WRITTEN QUESTION E-1522/96 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (17 June 1996)

Subject: Odontostomatology

In Italy a diploma of specialization recognizes a doctor's right to practice dentistry, whereas under Community legislation only a degree in dentistry confers this right.

Does the Commission consider it appropriate that Italy should abolish the course of specialization in odontostomatology, thereby interpreting the Community directive in a restrictive sense?

Can the Commission say whether there is a Community provision which obliges a doctor entitled to practice dentistry to be entered in the Dental Register and the Order of Graduates in Dentistry and whether it is compatible with Community law that a person with only one degree and only one specialized qualification should be included in two different registers and orders?

Finally, can it say whether it considers it compatible with the Community directives that a Member State which does not determine the number of graduates in dentistry needed should determine, by law, the number of specialists in odontostomatology needed?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (22 July 1996)

The medical specialism odontostomatology is governed only by the 'doctors' Directive 93/16/EEC, ((OJ L 165, 7.7.1993. )) and not by the 'dentists' Directives 78/686/EEC and 78/687/EEC. ((OJ L 233, 24.8.1978. )) Directive 93/16/EEC does not affect Member States' right to introduce or to abolish medical specialisms. In this connection, the Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to her written question No E-1324/95 ((OJ C 277, 23.10.1995. )).

Under Directives 78/686/EEC and 78/687/EEC, the only doctors entitled to practise dentistry in Italy using the professional title of dentist are those who satisfy the conditions laid down in Article 19 of Directive 78/686/EEC, i.e. those who hold medical and surgical qualifications awarded in Italy on completion of medical training that commenced prior to 28 January 1980. In accordance with the Court of Justice's judgment of 1 June 1995 in Case C-40/93 Commission v Italy, ((Court Reports, 1995, p. I-1319. )) Member States are not permitted to allow dentistry to be practised by professional categories other than those stipulated in Directives 78/686/EEC and 78/687/EEC.

There is no Community provision that relates expressly to entry in the register of dentists or doctors or to registration with either profession's governing body in the case of a doctor who is entitled under Article 19 of Directive 78/686/EEC to practise dentistry. But it follows from Article 19 that, in order to set up as a dentist in another Member State, a qualified doctor or surgeon must submit to the relevant authority there a certificate issued by the Italian authorities confirming that he is entitled to practise dentistry subject to the same conditions as holders of the Italian dentist's qualification. One of those conditions is entry in the register of dentists and registration with the profession's governing body.

Nor is there any Community provision that relates expressly to entry in two registers and registration with two governing bodies on the basis of a single qualification. However, dual registration seems difficult to justify since registration with a governing body is closely linked with practising the profession concerned: either the person in question is a doctor (possibly even a doctor specializing in odontostomatology), or he satisfies the conditions laid down in Article 19 of Directive 78/686/EEC and ranks as a dentist. Doctors - even those specializing in odontostomatology - who commenced their training after 28 January 1980 are covered solely by the 'doctors' Directive and should not, therefore, be entered in a register or registered with a governing body other than that for the medical profession.

It is not contrary to Community law for a Member State to stipulate the number of doctors specializing in odontostomatology that it needs, while not stipulating likewise as regards the number of dentists. Member States remain free to restrict numbers by means of such measures.