Keywords

Summary



Keywords

Freedom of movement for persons - Freedom of establishment - Freedom to provide services - Conditions for taking up an activity as a self-employed person in manufacturing and processing industries - Recognition of actual pursuit of an activity in another Member State - Detailed provisions - Application to take up and pursue a number of trades

(EC Treaty, Arts 3(c), 52 and 59; Council Directive 64/627, Art. 3)

Summary

On a proper construction of Article 3 of Directive 64/427 laying down detailed provisions concerning transitional measures in respect of activities of self-employed persons in manufacturing and processing industries falling within ISIC Major Groups 23-40 (Industry and small craft industries), where, in a Member State, the possession of specific knowledge and ability is a condition for taking up and pursuing an activity as a self-employed person in a manufacturing or processing industry or small craft industry, that Member State may not require of a Community national who applies for licences to pursue occupational activities in that Member State which he is certified by the competent authorities of his Member State of origin to have pursued there, that he have completed separately, in respect of each of the trades whose scope is defined by the legislation of the host State, the periods prescribed by that article.

Even if the activities certified by the Member State of origin as having been pursued fall within the scope of several occupations as defined by the host Member State, the host Member State is bound by the declarations contained in the certificate issued by the Member State of origin and may not, therefore, define either the conditions for taking up each of the small craft occupations or their scope in such a way that the certificate issued is rendered useless for the purpose of enabling the applicant to engage in the occupation to which that certificate relates in the host Member State.

That interpretation is in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 3 of the Directive, which provides that pursuit of the activity must not have ceased more than 10 years before the date when the application for establishment is made. Were it possible for the host Member State to require an applicant to have carried on each of the trades independently for six consecutive years, in accordance with Article 3(a) of the Directive, that applicant would not be able to prove, on the basis of documentary evidence accepted as equivalent, that he had the knowledge and ability necessary to qualify for authorisation to carry on more than two activities.

The interpretation is further justified by the requirements of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services as guaranteed by Articles 3(c), 52 and 59 of the Treaty. Those freedoms, which are fundamental in the Community system, could not be achieved if each Member State were able to rely on its own restrictive definition of the scope of each of the small craft occupations in order to refuse to allow persons who have acquired the relevant experience prescribed by the Directive in another Member State from benefiting from the provisions of Community law.