WRITTEN QUESTION E-1732/96 by Marie-Paule Kestelijn-Sierens (ELDR) to the Commission (25 June 1996)

Subject: Status of pharmacist's assistants

1. Do all Member States have a specific form of training as a pharmacist's assistant? Which Member States do not?

2. Which Member States recognise the profession of pharmacist's assistant as a paramedical profession?

3. Can pharmacists's assistants be considered for comparability of professional qualifications?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (5 September 1996)

1 and 2. According to the information in the Commission's possession, the profession of pharmacist's assistant is regulated in Denmark, Germany, Greece, France, the Netherlands and Portugal. There is therefore a specific form of training giving access to the profession in those Member States.

Specific training for pharmacist's assistants also exists in Spain, Finland and, apparently, Belgium, although the profession itself is not regulated in those countries.

The profession is not regulated in Italy, Austria, Sweden or the United Kingdom; neither is there, as far as the Commission is aware, any specific training in those countries. The Commission does not have clear-cut information on Ireland and Luxembourg but is almost certain that the profession is not regulated there either.

The Commission takes the view that the profession of pharmacist's assistant belongs to the paramedical sector.

3. Since there is no Community definition of the profession of pharmacist's assistant or any specific Community directive harmonizing the conditions governing access to and pursuit of the profession in the Member States on the basis of minimum training requirements, the profession is covered, as far as the recognition of qualifications is concerned, by the general systems for the recognition of professional education and training established by Directives 89/48/EEC ((OJ L 19, 24.1.1989. )) and 92/51/EEC. ((OJ L 209, 24.7.1992. ))

These Directives do not require Member States to regulate the pursuit of any of the professions that may fall within their scope; neither do they themselves coordinate the education and training that gives access to those professions. They merely constitute a reference standard laying down the necessary and sufficient conditions which professional education and training must fulfil in order to qualify for recognition in the Member States, which therefore remain free to choose whether or not to regulate the access to and pursuit of a particular profession and also to set the level of minimum qualifications required for the purpose.

Under the procedure established by Article 15 of Directive 92/51/EEC, the Commission has received three requests for the inclusion of training courses for pharmacist's assistants in Annex C to the Directive. The requests were made by Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

Inclusion of a training course in Annex C to Directive 92/51/EEC makes it possible to treat in the same way as a 'diploma' (Article 1(a)) a 'certificate' (Article 1(b)) providing evidence of training which, although it does not meet the requirements of point (i) of the second indent of the first subparagraph of Article 1(a) (strict definition of 'diploma'), is of a comparable standard and does allow the holder to be entrusted with a similar level of responsibilities and tasks.

The Commission would, however, draw the Honourable Member's attention to the fact that Article 5 of Directive 92/51/EEC expressly establishes a linkage between the two forms of training which enables migrant professionals who are holders of a certificate to obtain recognition of their qualifications in those Member States where access to a particular profession is subject to possession of a diploma.

The Commission is currently examining the requests submitted under Article 15.