Following the German government’s clear vote to retain the binding scale of fees for architects and engineers (HOAI), the organizations in the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE), which represent a total of over 500,000 architects in Europe, have now also called for the HOAI to be retained.
The European Commission has initiated infringement proceedings against the Federal Republic of Germany due to the binding minimum and maximum rates of the HOAI, as the Commission classifies this as a violation of the EU Services Directive. The argument is that it would hinder both the freedom of establishment and the possibility of freely agreeing prices. The German chambers and associations had previously been able to convince the Federal Government that the HOAI is of the utmost importance, particularly for quality and consumer protection.
Barbara Ettinger-Brinckmann, President of the Federal Chamber of Architects, expressed her satisfaction with the German government’s steadfast stance and the clear vote of her European colleagues: “The statement from colleagues beyond Germany’s borders is clear: the HOAI has never been an obstacle for them either. On the contrary, the European architects believe that binding and therefore transparent fee regulations are a guarantee for the best planning, as they place competition on performance clearly ahead of price competition. On the contrary, it must be questioned whether freelance services should have been regulated in the Services Directive at all, together with, for example, tradesmen’s services.” In its statement, ACE also points out a fact that has perhaps been overlooked to date: the abolition of fee regulations in no EU country has so far led to an increase in the cross-border exchange of planning services.
Ettinger-Brinckmann pointed out that Europe’s architects and urban planners would be happy to be able to apply a fee scale such as the HOAI in their countries, which focuses in particular on consumer protection and quality assurance.