Answer given by Ms Bieńkowska on behalf of the Commission
16.6.2017
The Professional Qualifications Directive[1] contains rules for the recognition of professional qualifications obtained in EU Member States.
The notification procedure provided under Article 21a of the Professional Qualifications Directive is relevant only for those professions, whose minimum training requirements have been harmonised on an EU level (such as general care nurses, doctors, or architects).
The purpose of this notification procedure is to ensure that only the qualifications meeting EU requirements are included in the Annex V of that directive with a view to granting automatic recognition. Since the profession of regional planner, landscaper and conservationist is not one of these professions, this procedure is not relevant to them.
However, the recognition of professional qualifications of regional planner, landscaper and conservationist is ensured under the general system of recognition set out in the Professional Qualifications Directive. This system allows EU citizens to exercise a profession in the territory of a country, provided that they hold the qualifications required in another Member State for exercising the same profession.
However, this does not mean that the recognition will be granted automatically. The competent authorities of the host country may carry out a comparison of the applicants training with their own national requirements for that profession. If there are substantial differences in training, the host country can require completion of an adaptation period or an aptitude test.
- [1] Directive 2005/36/EC of Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications, OJ L 255, 30.9.2005.