WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1417/99 by Nelly MAES Freedom of movement and freedom to practice medicine; supernumerary doctors working on the black in Belgium; unfair competition; infringement of directives 93/16/EEC, 82/76/EEC and Article 12 of the Treaty
Date: 1999-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, MAES
Subjects: Belgium, EU law - national law, moonlighting, organisation of professions, physician

C 27 E/58

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.1.2000

(2000/C 27 E/069)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1417/99

by Nelly Maes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(1 September 1999)

Subject: Freedom of movement and freedom to practice medicine; supernumerary doctors working on the
infringement of directives 93/16/EEC, 82/76/EEC and

black in Belgium; unfair competition;
Article 12 of the Treaty

Directives 82/76/EEC (1) and 93/16/EEC (2), which both cover the freedom of movement of doc tors and
recognition of their diplomas, certificates and formal qualifications, are blatantly being infringed by the
Belgian state with important consequences at the personal level, and also for the state.

The information at my disposal (provided by the personnel department of a Brussels teaching hospital)
show that in the three teaching hospitals in Brussels alone more than 200 trainee specialists (in French:
(cid:145)MACS (cid:129) MØdecins Assistents Candidats SpØcialistes(cid:146)) are working under an illegal contractor of employ-
ment as supernumerary doctors (mØdecins surnumeraires), even though they are bound by the same terms
of employment without the appropriate remuneration pursuant to Annex I of directive 93/16/EEC.

The (cid:145)supernumerary doctor(cid:146)s(cid:146) contract is equivalent to that of the pseudo-selfemployed, which is a well-
known feature of the catering trade. This is without doubt discriminatory with regard to the trainee
specialists in question, but it also represents a loss of income amounting to millions of euros for the
Belgian federal and regional authorities as a result of pseudo-selfemployed persons working on the black
who, moreover, are in unfair competition with the hospitals not taking part in this practice.

Is the Commission aware of this discrimination for which there are no objective grounds and which is
therefore arbitrary? Does the Commission believe that this practice is an infringement of directives 82/76/
EEC and 93/16/EEC? Has the Commission any information on other Member States, or can it conduct an
inquiry into such infringements in the Member States? If so, which Member States are involved?

Can the Commission state whether it has already taken action to put an end to this form of malpractice
which is an infringement of Article 12 of
the Treaty of Amsterdam (formerly Article 6)? Is the
Commission prepared to take any other action in the immediate future to ensure that these directives are
applied and that they constitute more than a moral obligation?

(1) OJ L 43, 15.2.1982, p. 21.
(2) OJ L 165, 7.7.1993, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(15 September 1999)

With regard to the right of trainee specialist doctors to receive appropriate remuneration, it should be
noted that some categories of doctors who undergo specialist medical training do not benefit from the
provisions of 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.

In fact, the field of application of this Directive is restricted to Community nationals and the obligation to
provide appropriate remuneration for periods of training undertaken by specialist doctors only arises for
medical specialities which are common to all the Member States or to two or more of them, as mentioned
in Articles 5 and 7 of Directive 93/16/EEC.

Under these conditions, different types of status may co-exist without this contravening Community law.

As regards the other points in the question, the Commission considers that these do not fall within its field
of competence, but are the responsibility of the Member States(cid:146) authorities,
including the courts and
judicial authorities.