WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
S/WPDR/W/23 
10 March 2003 
 (03-1333) 
Working Party on Domestic Regulation Original:   English 
  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE UNITED STATES 
 
Professional Services 
Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) 
  
 The attached communication has been received from the delegation of the United States with 
the request that it be circulated to the Member s of the Working Party on Domestic Regulation. 
 
 
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 1. Widespread differences in the requirements for certification a nd/or licensure of accountants, 
engineers, architects, and other professionals exis t among countries.  These differences may serve as 
an impediment to trade in professional services, as they may require professional service providers to duplicate licensing steps - such as obtaining addition al education and experience - in order to gain 
recognition to practice in another country.  Mutual  recognition agreements (MRAs) can be used as a 
means to address or minimize these differences  and to help avoid potential duplication in 
credentialization requirements a nd/or licensure requirements. 
2. Under an MRA, parties agree to recognize the education, experience, and/or other 
professional qualifications earned in another country .  However, MRAs do not automatically confer 
licensure to foreign service providers.  The jurisd iction in which a professional wishes to practice may 
still require local apprenticeship or an examination to ensure understanding of local laws, taxes, and 
other special conditions.  Regulatory authorities in  each country continue to maintain regulatory 
authority over those recognized professionals  practising within the jurisdiction. 
3. In the United States, the licensed professions ar e typically regulated by the states.  Foreign-
qualified professionals who are licensed to practice in a U.S. jurisdiction must comply with all applicable laws and regulations of that jurisdic tion.  Although regulations may vary among individual 
states, there is a great deal of commonality b ased upon model rules which have been developed by 
national professional organizations in order to promote greater uniformity or harmonization.  
4. Several international trade agreements c ontain provisions for mutual recognition of 
professional services.  Article VII of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) permits bilateral and regional recognition agreements, although such agreemen ts represent a departure from 
the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle.  Unde r the GATS, recognition can also be conferred 
unilaterally or through a harmonization of rules.  However the parties to such an arrangement must 
give other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) an opportunity to reach a similar 
agreement, and no recognition agreement may be a pplied in a discriminatory or trade-restricting 
manner.  The WTO has adopted voluntary, non-bi nding guidelines for the negotiation of MRAs for 
the accounting profession, which could be useful for other professions  (See http://www.wto.org/ , 
press release of May 1997). S/WPDR/W/23 
Page 2  
 
 5. The North American Free Trade Agreement (N AFTA) also includes a framework of objective 
criteria for the licensing of professions - includ ing requirements for education, experience, 
examinations and ethics - and a framework for th e negotiation of mutual recognition agreements. 
Negotiations are to be conducted by representatives of the profession and the competent regulatory 
authorities together with their counterparts from th e other countries.  When a MRA is reached, the 
U.S. representatives can recommend, but not require,  that the state governments adopt and implement 
the agreement.  The same procedures are follo wed in agreements with non-NAFTA countries. 
6. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) encourages the development of mutual 
recognition arrangements, establishes the framework s under which such arrangements are negotiated, 
and reviews such arrangements to assure that they ar e consistent with international trade agreements.  
Representatives of the professions and the competen t authorities negotiate agreements regarding 
mutual recognition with their foreign counterparts.  Representatives of the profession may include members of a professional society or a group of professional organizations, while representatives of the competent authorities might include members of  state licensing boards, national associations of 
state boards, or other such organizations.  Stat e governments maintain authority over implementation 
of licensing provisions of such agreements. 
7. U.S. professionals have entered into several  MRAs in recent years.  These include an 
agreement with Canadian accountants in 1991; an agreement with Australian accountants in 1996;  an 
agreement with Canadian architects in 1994; and an agreement on engineering education (the so-
called "Washington Accord") with Canada, Austra lia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Ireland in 
1989.  The "Washington Accord" was expanded in  1995 and 1999 to include Hong Kong and South 
Africa, respectively Organizations that participated  in the negotiation of these agreements and other 
mutual recognition agreements include the following: 
 
National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) 645 Fifth Avenue, Suite 901 
New York, NY 10022 
Tel.: (212) 644-6469 Fax: (212) 644-5961 http://www.nasba.org/  
 
 
American Institute of Certifie d Public Accountants (AICPA) 
1455 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20004 
(202) 737-6600 
(202) 638-4512 
http://www.aicpa.org/  
 
 
National Council of Architectural  Registration Boards (NCARB) 
1801 K Street, NW, Suite 1100-K Washington, DC  20006-1310 Tel.: (202) 783-6500 
Fax: (202) 783-0290 
http://www.ncarb.org  
  S/WPDR/W/23 
 Page 3 
 
 
 American Institute of Architects (AIA) 
1735 New York Ave., NW Washington, DC 20006 
(202) 626-7300 
(202) 626-7426 
http://www.aiaonline.org/  
 
 U.S. Council for International Engineering Practice c/o National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) P.O. Box 1686 (280 Seneca Creek Road) Clemson, SC  29633-1686 
Tel:  (800) 250-3196 
(864) 654-6824 
Fax: (864) 654-6033 http://www.ncees.org/  or http://www.usciep.org/   
 
 
National Society for Professional Engineers (NSPE) 1420 King St. Alexandria, VA 22314-2794 
20. (703) 684-2800 
Fax.   (703) 519-3763 
http://www.nspe.org/  
 
 Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) 111 Market Place, Suite 1050 Baltimore MD  21202-4012 
Tel: (410) 347-7700 
Fax: (410) 625-2283 http://www.abet.org/  
 
 
Information on professions is also available from the following organization: 
 Council on Licensure, Enforcem ent and Regulation (CLEAR) 
403 Marquis Ave., Suite 100 Lexington, KY  40502 Tel: (859) 269-1289 
Fax: (859) 231-1943 
http://www.clearhq.org/  
 
 Information about the Washington Accord is available at: 
 
http://www.washingtonaccord.org/   
 
  
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