The European Commission has decided to initiate infringement proceedings against Belgium, Italy and Portugal for breaches of Community law in the field of qualifications (diplomas and experience). The Community rules in this field set out the conditions under which certain professions may become established and/or provide their services in another Member State. In the case of Belgium, the Commission has decided to bring proceedings before the European Court of Justice on account of two infringements, one relating to architects and the other to captains of ocean-going vessels. The Commission has also decided to bring proceedings against Italy because of two problems relating to dental practitioners. In the case of Portugal, the Commission has decided to transmit a reasoned opinion (the second stage of the infringement procedure under Article 169 of the Treaty) on the failure to transpose a Directive on the treatment of laboratory assistants under the general system for the recognition of diplomas. In the absence of a satisfactory reply within one month after receipt of the reasoned opinion by Portugal, the Commission could initiate proceedings before the Court of Justice.

Belgium - architects

The Commission has decided to bring proceedings before the Court of Justice against Belgium because it is refusing to carry out a comparative examination of the qualifications of architects in other Member States who wish to exercise their profession in Belgium. In effect, the Belgian authorities are refusing to apply the judgment of the Court in the "Vlassopoulou" case (7 May 1991, C-340/89). Since the Directive on the field of architecture (85/384/EEC) does not provide for the full harmonisation of training providing access to this sector, there may be quite legitimate types of training that do not fall within the scope of this Directive. In accordance with the above-mentioned judgment, however, the host Member State (in this case Belgium) must examine the extent to which the qualifications required to exercise the profession of architect on its territory correspond to those (diplomas and, where appropriate, experience) held by the party concerned. If there is no such correspondence, the host State is entitled to require that the person concerned acquire the missing qualifications. Any refusal must be reasoned and open to appeal. However, the Belgian authorities are refusing in principle to apply the judgment in question to architecture, and their reply to the reasoned opinion of 6 August 1998 was not satisfactory.

Belgium - captains of ocean-going vessels

The Commission has decided to bring proceedings before the Court of Justice against Belgium because the Belgian authorities are refusing, for captains of ocean-going vessels, to apply the general system for the recognition of diplomas introduced by Directives 89/48/EEC and 92/51/EEC. The decision to bring the matter before the Court of Justice was made when a Community national was unable to secure recognition in Belgium for his Netherlands diploma in the captaincy of ocean-going vessels. The competent authorities, in this case the Flemish authorities, are asking him to repeat his training, which is not consistent with the general system for the recognition of diplomas. The purpose of the general system is to promote the free movement of individuals within the European Union (EU) by setting up mechanisms that make it unnecessary for them to repeat training when they wish to exercise their profession in another Member State. In this sense, these Directives are aimed directly at the citizen. The basic principle of the general system for the recognition of diplomas is that the host Member State may not refuse a Community national access to a regulated profession if he is fully qualified to exercise that profession in the Member State of origin.

Italy - dental practitioners

The Commission has decided to bring proceedings before the Court of Justice against Italy for two breaches of Community law in connection with dentists. The first concerns the imposition of a residency requirement on dentists prior to registration as professionals, and the loss of the registration right for any dentist setting up a practice abroad. The principle of a residency requirement is inconsistent with the principles of free movement and free establishment (Articles 48 and 52 of the EC Treaty). It is the view of the Commission that such a requirement seriously jeopardises the ability to set up and maintain more than one place of work within the territory of the European Union and is likely to lead to discrimination against dentists established in other Member States. The Italian authorities have cited legislative texts that amend the legislation in question and purportedly bring it into line with Community law. In the view of the Commission, the problems remain, as it is not unambiguously clear from the amending legislation in question (Law No 362 of 8 November 1991 on the pharmaceutical sector) that, in terms of the conditions governing professional registration, it likewise applies to dental practitioners. Furthermore, in the event of residency being transferred to a country other than Italy, only Italian dentists may, under the terms of the relevant law (No 1398 of 14 December 1964) stay registered as professionals. The Italian authorities have not replied to the reasoned opinion transmitted by the Commission in connection with this infringement procedure.

The second infringement concerns the Italian legislation that allows doctors to practise as dentists. Under the terms of Law No 409 of 24 July 1985, the profession of dental practitioner ("odontoiatra") may be exercised not only by persons holding the specific diploma that was recently created for dentists, but also by doctors that have supplemented their medical training with a specialisation in the field of dentistry. This is not consistent with the objective of the Directive harmonising minimum training requirements for dental practitioners (78/687/EEC), which is to create a specific profession of dental practitioner that is separate from that of doctor.

Furthermore, all doctors that are eligible for cover by the "acquired rights" provisions specific to doctors that were practising dentistry in Italy prior to entry into force of the Directive may be enrolled simultaneously on the register of doctors and that of dentists. This seems inconsistent with the provisions in that such doctors are not exercising the profession of dentists under the same conditions as dental practitioners (new profession), who are enrolled on the register of dental practitioners only. The Italian authorities have not replied to the reasoned opinion transmitted by the Commission in connection with this infringement procedure.

Portugal - laboratory assistants

The Commission has decided to send Portugal a reasoned opinion on the failure to transpose Directive 97/38/EC. This Directive, which should have been transposed by 30 September 1997, amended Directive 92/51/EEC on the general system for the recognition of diplomas (cf. above). The main amendment concerns the profession of laboratory assistant in the United Kingdom.

Source:
RAPID
16 / 12 /1998