WRITTEN QUESTION E-0672/04 by Proinsias De Rossa (PSE) to the Commission. Recognition of pharmacists' professional qualifications.
Date: 2004-03-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: application of EU law, complaint to the Commission, free movement of workers, pharmacist, recognition of vocational training qualifications, right of establishment

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/651

Answer given by Ms Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(2 April 2004)

As the Commission indicated in its recent reply to Written Question P-0074/04 (1), the Honourable
Member can obtain more detailed information from the General Secretariat of the Council, which provided
the secretariat for the two conventions.

(1) See page 144.

(2004/C 84 E/0733)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0671/04

by Proinsias De Rossa (PSE) to the Commission

(9 March 2004)

Subject: Ireland’s failure to report on CO2 emissions from new passenger cars

What reply, if any, has the Commission received from the Irish Government in response to the reasoned
opinion sent to Ireland in April 2002, as announced in IP/02/553, regarding Ireland’s failure to report on
CO2 emissions from new passenger cars in line with Decision No 1753/2000/EC (1) of 22 June 2000?
What action has the Commission taken or is it considering taking in this matter?

(1) OJ L 202, 10.8.2000, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(16 April 2004)

The infringement procedure referred to by the Honourable Member (1) relates to the failure by Ireland to
provide monitoring data on Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new passenger cars for the year 2000
pursuant to Decision No 1753/2000/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000 establishing
a scheme to monitor the average specific emissions of CO2 from new passenger cars. As Ireland’s response
to this infringement did not provide the missing information, the Commission decided to refer Ireland to
the Court of Justice and a Court application was lodged in June 2003. During the course of the Court
proceedings, Ireland provided data for 2000 and 2001. The Commission considered that the infringement
had thereby been brought to an end and in December 2003 it decided to withdraw the proceedings from
the Court.

(1) 2001/2203.

(2004/C 84 E/0734)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0672/04

by Proinsias De Rossa (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Recognition of pharmacists’ professional qualifications

(9 March 2004)

Article 2, paragraph 2 of Directive 85/433/EEC (1) allows Member States to prevent pharmacists who have
obtained their qualifications in another Member State from working in pharmacies established for less than
three years.

Has the Commission received complaints regarding the impact of this particular provision at Member State
level and, if so, what has been its response to these complaints?

(1) OJ L 253, 24.9.1985, p. 37.

C 84 E/652

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(21 April 2004)

First of all, the Commission would like to explain that the provision to which the Honourable Member
refers does not allow Member States to refuse pharmacists who have obtained their qualifications in
another Member State the right to work in dispensing pharmacies which have been open for less than
three years. This provision only makes it possible to prevent these pharmacists from being the owner (in
Member states where ownership is reserved for pharmacists only), controller or managing pharmacist/
technical supervisor (i.e. the person who assumes the ultimate responsibility for running the pharmacy) of
such a pharmacy. As a result, the pharmacists in question have the right to work in a dispensing pharmacy
which has been open for less than three years, even if they can only work there as employees.

The Commission has not received any complaints about this matter. It has, however, received mail on this
topic, mainly from Parliamentary representatives. A petition concerning this derogation, which has since
been closed, was also submitted to the Parliament’s Committee on Petitions.

As the Commission stated in its replies and communications regarding the above-mentioned letters and
petition, the purpose of the derogation laid down by the first subparagraph of Article 2(2) of Directive 85/
433/EEC (1) is explained in the seventh recital of that Directive: to avoid problems which may result from
the differences between Member States which restrict the number of new pharmacies that may be
established and those which have no such restrictions.

The second subparagraph of Article 2(2) lays down that the derogation should be reviewed five years after
the entry into force of the Directive. However, it emerged from this review which took place in 1993 that
around half of the Member States made use, at that time, of the derogation. This is why no proposal was
then put forward to remove it.

As is clear from the wording of the provision in question, this derogation is simply an option which the
Member States may or may not use. Should a Member State therefore decide to amend its legislation by
removing the restriction in question, and thus expanding the freedom of establishment for pharmacists,
there would be no infringement of Directive 85/433/EEC.

In its proposal for a Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications of 7 March 2002 (2), the
Commission did propose that this derogation be removed. However, at its first reading, the Parliament
adopted amendments to reinstate this provision in the proposal. The Commission has rejected these
amendments.

(1) Council Directive 85/433/EEC of 16 September 1985 concerning the mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates
and other evidence of formal qualifications in pharmacy, including measures to facilitate the effective exercise of the
right of establishment relating to certain activities in the field of pharmacy, OJ L 253, 24.9.1985.

(2) COM(2002) 119 final.

(2004/C 84 E/0735)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0673/04

by Proinsias De Rossa (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Third level education charges for EU citizens

(9 March 2004)

In Irish third level education, students considered as non-EU citizens often pay three times more in fees
than their EU citizen counterparts.

Is the Commission aware that the Irish Government has not yet informed citizens of accession states,
currently hoping to begin third-level education in Ireland next academic year, whether they will be eligible
for reduced EU-citizen fees? The final date for submission of applications to third level institutions has
already passed, yet many prospective students at Irish universities and colleges have had no indication
from the Department of Education and Science as to what their status will be when the new academic year
begins in September.