.

We have been driven by a number of ambitions, in doing all of this. We have tried to write the rules in plain English. We have ensured substantial consultation with as many parts of the IP world, including consumers, as possible. We are seeking to encourage and support innovation. And we want to enhance equality, diversity and inclusivity in the profession. We will also want to test how all of these changes actually work, as we implement them. We’ll want to do a proper impact assessment as they bed in, and assess whether they’re working well or not. We won’t, of course, have managed to get everything right from the outset; and we need to be able to learn from experience as the new rules are implemented.

But I am confident that the process we have been through, and the discussions and consultations we have undertaken, will have resulted in something we can be proud of. The LSB still has to give their imprimatur, of course, and I am sure they will question some things, but I am hopeful that we are almost there. When we have secured LSB approval for a final version, we will then want to be in touch with every registered attorney to let them know the shape of the changes. I have always said that my goal is to make IPReg a regulator that attorneys are proud to be regulated by. The same will, I hope, be true of these new revised rules and procedures.

Lord Chris Smith, Chair of IPReg