Fate of Singapore architect firms in India hangs in balance

MoC to raise the issue with Singapore government as architectural firms not part of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement

Have you been attracted to advertising that the real estate project has been designed by an architectural firm in Singapore? Many developers have found that foreign architectural firms bring a high level of credibility to projects in the mind of Indian buyers. However, these operations in India do not form part of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) signed between India and Singapore, facilitating bilateral trade and are therefore deemed illegal. In the eye of the storm today is Ms RSP Architects and Engineers (Pte) Ltd.

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The Indian ambassador to Singapore has been instructed by the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) to raise the issue with the Singapore government to find an early resolution to this vexing problem. The issue came to the fore in 2005-2006 when the Council of Architecture and Architect Sudhir Vohra worked with the MoC to define architectural services to be listed as one of the services listed under the World Trade Organisation, so that reciprocal rules could be evolved. This was acknowledging that unlike earlier, services form a very important part of global trade and needs to be documented separately.

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CECA was signed with Singapore in 2005. However, since architectural services did not form part of the agreement, there was no provision for Architects from either country to work in the other. In 2012, further opening of architectural services firms in India by Singapore companies has been stalled. But the issue is with the firms that are already working in India.

So what is the issue here? For starters, they have been advertising in violation of the Architects Act 1972, which does not allow architectural professionals to advertise their services. Secondly, since the services are not covered under CECA, Indian architects are not allowed to work in Singapore.

Caught in this crossfire are developers who have been utilising services of architects such as RSP through their Indian subsidiaries. Explains Vohra, “When an architect designs on Indian soil, there has to be a legality that binds him or the firm so that he can be held responsible in case there is deficiency of service. However, when professionals from abroad design for Indian developers without trade agreements being in force, the extent of responsibility gets diluted.”

The issue is no storm in a teacup. The issues here are of liability, reciprocal trade norms and following local norms. The Indian government has acknowledged that the matter is being seriously taken up with Singapore counterparts. How long it takes to be resolved is the issue in consideration and till then the fate of operations of units such as RSP hangs in the balance.

Source:http://content.magicbricks.com/industry-news/fate-of-singapore-architect-firms-in-india-hangs-in-balance/75144.html