WRITTEN QUESTION P-0273/03 by Evelyne Gebhardt (PSE) to the Commission. Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the recognition of professional qualifications.
Date: 2003-01-30
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: apprenticeship, free movement of workers, handicrafts, professional experience, recognition of vocational training qualifications, vocational training

3.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 155 E/217

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(26 February 2003)

In the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council on 2 and 3 December 2002, the
Commission presented preparatory work regarding the High Level process of reflection on patient mobility
which involves Health Ministers and key stakeholders. This process, jointly chaired by the Member of the
Commission in charge of Health and Consumer Protection and the Member of the Commission in charge
of Employment and Social Affairs with the close involvement of the Member of the Commission in charge
of the Internal Market, was launched on 3 February 2003. One of its aims will be to identify areas for co-
operation between Member States in the fields set out by the Honourable Member.

Some preparatory work regarding inter alia the mapping of patient flows will be supported by the
Community’s action programme on public health.

At the same time, the Commission has launched a consultation process with the Member States in order to
obtain an overview of the follow-up by the Member States to the European Court of Justice judgements on
the reimbursement of medical expenses incurred in a Member State other than the Member State of
registration (1). This should form the basis for a constructive dialogue with Member States in order to
ensure this follow-up is carried out in a concerted and coherent manner.

Further to the decision of the Barcelona European Council (March 2002) to create a European Health
Insurance Card the Commission will adopt before the European Council of Brussels of 20 March 2003 a
Communication concerning the introduction of a European Health Insurance Card. In this Communication
the Commission will propose a timetable for the progressive replacement of the current paper forms
needed in the framework of the co-ordination of national Social Security schemes under Regulation (EEC)
No 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed
persons and their families moving within the Community (2), for health treatment in another Member
State. Initially the European Health Insurance Card will carry in visually readable form the information
needed for the granting and reimbursement of health care provided in a Member State other than that in
which the recipient is insured. The third and ultimate phase will lead to the electronic version of those
forms. The timing of this latter phase depends among other things on the result of current pilot projects
such as Netcards and Netlink. The eEurope 2005 Action Plan, approved by the Seville European Council
(June 2002), envisages using the European Health Insurance Card as a basis for promoting a common
approach to patient identifiers and developping new functions such as storage of medical emergency data.

(1) Kohll (C-158/96), Decker (C-120/95), Smits and Peerbooms (C-157/99) and Vanbraeckel (C-368/98).
(2) OJ L 149, 5.7.1971.

(2003/C 155 E/237)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0273/03

by Evelyne Gebhardt (PSE) to the Commission

(30 January 2003)

Subject: Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the recognition of

professional qualifications

The new proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the recognition of
professional qualifications (1) is to be welcomed. This piece of legislation is in the interest of all European
citizens, since it represents a further step towards bringing about the free movement of workers within the
EU. The Commission has also succeeded in including in its draft directive matters relating to consumer
protection and safeguarding the quality of training.

In Germany, nevertheless, a degree of uncertainty remains as regards safeguarding the quality of training in
particular. More and more people have complained to me that the new directive impinges on the powers
of the Member States. Among other things, it is claimed that the directive will extend responsibility for
to all self-employed
training in trades, which in Germany rests exclusively with master craftsmen,

C 155 E/218

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.7.2003

tradesmen. Is it correct that, under the new European legislation on the recognition of professional
qualifications, people who are not qualified as master craftsmen will also be permitted to offer training in
the various trades?

(1) COM(2002) 119 (cid:1) OJ C 181 E, 30.7.2002, p. 183.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(25 February 2003)

It has to be emphasised that neither the existing Directives nor the proposal for a consolidated Directive
give migrant professionals the right to bear the title of master craftsman (Meister) unless they have passed
the requisite examinations.

As regards the Honourable Member’s question concerning the right to train apprentices, this has to be
considered in the light of the rules governing establishment, in that the temporary or occasional provision
of a service does not in practice allow scope for training apprentices on the territory of the host Member
State.

With regard to establishment, the proposal incorporates the acquis communautaire in respect of craft,
industrial and commercial activities currently governed by Directive 1999/42/EC (1), which provides for
two alternative recognition mechanisms, namely the non-automatic recognition of training qualifications
and automatic recognition based on the professional experience of the applicant.

Concerning the possibility of apprenticeship training being provided by migrant professionals established
in Germany, a distinction has to be made between the two existing levels of qualification for the craft
trades in Germany: on the one hand the Gesellenprüfung (journeyman’s examination), which is taken at
the end of an apprenticeship, and on the other the Meisterprüfung (master craftsman’ examination)
organised by the crafts chamber on the basis of an evaluation of a ‘master’s piece’. While the first part of
training is provided partly during the exercise of the trade and is thus covered by rules relating to
professional recognition, the second part falls under the purview of the crafts chamber, whose obligation is
limited to observing the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of nationality.

As far as the training of apprentices for the journeyman’s examination is concerned, it should be stressed
that it is incumbent on the authorities of the host Member State in question to check whether an applicant
is qualified to exercise this activity in his or her home Member State. Two situations are liable to arise:

The competent German authority receives an application for automatic recognition on the basis of
professional experience of the migrant concerned. If this professional experience includes the provision of
apprenticeship training in the home Member State, the German authority cannot refuse access to this
activity on its territory. However,
if a migrant cannot provide proof of such professional experience
regarding the provision of apprenticeship training in the home Member State, Article 4(3) of the proposal
for a Directive will enable the German authorities to limit the migrant’s access solely to craft activities
proper, to the exclusion of those comprising the provision of apprenticeship training.

The competent German authority receives an application for recognition of a formal qualification. If the
training course followed and, as the case may be, completed by the migrant in the home Member State
endows him or her with the necessary qualifications for training apprentices, there will be no justification
for refusing access to this activity in the host Member State. If, however, the training undergone by the
migrant did not enable him or her to obtain the requisite qualifications for the provision of apprenticeship
training, or if he or she has acquired such qualifications only in part and the qualifications lacking have
not been obtained elsewhere (e.g. by way of professional experience), the host Member State will be
entitled to require the migrant concerned to make up, by means of an adaptation period or aptitude test,
any difference in substance which may exist between the training undergone in the home Member State
and that required in the host Member State. Only where the specific characteristics and autonomous nature
of the activity in question render a compensatory measure inoperative could Article 4(3) of the proposal
result in the migrant’s access being limited solely to craft activities proper, to the exclusion of those
comprising the provision of apprenticeship training.

(1) Directive 1999/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 June 1999 establishing a mechanism for
the recognition of qualifications in respect of the professional activities covered by the Directives on liberalisation
and transitional measures and supplementing the general systems for the recognition of qualifications (cid:1) OJ L 201,
31.7.1999.