EN Official Journal of the European Union L 277/20

DECISION No 2/2011 OF THE EU-SWISS JOINT COMMITTEE ESTABLISHED BY ARTICLE 14 OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND ITS MEMBER STATES, OF THE ONE PART, AND THE SWISS CONFEDERATION, OF THE OTHER, ON THE FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS

of 30 September 2011

replacing Annex III (Mutual recognition of professional qualifications) thereto

(2011/702/EU)

THE JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Swiss Confederation, of the other, on the free movement of persons (1) (‘the Agreement’), and in particular Articles 14 and 18 thereof,

Having regard to the Protocol to the Agreement regarding the participation, as Contracting Parties, of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania pursuant to their accession to the European Union (2), and in particular Article 4(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The Agreement was signed on 21 June 1999 and entered into force on 1 June 2002.

(2) Annex III (Mutual recognition of professional qualifications) to the Agreement was last amended by Decision No 1/2004/EC of the EU-Swiss Joint Committee (3) and should be updated to take into account the new legal acts of the European Union (EU) that have been adopted since 2004, in particular Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications (4).

(3) Annex III to the Agreement should be adapted to take into account the accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU on 1 January 2007.

(4) Therefore, in the interest of clarity and rationality, Annex III to the Agreement should be consolidated and replaced by a new Annex.

(5) Switzerland will, in accordance with Council Directive 93/16/EEC of 5 April 1993 to facilitate the free movement of doctors and the mutual recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications (5), and Directive 2005/36/EC, provide for a single professional qualification and a single professional title for general practitioners which will be the same for all existing and future general practitioners.

(6) In order to ensure the effective application of Directive 2005/36/EC between the Contracting Parties, the Commission will continue to cooperate closely with Switzerland and in particular will continue to provide for an appropriate consultation of the Swiss experts,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Annex III (Mutual recognition of professional qualifications) to the Agreement shall be replaced by the text in the Annex to this Decision.

Article 2

Switzerland shall apply without restrictions the acquired rights provided for by Directive 2005/36/EC subject to the conditions set out in this Decision and in the Annex.

Article 3

This Decision is drawn up in Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish languages, the texts in each of these languages being equally authentic.

Article 4

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following the date of notification of completion by Switzerland of its internal procedures for the implementation of this Decision.

It shall be applied on a provisional basis from the first day of the second month after its adoption, with the exception of Title II of Directive 2005/36/EC, which shall apply from the date of entry into force of this Decision.

In the event that the notification referred to in the first paragraph has not been made within 24 months after the adoption of this Decision, this Decision shall lapse.

Done at Brussels, 30 September 2011. For the Joint Committee The Chairman Gianluca GRIPPA

(1) OJ L 114, 30.4.2002, p. 6.

(2) OJ L 124, 20.5.2009, p. 53.

(3) OJ L 352, 27.11.2004, p. 129.

(4) OJ L 255, 30.9.2005, p. 22.

(5) OJ L 165, 7.7.1993, p. 1.