Brussels, 30/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Michel Barnier, has described the profession of lawyer a “European profession”. At a conference for lawyers and legal practitioners on the single market, organised by the European Commission on Monday 28 October, the commissioner stated that the two directives on the legal profession have made mobility between member states more fluid, “to a far greater extent than exists in the other liberal professions. It is even more advanced integration than in many federal states”.
A study commissioned by the European Commission was presented after this event and it notes that member states have been rather effective in their application of the two directives on the services offered by lawyers and their established place of business. The assessment highlights that the freedom to provide services by lawyers in the EU is generally regarded as having been attained and that there are no major barriers remaining in terms of nationality or residency conditions. Exercising the profession in a country other than the one where professional certification was awarded no longer creates any problems. Consequently, the report does not recommend the withdrawal of the two directives leaving only the directive on professional qualifications, the revision of which will soon be implemented.
Commissioner Barnier, however, was keen to point out the challenges that lawyers still face, such as the difficulties involved in complying with the professional rules in force in another country and establishing equivalency with the rules in their own countries or insurance against professional negligence whilst exercising the profession in another country. The study also highlights the duality of professional ethical standards when lawyers are exercising their profession in a country other than the one where they qualified.
The commissioner is therefore looking at the possibility of making the provision of legal services and the business establishment of lawyers simpler. He explained that this would not, necessarily, require any further legislation. (MD/transl.fl)