The Provision of Services Regulations 2009 came into force on 28 December 2009, implementing the European Framework Services Directive in the UK.  The regulations, which may appear to be more red tape for professional advisers, apply to providers of certain business services including lawyers, accountants, actuaries, management consultants, estate agents and construction services such as architects.  The practical effect is the creation of an obligation on all relevant service providers operating in the UK to provide certain information to clients. 

The aim of the regulations is to ensure that clients have access to a minimum amount of information and to a complaints procedure.

In general terms the information a firm must make available includes:

• its name;
• its legal status;
• geographic address where it can be contacted;
• its trade or public registration details;
• any relevant authorisation scheme in the UK and details of the regulating authority;
• VAT identification number;
• details of any regulating body if it is a regulated profession;
• any general terms and conditions;
• the existence of any contractual terms concerning jurisdiction or laws;
• the existence of any after-sales guarantee not imposed by law;
• details of any pre-determined price for its services;
• details of the main features of its services;
• if required to hold professional liability insurance, details of the insurer and the territorial coverage of the insurance; and
• if subject to a code of conduct giving access to a non-judicial dispute resolution procedure, details of how to access that procedure; and
• contact details for clients to request information or make a complaint.  

In the case of solicitors, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has already identified that the regulations effectively impose new client care obligations on firms by requiring them to provide information on their services over and above what is set out in the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct.  For both solicitors and many other professionals, the obligations imposed by the regulations duplicate to a large degree existing professional obligations or existing custom and practice. 

However, the regulations include new requirements to make information about professional indemnity insurance available to clients and to inform clients of available “non-judicial means of dispute settlement”, for example, in the case of solicitors, this means providing information on the role of the Legal Complaints Service or the Office for Legal Complaints.  In relation to professional indemnity insurance, you should provide information about the firm’s cover and, in particular, the contact details of the insurer and the territorial coverage.  This applies in spite of the fact that only the firm can lodge a claim with the insurer.  In practice, this information can be provided as part of a firm’s engagement letter or terms of business or by making it available on a website.

For more information on these issues please contact

Fergus Payne

or your usual Lewis Silkin contact