Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 30 - Professions and Occupations › Part 203 - Interior Designer Advisory Committee to the Mississippi State Board of Architecture › Chapter 5 - Professional Code of Conduct › Rule 30-203-5.1 - Competence

Current through June 25, 2024
A. A Certified Interior Designer shall act
				with reasonable care and competence, and shall apply the technical knowledge
				and skill which is ordinarily applied by Certified Interior Designers of good
				standing providing certified interior design services in the same locality.
Commentary - Although many of the existing rules of
				  conduct fail to mention standards of competence, it is clear that the public
				  expects that incompetence will be disciplined and, where appropriate, will
				  result in revocation of the certification. Rule 5.1(a) sets forth the common
				  law standard which has existed in this country for a hundred years or more in
				  judging the performance of design professionals. While some courts have stated
				  that a design professional, like the manufacturer of goods, impliedly warrants
				  that the design professional's design is fit for its intended use, this rule
				  specifically rejects the minority standard in favor of the standard applied in
				  the vast majority of jurisdictions that the design professional need be careful
				  but not always right. In an age of national television, national universities,
				  a national certification exam, and the like, the reference to the skill and
				  knowledge applied in the same locality may be less significant than it was in
				  the past when there was a wide disparity across the face of the United States
				  in the degree of skill and knowledge which a design professional was expected
				  to bring. Nonetheless, the courts have still recognized this portion of the
				  standard, and it is true that what may be expected of a design professional in
				  a complex urban setting may vary from what is expected in a simpler, rural
				  situation.
B. In
				designing a project, a Certified Interior Designer shall take into account all
				applicable federal, state and municipal building laws and regulations. While a
				Certified Interior Designer may rely on the advice of other professionals
				(e.g., attorneys, architects, engineers, and other qualified persons) as to the
				intent and meaning of such regulations, once having obtained such advice, a
				Certified Interior Designer shall not knowingly design a project in violation
				of such laws and regulations.
Commentary - It should be noted that the rule is
				  limited to applicable state and municipal building laws and regulations. Every
				  major project being built in the United States is subject to a multitude of
				  laws, in addition to the applicable building laws and regulations. As to these
				  other laws, it may be negligent of the Certified Interior Designer to have
				  failed to take them into account, but the rule does not make the Certified
				  Interior Designer specifically responsible for such other laws. Even the
				  building laws and regulations are of sufficient complexity that the Certified
				  Interior Designer may be required to seek the interpretation of other
				  professionals. The rule permits the Certified Interior Designer to rely on the
				  advice of other such professionals.
C. A Certified Interior Designer shall
				undertake to perform certified interior design services only when the Certified
				Interior Designer, together with those whom the Certified Interior Designer may
				engage as consultants, are qualified by education, training, and experience in
				the specific technical areas involved and is capable of discharging the
				fiduciary duties involved with the services provided.
Commentary - While a Certified Interior Designer is
				  certified to undertake any project which falls within certified interior
				  design, the Certified Interior Designer must understand and be limited by the
				  limitations on the Certified Interior Designer's own capacity and knowledge.
				  Where a Certified Interior Designer lacks experience, the rule supposes that
				  the Certified Interior Designer will retain consultants who can appropriately
				  supplement the Certified Interior Designer's own capacity. If a Certified
				  Interior Designer undertakes to do a project where the Certified Interior
				  Designer lacks knowledge and where the Certified Interior Designer does not
				  seek supplementing consultants, the Certified Interior Designer has violated
				  the rule.
D. No person shall be permitted to use the title Certified
				  Interior Designer if, in the Board's judgment, such person's professional
				  competence is substantially impaired by physical or mental disabilities.
Commentary - Here the Board is given the opportunity
				  to revoke or suspend certification when the Board has suitable evidence that
				  the certificate holder's professional competence is impaired by physical or
				  mental disabilities. Thus, the Board need not wait until a building fails in
				  order to revoke the certification of a Certified Interior Designer whose
				  addiction to alcohol, for example, makes it impossible for the Certified
				  Interior Designer to perform the Certified Interior Designer's professional
				  services with necessary care.
Miss. Code Ann.§
										73-73-25(2)(h)