Recognition of Diplomas and Qualifications

GENERAL OVERVIEW

The free movement of persons and services is a fundamental principle of the European Community. One of its advantages for Community nationals is the freedom to pursue an occupation, on a self-employed or employed basis, in a Member State other than the one in which they acquired their professional qualifications. In addition, a system has been put in place at European level facilitating the recognition of diplomas and professional qualifications by virtue of which individuals can pursue a specific occupation. 

Sectoral Directives have been adopted for a small number of professions: architect, midwife, pharmacist, doctor, nurse, dentist and veterinary surgeon. These Directives provide for a system of automatic recognition of diplomas. 

For other regulated professions, and depending on the level of post-secondary training attested by the diploma, professional qualifications are recognised in accordance with a general recognition system which is laid down in two general Directives (89/48/EEC and 92/51/EEC), as amended by Directive 2001/19/EC. A third Directive (99/42/EC) applies similar principles to certain regulated professions the exercise of which in another Member State is subject to the requirement of professional experience. 

For more information on both professional recognition systems, please read the following sections on the general system and the automatic recognition system. 

For specific information on certain professions, and for information on national law, please refer to the corresponding sheet for each profession. 

General system of recognition of diplomas 

I. Principles 

1) What is the General System? 

The “General System” (hereinafter “GS”) is the system for the recognition of diplomas established by Directive 89/48/EEC and supplemented by Directive 92/51/EEC, as amended by Directive 2001/19/EC. (One of the Directives is applicable, depending on the level of study attested by the diploma). 

Since Directive 1999/42/EC entered into force, craft and commercial professions and certain services have also been partially covered by the general system, albeit subject to certain specific rules. The professions concerned are referred to in Annex A to the Directive. 

2) Professional recognition system 

The GS is a system for the recognition of professional qualifications, not of academic qualifications. It is not concerned with the recognition of academic qualifications with a view to further studies in a Member State. 

Its purpose is to allow persons who are qualified to pursue an occupation in one Member State and who wish to do so in another Member State (the host country) to obtain recognition of their qualifications in the host country, insofar as the profession is regulated there. 

II. Scope of the GS 

The GS applies if: 

1) You are a national of a Member State; 
2) You are fully qualified to pursue a given occupation in your Member State of origin. 

Comments: 
For professions other than craft professions and the services covered by Directive 1999/42: If neither the profession nor the training for which you require your qualifications to be recognised are regulated in your State of provenance, the competent authority may require that you have two years’ professional experience. However, this professional experience will not be required if your qualification relates to regulated training (i.e. training which gives direct access to a given profession, which is supervised by the public authorities or by an authority designated by them for this purpose, and which comprises a course of study in conformity with the Directives, supplemented, if necessary, by training, a period of in-house service or professional experience); 

The system also applies to you if you have carried out a commercial or craft activity or provided a service covered by Directive 1999/42/EC in a Member State for a sufficient duration. 

3) You wish to pursue the same occupation, which is regulated in the host Member State (a profession the exercise of which is subject to possession of a given qualification) 

Examples include the professions of lawyer (see the relevant sheet), teacher (ditto), chartered accountant, teacher, physiotherapist, etc. 

Comments: 

If your profession is not regulated in the host Member State 

If your profession is not regulated in the host Member State, you do not have to apply for recognition of your qualifications. You may pursue your profession in that country under the same conditions and with the same rights and obligations as its nationals. 

4) The occupation that you wish to pursue in the host Member State is not covered by any other recognition system 

III. Recognition procedure for all professions covered by the GS 

1) Principles: 

a) Professional recognition system 

The system covers the recognition of diplomas, certificates, titles or sets of qualifications which attest a completed cycle of vocational training, i.e., one which qualifies you to follow the occupation in question in your State of provenance. Generally speaking, your diploma, certificate or other qualification has to be recognised as such. 

b) Individual recognition system 

There is no list of diplomas which are automatically recognised at European level, since recognition depends on the profession to which the diploma gives access in the host Member State. Consequently, you must apply for recognition with the competent authority in the host country. That authority will examine your case individually. 

2) Procedure for the recognition of diplomas, certificates and other qualifications 

a) Elements taken into account by the national authorities when examining your application 

The competent national authority will check: 

• that the regulated profession that you wish to pursue in the host country is the same as that for which you are fully qualified in your State of provenance; 
• that the duration and content of your training do not differ substantially from the duration and content of the training required in the host country. 

If the professions are the same, and if the training is broadly similar, the competent authority must recognise your qualifications. If there are shown to be substantial differences between the professions or between the duration or content of the training, refusal to recognise the qualifications is not justified (if the other conditions are satisfied), although the competent authority in the host country may require you to undertake compensatory measures (the types of measure and the cases in which they are applied are described below; see point 3) 

When examining your application, the competent authority is required to check whether any professional experience which you have acquired is likely to have closed the gaps in your knowledge, either in full or in part (in accordance with Article 1(3) of Directive 2001/19/EC). 

b) Deadline for examination of the application and appeals against the national decision

The competent authority has four months in which to process your application and take a decision: it either recognises your qualifications, makes recognition contingent upon a compensatory measure, or refuses your application. 

A decision rejecting the application or requiring a compensatory measure must be justified, and an avenue of appeal must be open to you. 

If no decision is taken within four months, you may appeal, following the procedures in force in the host country, on grounds of non-observance of the deadline provided for in either Article 8 of Directive 89/48, Article 12 of Directive 92/51, or Article 3 of Directive 1999/42/EEC, depending on the circumstances. 

c) The competences of the European institutions 

The Community institutions are not competent to annul an administrative decision taken by a national authority with regard to your application. Only the competent national authorities can annul a decision to reject your application. 

Judgments of the Court of Justice are confined to declaring a State to be in breach of its obligations, either because it has applied Community law incorrectly or because its national legislation is incompatible with Community law. It is up to the competent authorities in that State to amend the individual decisions taken in accordance with an administrative practice or item of legislation which the Court has ruled illegal. 

3. Compensatory measures 

Following examination of your professional qualifications in the light of those required in the host Member State, the national authorities may require you to undertake one of the compensatory measures referred to below, depending on your individual situation: 

a) professional experience in the following cases 

For professions other than craft and commercial professions and for services covered by Directive 1999/42: In the event of a difference of at least one year in the duration of training, the competent authority may require that you acquire professional experience of between one and four years. 

If you acquired your diploma in a non-EU country, and if this diploma has already been recognised in a Member State and if, in that Member State, you have pursued the occupation in question for either two or three years, depending on the circumstances, this diploma may be recognised in the host country. 

b) period of adaptation or aptitude test 

For all professions covered by the general system, if there are substantial differences between the professions or in the content of the training, the authorities in the host Member State may require that you complete a period of adaptation or take an aptitude test. Basically, the choice between period of adaptation and aptitude test is up to you. However, the competent authority may stipulate one or the other measures if the occupation which you wish to pursue requires a precise knowledge of national law and the provision of advice and/or assistance relating to national law, or if you wish to pursue an industrial, craft or commercial occupation on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an enterprise, and if this profession requires a knowledge and application of specific national rules. In no circumstances may the competent authority require you to complete more than one compensatory measure. Moreover, it must, if necessary, take into account any professional experience that you acquired in your State of provenance or in any other Member State. Such experience will reduce or eliminate the need for a compensatory measure. 

IV. Procedure for recognition of professional experience in craft and commercial professions and in certain services 

This procedure is intended only for craft and commercial professions and for the services covered by Directive 1999/42/EC. 

Member States are required to accept previous exercise of the activity in question for a given period in another Member State, either as a self-employed person or as manager of an enterprise, as reasonable evidence of the knowledge and aptitude required on their territory. The duration varies from one profession to another. It may be reduced or waived, depending on your training or any additional professional experience which you have acquired on an employed basis. 

Under Article 3 of Directive 1999/42/EC, persons who do not meet the conditions relating to professional experience may apply for recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other qualifications in accordance with the general procedure described above. 

Automatic recognition system for diplomas for certain professions

I. Principles 

For the professions covered by this system (which was created by a series of sectoral Directives), the right to become established as a self-employed person or employee in an EU Member State is acquired on the basis of automatic recognition of a diploma awarded by a Member State. 

Note that recognition of your diploma is compulsory and automatic only if it was obtained in a Member State and if it appears in the annex to the SLIM Directive (Directive 2001/19/EC of 31 July 2001). As a general rule, a recent diploma giving access to the profession in your Member State of origin will be recognised. If you are in doubt, you should consult your national professional association. 

If it has reasonable doubts, the host Member State may require the competent authorities of the Member State of origin or provenance to confirm the authenticity of the diploma, and to confirm that the holder has met all the minimum training conditions provided for in the Directives. 

If you wish merely to provide services, the Directives lay down simplified procedures for authorisation and registration. 

II. Scope of the system 

Seven regulated professions are covered by the sectoral Directives: those of doctor (general practitioner or specialist), general nurse, midwife, veterinary surgeon, dental surgeon, pharmacist and architect (for specific information on each, see the corresponding sheet). 

In these cases, the system applies if: 

1) you are a national of a Member State; 

2) you hold a diploma which entitles you to exercise one of the professions covered by the sectoral Directives; 

3) you wish to follow the same occupation in the host Member State. 

III. Acquired rights 

In certain specific cases, particularly if the training was acquired in certain Member States before the Directives applied, if the name of the diploma has changed, or if the training was acquired before the Directives came into force in the new Member States, that training will qualify for recognition, subject to certain conditions. 

IV. Training obtained in a non-member country 

Where your training was obtained outside of the European Union, various situations are possible: 

1) Initial recognition in the Union of such a qualification is not provided for by the Directive and falls within the competence of the Member States, which must, however, check that the Community minimum training requirements have been met. 

2) Diplomas obtained outside the Union which have already been recognised in a Member State and all training and/or professional experience, whether it was acquired in or outside the Union, must be examined by the Member States. 

3) If part, even a major part, of training acquired outside the Community is recognised by a Member State and sanctioned by one of the diplomas listed in the Annex to the Directive, that diploma shall benefit from automatic recognition provided for by the Directive. 

4) Diplomas awarded by the non-member countries listed below, of which certain Member States also listed below were formerly part, can, if they are treated as national diplomas by these Member States, be recognised, subject to certain conditions. The Member States concerned are: 

• Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for diplomas awarded by the former USSR; 
  the Czech Republic and Slovakia for diplomas awarded by the former
• Czechoslovakia; 
• Slovenia for diplomas awarded by the former Yugoslavia. 

V. Recognition procedure 

1) Processing deadlines and appeals 

The competent authority has three months in which to process your application and take a decision. 

A decision rejecting your application must be justified, and an avenue of appeal must be open to you. 

If no decision is taken within three months, you may appeal, following the procedures in force in the host country, on grounds of non-observance of the deadline. 

2) The competences of the European institutions 

The Community institutions are not competent to annul an administrative decision taken by a national authority with respect to your application. Only the competent national authorities can annul such a decision. The judgments of the Court of Justice are confined to declaring a State to be in breach of its obligations, either because it has applied Community law incorrectly or because its national legislation is incompatible with Community law. It is up to the competent State authorities to amend individual decisions taken in accordance with an administrative practice or item of legislation which the Court has ruled illegal. 

Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2005
Reproduction is authorised.