Brussels, 02/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 26 April, the internal market committee at the European Parliament adopted in second reading the report of Stefano Zappalà (EPP-ED, Italy) on the draft directive on recognising vocational qualifications. The parliamentary committee wants the proposal to have five training levels, establishing a hierarchy of vocational qualifications and promoting recognition of skills between Member States. The initial proposal by the European Commission, however, establishes an identical number of training levels, whereas the Council opted for four levels in its common position in May 2004 and formally approved it in December of the same year (EUROPE 8710). During an informal trialogue on 29 April, the European institutions demonstrated their disagreement, which could lead to a conciliation committee being arranged. The session vote is expected for 10 May in Strasbourg.
When someone wants to set up in another Member State to exercise their profession, they could request that the professional qualifications obtained in their Member State of origin are recognised in the state where they are setting up. A general system applied to professions not specifically cited in the legislative proposal (doctors, pharmacists, mid-wives, dentists, vets, architects etc). It is based on the principle of mutual recognition. When access to a profession is regulated or subject to possessing a specific professional qualification, the host Member State authorises access to this profession an in the same conditions existing nationally. It has to be done when the party making the request has a training certificate obtained in another Member States and which attests to the level of training being equivalent to the level immediately below that demanded in the host country. This general system does not rule out application of compensation measures (course for adaptation or proof of aptitude) in cases of substantial differences between the training acquired by the migrant and that demanded in the host Member State.
The European Parliament is hoping to establish 5 training levels. The Council considers that 4 levels suffice. The difference of approach between the two European co-legislator institutions is founded on the fourth level. The EP is proposing to split level 4 into two distinct levels. Level 4 would sanction higher or university level training for a minimum of three years and less or equal to four years, while level 5 would apply to the same kind of training but whose length is more than four years. MEPs consider that this distinction better responds to the reality of training cycles in different Member States. They consider that the more levels there are the easier it is to obtain equivalency.
The European Commission underlined that it was not at all a legal question but rather one of politics or how one saw things. This is because the fifth level already exists in the Council common position. In its Article 13 paragraph 3, this common position is in effect professional and in which the qualifications at three levels (level C according to the Council) cannot demand equivalency for a “higher or university training that is more than four years”. It was voted on at qualified majority, with opposition in Germany and Greece.
The Zappalà report adopted by the committee contains other elements which the Council has less of a problem with. These are the possibility of including professional organisations in the comitology procedure, which is usually reserved for the Member States, if the future directive is ever modified. This Monday's Coreper is said to have agreed on compromise wording on this point. The EP's wish of creating an individual professional card and automatically recognising medical or dentistry specialisations which are common to two Member States also raised a few minor problems: the common position of the Council recommends an automatic recognition with two-fifths of the Member States for these specialisations.
The reform of the regime for the recognition of professional qualifications will make both the cross-border provision of services by professionals whose activities are regulated, and their freedom of establishment, easier. The new directive consolidates fifteen directives currently in force. Apart from the general regime of the recognition of professional qualifications, it brings in a regime for the automatic recognition of qualifications based on professional experience for certain industrial, craft and commercial activities, and for specific professions such as doctors, dentists, veterinary surgeons and architects.
The temporary and cross-border provision of services under regulated professions is the biggest innovation in this proposal. The problem lay in seeking a balance between the need to promote this kind of service and the possibility for the host Member State to carry out checks. In its initial proposal, the European Commission wanted professionals to be able to offer their services temporarily with no formalities, by bringing in the principle of the country of origin. The positions of the EP and the Council confer upon the host Member State the power to check the qualifications of cross-border providers via a written declaration which is renewable on an annual basis. The host Member State can make cross-border providers subject to nation rules on ethics and professional errors.
To a large extent, the directive on the recognition of professional qualifications dovetails with the current proposed directive on services. The former will take precedence over the latter in the field of freedom to provide cross-border services (see EUROPE 8843). The latter will apply to rules on professional insurance, commercial communications and multi-disciplinary activities.