Professional Planning and Design Associations

Professional planning and design associations appeared in Russia in 2010. Until 2010, a special planning and design license was required for building planning and design. Licenses generated problems – anyone could buy one within a few days. Subsequent events showed that the source of the problems was not in the licenses, but in the cultural level, which cannot be changed quickly by any orders or laws. In 2010, licenses for engineering design and construction activities were cancelled. Licensing of engineering design and construction organizations was replaced by self-regulation, and existing building planning and construction licenses lost their force. From that moment on, instead of licenses planners-designers started to accompany their projects with Authorizations/permits to carry out planning and design works. However, some special types of design works still require licenses – of the EMERCOM of Russia and the Federal Secret Service. In accordance with Federal Law No. 148, in order to carry out architectural and construction design activities legally, the organization had to join an SRO – a self-regulatory organization of designers (planners, surveyors, constructors) and obtain a certificate of authorization to carry out building planning and design works. The SRO members pay membership fees. These fees form a special fund which may be used to cover the consequences of low-quality works delivered by a union member. The main law of the Russian Federation governing urban development, the Town-Planning Code, Chapter 6.1, gives a detailed description of self-regulation rules in the field of engineering survey, architectural planning and design, construction, renovation, and general overhaul of capital construction projects. Since 2010, the APBP Architectural Bureau has been a member of the Multiregional Union of Design Engineers, a self-regulatory organization in the field of planning and design. As for the tremendous work done by the state in the field of planning and design regulation, you can search in your browser “SRO permit”, “ENERCOM license”, “FSB license”, and you will see the following offers – “Get license in a day!”, “License in 24 hours!”. So, the great work on regulation is going on – since 2017 design engineers have stopped supplying their projects with Permits to carry out planning and design works, although SROs continue to work and perform the same functions. Regulation is now conducted by NOPRIZ – National association of members performing engineering surveys and design documentation (formed by merging of the National association of members performing engineering surveys, NOIZ, and the National association of members performing preparation of design documentation, NOP). NOPRIZ is keeping and electronic register of those who have the right to prepare design documentation and conduct building surveys. On the NOPRIZ website in section “Registers” there are the following pages: “Unified Register of SRO members” and “All SRO members Register”. You can enter the INN (taxpayer ID No) of the planning and design organization – a big blue button “INN Search” – and make sure that the planning and design organization has the right to carry out planning and design works. In addition, the customer may request that the design engineering company provide a written extract from the register, certified by the seal of the Self-Regulatory Organization where this company has membership.