Luxembourg, 08/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - Qualified accountants from one Member State in possession of qualifications equivalent to those of the host State may be exempted from having to take an exam to take up work in that State. On the other hand, the possibility for a Member State to grant authorisation to carry out the profession to accountants who do not have the requisite requirements but only professional experience, without making it compulsory for them to sit a professional proficiency examination, was limited by the EU Accounting Directive of 1988 (the so-called eighteenth Directive) to one year from the date when the directive is transposed into national legislation and, at the very latest, on 1 January 1990, a release from the European Court of Justice states in the Markopoulos case.
Together with some of his colleagues, the above accountant, who was a member of the Greek order of accountants, challenged the Greek regulation that had allowed 60 candidates who were not members of the Order of Accountants to register on the new Order of chartered auditors.