Working in a member state other than one's own is a fundamental right of every EU citizen. However, this is clearly a case of easier said than done. A number of assumptions underlie such a decision, foremost of which is that the host member state will acknowledge the qualifications awarded by another member state.
The point of departure is that each member state is free to make access to a particular profession legally conditional upon the possession of a specific professional qualification which is traditionally the professional qualification issued on its national territory. Obviously, if we were to stop at that, professionals would be hindered from freely taking up their practice in a member state other than in the one where they have obtained their qualification. This is the antithesis of what a single market is all about!
Precisely in order to eliminate such an obstacle, a legislative measure intended to facilitate the mutual recognition of professional qualifications between the member states was enacted, namely a directive on the recognition of professional qualifications. This law was supplemented by a code of conduct which explains good and bad national administrative practices with regard to the recognition of professional qualifications.
Different rules of the directive apply depending on the profession in question, that is, whether it is a sectoral profession such as that of a doctor or architect for which minimum training conditions have been harmonised at European level, a profession in the fields of trade, industry or business or any other profession. A number of professionals in the health sector and architects enjoy automatic recognition of their qualifications acquired in the country of origin because the conditions for such qualifications are harmonised at European level.
Professionals from the craft sector benefit from automatic recognition of their qualifications if they have reached a certain professional experience in their member state of origin. For other professions, the directive foresees a system of mutual recognition of qualifications on a case by case basis. Nonetheless, despite this law, a person seeking to practise his profession other than in his home state is often faced with an innumerable number of practical queries to which there has been to date no quick and easy reply. The European Commission has recently therefore deemed it important to publish a user-friendly guide in a question and answer format addressing practical issues which often arise when a person is considering such a move.
Basing itself on the provisions of the directive, the guide explains to European citizens how they can benefit from the law whether they want to work temporarily or permanently in another member state. It explains in a simple format the steps that ought to be followed in order to practise a profession anywhere in Europe. For instance, it addresses questions such as the conditions that a person must meet in order to benefit from the freedom to provide services or how does a person go about finding where to submit his/her application for recognition of qualifications.
All in all, this guide may be said to offer practical and important information to professionals who are contemplating leaving their home country to explore new opportunities. The guide can be accessed by all at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs/guide/users_guide_en.pdf .
Dr Vella Cardona is a practising lawyer and a freelance consultant in EU, intellectual property, consumer protection and competition law. She is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta.
mariosa@vellacardona.com