Case C-508/24: Action brought on 20 July 2024 – European Commission v Republic of Malta
Date: 2024-07-20
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: freedom to provide services, infringement of EU law, national implementing measure, professional qualifications, provision of services, recognition of diplomas, recognition of vocational training qualifications, right of establishment, veterinarian, vocational training








C_202405613EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5613


30.9.2024






Action brought on 20 July 2024 – European Commission v Republic of Malta


(Case C-508/24)

(C/2024/5613)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: L. Armati and M. Mataija, Agents)

Defendant: Republic of Malta

                   
               
The applicant claims that the Court should:






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declare that:






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by requiring veterinary surgeons to obtain prior approval for the provision of services, by requiring that they make a declaration in advance of every provision of services, by requiring that they do so at least 15 days prior to arrival, and by requiring that such a declaration be made by email, the Republic of Malta has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 7(1) of Directive 2005/36 (1);










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by requiring that all veterinary surgeons submit evidence of professional practice during the 10 years preceding the provision of services, and provide a description of the services to be provided and the location from where they are to be provided, the Republic of Malta has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 7(2) of Directive 2005/36; and










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by not transposing the rules for specific training in general medical practice, the Republic of Malta has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 28 of Directive 2005/36;














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and order Republic of Malta to pay the costs.





Pleas in law and main arguments

The period prescribed for transposing the directive expired on 20/10/2007.
Under Article 7(1) of Directive 2005/36, as amended by Directive 2013/55 (2), Member States may require that, where the service provider first moves from one Member State to another in order to provide services, he shall inform the competent authority in the host Member State in a written declaration to be made in advance. Such declaration shall be renewed once a year if the service provider intends to provide temporary or occasional services in that Member State during that year. The service provider may supply the declaration by any means.
The Commission requests the Court to find that the Republic of Malta has failed to fulfil its obligations under that provision by requiring veterinary surgeons to obtain prior approval for the provision of services, by requiring that they make a declaration in advance of every provision of services, by requiring that they do so at least 15 days prior to arrival, and by requiring that such a declaration be made by email.
Under Article 7(2) of that directive, Member States may require, for the first provision of services or if there is a material change in the situation substantiated by the documents, that the declaration referred to in Article 7(1) be accompanied by certain documents listed in that provision.
The Commission requests the Court to find that the Republic of Malta has failed to fulfil its obligations under that provision by requiring veterinary surgeons to provide evidence of their practice as a veterinary surgeon during the preceding ten years, as well as a description of the services to be provided and an indication of the location from where such services are to be provided.
Under Article 28 of that directive, admission to specific training in general medical practice shall be contingent upon completion and validation of a basic medical training programme as referred to in Article 24(2) in the course of which the trainee has acquired the relevant knowledge of basic medicine.
The Commission requests the Court to find that the Republic of Malta has failed to fulfil its obligations under that provision by failing to transpose the rules for specific training in general medical practice.


(1)  Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications (OJ 2005, L 255, p.22).

(2)  Directive 2013/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 amending Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications and Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System (‘the IMI Regulation’) (OJ 2013, L 354, p. 132).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/5613/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)