The Regulatory regime
13. Prior to the coming into force of the 1999 Act, there was no regulation of immigration practitioners save in three respects. First, if the practitioner was a member of one of the legal professions, regulation was through the regulation of that profession. Secondly, it occasionally happened that immigration practitioners were convicted in criminal proceedings of offences committed in the course of acting for a person in immigration matters. Thirdly, the Procedure Rules of the Immigration Appellate Authority and the Immigration Appeal Tribunal made provision for an appellant to be represented by an unqualified person, but only with leave; so the Adjudicator or the Tribunal had power, by refusing leave, to prevent an individual acting as a representative. That power was rarely exercised. It became apparent, however, that abuses were taking place both with the consent of appellants and by exploitation of them. 14. Part V of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 regulates the provision of ‘immigration advice’ and ‘immigration services’ through a raft of provisions overseen and administered by a regulator, the Immigration Services Commissioner, appointed (s 93) and funded (Schedule 5) by the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The regulation of immigration advice and immigration services is in principle entirely independent of the regulation of legal practice; and it remains the case that the provision of immigration advice or immigration services is not as such a ‘reserved legal activity’ within the meaning of the Legal Services Act 2007 or any similar legislation. The 1999 Act therefore applies to activities to which the general provisions regulating legal practice do not apply; and, where it does apply, it applies even to the members of the regulated legal professions. All those engaging in the provision of immigration advice or immigration services are subject to the regime of the 1999 Act, with the exception only of certain persons exercising functions on behalf of the Crown as specified in s 84(6): this exception certainly includes Home Office Presenting Officers, and probably includes other legal representatives of the Secretary of State. 15. So far as concerns the content of the regulatory provision, t he starting-point is s 84. The section is headed ‘The general prohibition’, and subsection (1) reads as follows: “No person may provide immigration advice or immigration services unless he is a qualified person.” 16. Section 91 makes it an offence to contravene the general prohibition in s 84. In order to avoid committing such an offence or otherwise falling foul of the prohibition, it is necessary to know what precisely is meant by providing immigration advice or immigration services, and who is a qualified person.