28.8.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 217/3 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Directive on a general system for the recognition of higher education 
diplomas 
COM(85) 355 final 
(Submitted to the Council by the Commission on 9 July 1985) 
(85/C 217/04) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 49, 
57 (1), and 66 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par­
liament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas, pursuant to Article 3 (c) of the Treaty, the 
abolition, as between Member States, of obstacles to 
freedom of movement for persons and services 
constitutes one of the objectives of the Community; 
whereas, for nationals of the Member States, this means 
in particular the possibility of pursuing a professional 
activity, whether in a self-employed or employed 
capacity, in a Member State other than that in which 
they acquired their training; 
Whereas the provisions so far adopted by the Council 
and pursuant to which the Member States recognize 
mutually and for professional purposes higher education 
diplomas issued within their territory concern only a few 
professions; whereas the level and duration of the 
training governing access to those professions have been 
regulated in a similar fashion in all the Member States or 
have been the subject of the minimal harmonization 
needed to establish sectoral systems for the mutual 
recognition of diplomas; 
Whereas in order to provide a rapid response to the 
expectations of nationals of Community countries who 
hold higher education diplomas issued in a Member 
State other than that in which they wish to pursue their 
.professional activity, another method of recognition of 
higher education diplomas should also be implemented 
such as to enable those concerned to pursue all those 
professional activities which in a host Member State are 
dependent on the possession of post-secondary education 
qualifications, provided they hold a higher education 
diploma preparing them for those activities awarded on completion of a course of studies lasting at least three 
years and issued in another Member State; 
Whereas the objective can be achieved by the intro­
duction of a general system for the recognition of higher 
education diplomas; 
Whereas in relation to those professional activities in 
respect of the pursuit of which the Community has not 
laid down the necessary minimum level of qualification, 
the Member States reserve the option of fixing such a 
level with a view to guaranteeing the quality of services 
provided in their territory; whereas, however, they may 
not, without infringing their obligations laid down in 
Article 5 of the Treaty, require a national of a Member 
State to obtain those qualifications which in general they 
determine only by reference to diplomas issued under 
their own national education systems, where the person 
concerned has already acquired all or part of those 
qualifications in another Member State; whereas, as a 
result, any host Member State which regulates a pro­
fessional activity is required to take account of 
qualifications acquired in another Member State and to 
determine whether those qualifications correspond to the 
qualifications which the Member State concerned 
requires; 
Whereas collaboration between the Member States is 
appropriate in order to facilitate their compliance with 
those obligations; whereas, therefore, the means of 
organizing such collaboration should be established; 
Whereas it is also necessary to determine the charac­
teristics of the professional experience or supervised 
practice which the host Member State may require of the 
person concerned in addition to the higher education 
diploma, where the person's qualifications do not 
correspond to those laid down by national provisions; 
Whereas, moreover, in addition to conditions relating to 
the professional qualifications necessary to the pursuit of 
a professional activity, conditions relating to personal 
qualities such as good repute may be imposed if required 
in the host Member State; 
No C 217/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 28. 8. 85 
Whereas Articles 49, 57 (1) and 66 of the Treaty 
empower the Community to adopt provisions necessary 
to introduce and operate such a system for the general 
recognition of higher education diplomas; 
Whereas such a system, by supporting the right of a 
Community national to use his professional skills in any 
Member State, supplements and supports his right to 
acquire such skills wherever he wishes; 
Whereas this system should, after being in force for a 
certain time, be evaluated to determine in particular how 
its operation can be improved and its field of application 
extended, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 
Article 1 
For the purposes of this Directive the following 
definitions shall apply: 
(a) higher education diploma: any diploma, certificate, or 
other evidence of formal qualifications awarded by a 
university or other higher education establishment 
following a course of at least three years' study 
open, as a general rule, only to persons holding a 
certificate awarded on successful completion of a full 
course of upper secondary education; 
(b) host Member State: any Member State in which a 
national of a Member State applies to pursue one or 
more activities subject to regulation in that Member 
State, not being the State in which he obtained the 
higher education diplomas adduced in support of his 
application; 
(c) professional experience: the knowledge acquired 
during actual and lawful pursuit of the profession 
concerned in a Member State; 
(d) period of supervised practice for the purpose of 
qualification adjustment: the pursuit of a profession in 
the host Member State under the supervision of a 
qualified member of that profession, it being 
understood that such supervised practice may be 
accompanied by a period of further training and 
shall be subject to rules laid down by the host 
Member State. 
Article 2 
This Directive shall apply to any national of a Member 
State wishing to pursue a profession in a host Member 
State as an employed person or in a self-employed 
capacity. 
This Directive shall not apply to professions which are 
the subject of a Directive establishing arrangements for 
the mutual recognition of higher education diplomas by 
Member States. Article 3 
A host Member State which makes the taking up or 
pursuit of a profession subject to possession of one or 
more higher education diplomas shall not, on the 
grounds of inadequate qualifications, refuse to authorize 
a national of another Member State to take up or pursue 
that profession on the same conditions as apply to its 
own nationals, 
(a) if the applicant holds the higher education diploma 
or diplomas required in another Member State for 
the taking up or pursuit of the profession in question 
in its territory, such diploma or diplomas having 
been awarded in a Member State, or, 
(b) if the applicant has pursued the profession in 
question full-time for two years in another Member 
State which does not regulate that profession, having 
obtained in a Member State which does not regulate 
that profession one or more higher education 
diplomas preparing him for its pursuit. 
Article 4 
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 3, the 
host Member State may also require the applicant: 
(a) to provide evidence of professional experience, 
where the duration of the higher education adduced 
in support of his application is at least one year less 
than that required in the host Member State. In this 
event, the period of professional experience may not 
exceed twice the shortfall in duration of higher 
education; 
(b) to undertake a period of supervised practice not 
exceeding three years for the purposes of 
qualification adjustment, 
— where the subjects covered by the higher 
education he has received differ substantially 
from those covered by the higher education 
diplomas required in the host Member State, 
— where, in the case referred to in Article 3 (a), the 
profession as regulated in the host Member State 
covers a range of professional activities differing 
in part from those regulated in the Member State 
from which the applicant comes and that 
difference corresponds to a specific higher 
education programme required only in the host 
Member State, 
— where, in the case referred to in Article 3 (b), the 
profession as regulated in the host Member State 
covers a range of professional activities differing 
in part from those pursued by the applicant in the 
Member State from which he comes, and that 
difference corresponds to a specific higher 
education programme required in the host 
Member State and not covered by the higher 
education diploma or diplomas adduced by the 
applicant; 
28.8.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 217/5 
(c) to undergo the period of supervised practice required 
in the host Member State, or provide evidence of 
having completed in another Member State a period 
of professional experience equal in duration to that 
required period of supervised practice where the host 
Member State makes the taking up or pursuit of a 
profession subject to possession of a certificate 
awarded on completion of a period of supervised 
practice undergone after the required higher 
education diplomas have been obtained. 
2. The host Member State shall, however: 
— neither apply cumulatively the provisions of points (a) 
and (b) of paragraph 1, 
— nor require a total period of supervised practice 
exceeding four years where it applies cumulatively 
the provisions of points (b) and (c) of paragraph 1. 
Article 5 
The provisions of Article 3 and Article 4 (1) (b) and (c) 
shall also apply where the host Member State makes the 
taking up or pursuit of a profession subject to possession 
of one or more diplomas which are not higher education 
diplomas within the meaning of this Directive but are 
awarded on completion of a course of study open as a 
general rule only to persons holding a certificate 
awarded on successful completion of a full course of 
upper secondary education. 
Article 6 
1. Where a host Member State requires of its 
nationals wishing to take up or pursue a profession proof 
of good character, proof of good repute, proof that they 
have not previously been declared bankrupt or proof of 
any one of these, that State shall accept as sufficient 
evidence, in respect of nationals of other Member States, 
the production of an extract from the 'judicial record' 
or, failing this, an equivalent document issued by a 
competent judicial or administrative authority in another 
Member State showing that those requirements are met. 
Where the Member State from which the foreign 
national comes does not issue the documents referred to 
in the preceding paragraph, they may be replaced by a 
declaration on oath — or, in States where there is no 
provision for such declarations, by a solemn declaration 
— made before a competent judicial or administrative 
authority or, where appropriate, a notary in the host 
country. 
2. Where a host Member State requires of its own 
nationals wishing to take up or pursue a profession a 
certificate of physical or mental health, that State shall 
accept as sufficient evidence thereof, in respect of 
nationals of another Member State, the production of 
the document required in that other Member State or, failing this, an equivalent certificate issued by a 
competent authority in that other Member State. 
3. The documents and certificates referred to in 
paragraphs 1 and 2 may not be presented more than 
three months after their date of issue. 
4. Where a Member State requires its own nationals 
wishing to take up or pursue a profession to take an oath 
or make a solemn declaration and where the form of 
such oath or declaration cannot be used by nationals of 
other Member States, that Member State shall ensure 
that an appropriate and equivalent form of oath or 
declaration is offered to the person concerned. 
Article 7 
1. Host Member States shall recognize the right of 
nationals of Member States who fulfil the conditions for 
the taking up and pursuit of a profession in their 
territory to use their lawful academic title and, where 
appropriate, the abbreviation thereof. If the said 
academic title can be confused with an academic title 
conferred in the host Member State, the latter may 
require that it be followed by the name and location of 
the establishment or examining board which awarded it. 
2. Host Member States shall recognize the right of 
nationals of Member States who fulfil the conditions for 
the taking up and pursuit of a profession in their 
territory to use the same professional title as their own 
nationals. 
Article 8 
1. Proof that the conditions laid down in Articles 3, 4 
and 6 are satisfied shall be established by the certificates 
and documents issued by the competent authorities in the 
Member States, which the person concerned shall submit 
in support of his application to pursue the profession 
concerned in the host Member State. 
2. The procedure for examining an application to 
pursue a profession shall be completed as soon as 
possible and the outcome communicated in a reasoned 
decision of the competent authority in the host Member 
State not later than three months after presentation of all 
the documents relating to the person concerned, without 
prejudice to delays resulting from any appeal that may 
be made upon the termination of that procedure. 
Article 9 
1. The Member State shall designate, within the 
period provided for in Article 11, the competent auth­
orities empowered to receive the applications and take 
the decisions referred to in this Directive. They shall 
communicate this information to the other Member 
States and to the Commission. 
No C 217/6 Official Journal of the European Communities - 28.8.85 
2. Each Member State shall designate a person 
responsible for coordinating the activities of the auth­
orities referred to in paragraph 3. His role shall be to 
ensure the uniform application of this Directive to all the 
professional activities concerned. 
Each Member State shall inform the other Member 
States and the Commission to this effect. The 
Commission shall take the necessary initiatives to help 
the coordinators to carry out their duties. 
3. The Member State shall take measures to enable 
each information centre on the academic recognition of 
diplomas and periods of study established by the 
Member States within the framework of the resolution of 
the Council and the ministers of education meeting 
within the Council of 9 February 1976 (*) also to provide 
the necessary information on the recognition of diplomas 
for professional purposes. 
The Commission shall take the necessary initiatives to 
ensure the development and coordination of those 
activities of the centres which come within the field of 
application of this Directive. 
Article 10 
Following the expiry of the period provided for in 
Article 11, the Member States shall communicate to the 
Commission, every two years, a report on the application 
of the system introduced. 
In addition to general remarks, this report shall contain a 
summary of the decisions taken, including in particular: — references to such decisions and, in particular, the 
date thereof, 
— the professional activity concerned, 
— the diplomas concerned, 
— the Member States concerned, other than the host 
Member State, 
— the content of each decision. 
Ankle 11 
Member States shall take the measures necessary to 
comply with this Directive by (2). They shall 
forthwith inform the Commission thereof. 
Member States shall communicate to the Commission 
the texts of the main provisions of national law in the 
field governed by this Directive. 
Article 12 
Five years at the latest following the date specified in 
Article 11, the Commission shall report to the Council 
on the state of application of the general system for the 
recognition of higher education diplomas. 
After conducting all necessary consultations, the 
Commission shall, on this occasion, present its 
conclusions as to any changes that need to be made to 
the system as it stands. 
Article 13 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 
O OJ No C 38, 19. 2. 1976, p. 1. (2) To be determined later (within 12 months of notification).