One of the biggest frustrations when working with any of the regulatory bodies are all of the ‘grey areas’. Seek guidance from them and the usual response is that the “law or regulation states this, we understand that your circumstance doesn’t fit into this specifically but we can’t possibly give you any further advice. You will have to make your own decision and when we come to inspect you if we then think you have got it wrong then we’ll come down on you like a tonne of bricks”.
Now I understand that there are virtually an infinite number of variables in any profession’s practices, but time and again we see examples where these grey areas are in areas of practice that are quite common and have been around for a long time. I also understand that working out a solution to these grey areas can be time consuming and often involves other regulators with all the potential issues that that can entail but surely it is everyone’s interest to look at some of these. ‘I keep being asked this question’ is a common response when making an enquiry, this says to me that there can be a considerable cost in not addressing these issues for the regulators as well as for the practitioners.
I am convinced that regulators would get engagement from their members and from other regulatory bodies to get these things resolved!