L 107 I/2
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
6.4.2022
(6)
The right to access the labour market is a key aspect of temporary protection.
Experience shows that non-EU nationals, and in particular refugees, often have to take jobs below their qualification level (5).
Providing a simple and rapid recognition mechanism contributes greatly to ensuring that people enjoying temporary protection can work in jobs for which they are qualified.
This facilitates their integration and leads to better use of their skills, benefiting both the individual and the host community.
It also ensures people gain relevant experience and skills during their period of temporary protection, which adds value to their qualifications when returning to the home country.
(7)
The Commission’s 2021-2027 action plan on integration and inclusion (6) recognises that facilitating the recognition of qualifications acquired in non-EU countries and increasing their comparability with EU qualifications is key to faster and fairer inclusion of refugees and migrants in the labour market.
It also recognises that many highly educated migrants and refugees – in particular women – are over-qualified for their job, which may lead to depreciation of their skills.
The action plan encourages Member States to ensure that procedures for recognising foreign qualifications are quick, fair, transparent and affordable.
(8)
If a Member State has opted to regulate a specific profession (7), people enjoying temporary protection will need to obtain recognition of their professional qualifications to engage in employed or self-employed regulated activities in that profession.
Depending on the specific Member State, this can include for example different groups of health, teaching, legal, social or crafts professions.
The recognition of third country nationals’ professional qualifications takes place at national level, applying the law and procedures of the host Member State unless international agreements apply.
(9)
For non-regulated occupations, requirements for employment are not regulated by law and can vary from very specific to very general.
For these occupations there are no regulatory barriers to employing a person whose qualifications have not been recognised and there is no single process in place for the recognition of qualifications for purposes of entry into non-regulated occupations (8).
(10)
Some Member States and regions encounter shortages in a number of occupations across industrial ecosystems (9), including in several regulated professions.
Recognition of professional qualifications can help address some of these shortages and achieve a more balanced labour market.
(11)
Recognition of professional qualifications should be complemented by a framework that allows the exercise of the professions in practice, avoids bureaucratic barriers and offers advice to those who need it.
(12)
For people fleeing the war, recognition of their qualifications will not be the first thing on their minds.
It is nonetheless important to provide signposting and basic information so that people have it to hand once they need it.
In addition to Member States providing information, the Commission put in place the ‘EU solidarity with Ukraine’ website (10).
(5) OECD (2019), Ready to Help?: Improving Resilience of Integration Systems for Refugees and other Vulnerable Migrants, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264311312-en.
(6) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Action plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027, COM(2020) 758 final.
(7) According to Article 3.1 (a) of Directive 2005/36/EC a ‘regulated profession’ is: a professional activity or group of professional activities, access to which, the pursuit of which, or one of the modes of pursuit of which is subject, directly or indirectly, by virtue of legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions to the possession of specific professional qualifications; in particular, the use of a professional title limited by legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions to holders of a given professional qualification shall constitute a mode of pursuit.
(8) https://www.enic-naric.net/non-regulated-professions.aspx (9) Shortages have been reported e.g. for plumbers, nursing professionals, welders, civil engineers, general medical practitioners, bricklayers, electricians, accountants and roofers.
See European Labour Authority (2021), Report on Labour Shortages and Surpluses, November 2021, https://www.ela.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2021-12/2021%20Labour%20shortages%20%20surpluses%20report.
pdf (10) https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/stronger-europe-world/eu-solidarity-ukraine_en