CELEX: 51984PC0654
Language: en
Date: 1984-11-30
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON SPECIFIC TRAINING IN GENERAL MEDICAL PRACTICE

15.1.85                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 13/3
              Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 355/77 on common
              measures to improve the conditions under which agricultural and fishery products are
                                                    processed and marketed
                                                       COM(84) 682 final
                               (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 7 December 1984)
                                                          (84/C 13/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                         should be made for an overall Community
COMMUNITIES,                                                        contribution amounting to 242,5 million ECU in 1985
                                                                    and 300 million ECU per year in subsequent years,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Economic Community, and in particular                      HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 43 thereof,
                                                                                             Article 1
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                    Regulation (EEC) No 355/77 is hereby amended as
Having regard to the opinion of the                 European        follows:
Parliament,                                                         The last subparagraph of Article 16 (3) is replaced by
                                                                    the following:
Whereas Article 16 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No
355/77 ('), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No                     'The estimated cost of the common measures
1932/84 (2), stipulates that the estimated cost of the                 chargeable to the Fund for the period 1 January
common measures instituted by that Regulation and                      1985 to 31 December 1989 is 1 442,5 million ECU,
chargeable to the European Agricultural Guidance                       i.e. an estimated cost of 242,5 million ECU in 1985
and Guarantee Fund, Guidance Section, for the                          and 300 million ECU per year in subsequent years.
period 1 January 1985 to 31 December 1989 is to be                     These amounts are for guidance only.'
fixed by 31 December 1984;
                                                                                             Article 2
Whereas, given the real need to improve the
                                                                    This Regulation shall enter into force on the third
conditions under which agricultural and fishery
                                                                    day following its publication in the Official Journal of
products are processed and marketed, provision
                                                                    the European Communities.
C) OJ No L 51, 23. 2. 1977, p. 1.                                   This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
O O J N o L 1 8 0 , 7 . 7. 1984, p. 1.                              directly applicable in all Member States.
                       Proposal for a Council Directive on specific training in general medical practice
                                                       COM(84) 634 final
                              (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 11 December 1984)
                                                          (84/C 13/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                         Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
COMMUNITIES,
                                                                    Having regard to the opinion of the           European
                                                                    Parliament,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Economic Community, and in particular                      Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Articles 49, 57 and 66 thereof,                                     Social Committee,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 13/4                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                15.1. 85
Whereas Directives 75/362/EEC O and 75/363/                     medical practitioner should possess specific training in
EEC (2) of 16 June 1975 concerning the freedom on               general medical practice in addition to the training
the part of doctors to provide services do not contain          which the doctor should have by virtue of Directive
any provisions regarding the mutual recognition of              75/363/EEC;
diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal
qualifications in general medical practice or the
criterion with which this condition conforms;                   Whereas, to ensure the gradual introduction of this
                                                                reform, it is necessary at the first stage to institute in
                                                                each Member State specific training in general
Whereas Member States have developed a tendency                 medical practice meeting minimum requirements as
to emphasize the general practitioner's role and the            regards quantity and quality, and to establish in each
importance of the related training; whereas they                Member State a professional title granted only to
accordingly requested the Commission to study the               candidates who have completed the said training;
problems connected with this development;                       whereas in the second stage, provision should be
                                                                made to subject the exercise of general medical
                                                                practice under a social security system to completion
Whereas this tendency has spread and amplified to               of specific training in general medical practice;
the point where it is almost universally recognized             whereas further proposals to complete the reform
that there is need for specific training for the general        should subsequently be put forward;
medical practitioner to enable him better to fulfil his
function; whereas this function depends to a great
extent on the doctor's personal knowledge of his                Whereas the coordination of minimum conditions
patients' environment, and consists of giving                   governing the issue of diplomas, certificates and other
treatment and advice relating to the health of the              evidence      of    formal     qualifications   certifying
individual taken as a whole;                                    completion of specific training in general medical
                                                                practice in accordance with this Directive will make
                                                                possible the mutual recognition of these diplomas,
Whereas this need has emerged mainly as a result of             certificates and other evidence of qualifications by the
the development of medical science which has                    Member States;
increased the gap between teaching and medical
research on the one hand and the exercise of general
medical practice on the other, so that the important            Whereas under Directive 75/362/EEC a Member
aspects of general medical practice can no longer be            State is not entitled to require doctors in possession
taught in a satisfactory manner within the traditional          of diplomas obtained in another Member State and
basic medical framework;                                        recognized under this Directive to complete any
                                                                additional training in order to practise within its
                                                                social security system, even where such training is
Whereas apart from the benefit to patients, it is also          required from holders of diplomas of medicine
recognized in the general health policy context that            obtained in that Member State; whereas this
improved training for the specific function of general          consequence of Directive 75/362/EEC will remain in
medical practitioner would contribute to an                     effect as regards the practice of general medical
improvement in health care, particularly by                     practice under social security systems until 1 January
developing a more selective approach to the consul-             1993, from which date under the present Directive all
tation of specialists, use of laboratories and other            Member States must make the exercise of general
highly specialized establishments and equipment;                medical practice in the context of their social security
                                                                systems subject to the possession of specific training
                                                                in general medical practice; whereas doctors
Whereas an improvement in the training for general              established in practice before that date by virtue of
medical practice will attract a greater number of               Directive 75/362/EEC should possess an acquired
candidates to this field;                                       right to exercise the activities of doctor as general
                                                                medical practitioner under the national social security
                                                                system of the host country without completing a
Whereas although this tendency appears to be irre-              specific training in general medical practice,
versible, it has developed at a different pace in the
various Member States; whereas it is desirable to
ensure that the tendency converges at the same point
after successive stages without however precipitating           HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
current trends, the final goal being that any doctor
who wishes to take up the function of general
                                                                                         Article 1
(') OJ No L 167, 30. 6. 1975, p. 1.                             1.     Each Member State shall institute specific
(2) OJ No L 167, 30. 6. 1975, p. 14.                            training in general medical practice meeting
 ---pagebreak---  15.1. 85                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 13/5
requirements at least as stringent as those laid down            2.     Part-time training must be equivalent in quality
in Article 2 in such a manner that the first diplomas,           to full-time training. Its total duration may not be
certificates    and     other    evidence     of    formal       reduced by reason of the fact that it is provided on a
qualifications awarded on completion of the course               part-time basis. On completion of the training, a
are issued not later than 1 January 1990.                        diploma, certificate or other title as referred to in
                                                                 Article 1(1) must be issued.
2.     Not later than 1 January 1990 and subject to
any acquired rights which it recognizes, each Member
State shall make the right to the professional title
                                                                                          Article 4
which it specifies conditional on the possession of a
diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal                  1.    Irrespective of any acquired rights they
qualification issued in respect of the specific training         recognize, Member States may issue the diploma,
referred to in paragraph 1.                                      certificate or other evidence of formal qualifactions
                                                                 referred to in Article 1 (1) to a doctor who has not
                         Article 2                               completed the training referred to in Article 2 but
                                                                 holds a diploma, certificate or other evidence of
 1.    The specific training in general medical practice         formal qualification issued by the competent auth-
referred to in Article 1 must meet the following                 orities of a Member State and certifying completion
minimum requirements:                                            of another additonal training course, provided that:
(a) entry shall    be conditional upon the successful
     completion   of at least six year's study within the        — this is justified by the individual circumstances,
     framework    of the training course referred to in
     Article 1 of Directive 75/363/EEC;
                                                                 — the diploma issued attests to a level of skill
(b) it shall be a full-time course lasting at least two              equivalent to that reached on completion of the
     years and supervized by the competent authorities               training referred to in Article 2.
     or bodies;
(c) it shall be practically rather than theoretically
     based, the practical instruction being given in a           2.     In adopting their rules in accordance with
     suitably equipped hospital or clinic and for at             paragraph 1, Member States shall specify the extent
     least six months in an approved general medical             to which the additional training already completed by
     practice; it shall be carried out in contact with           the candidate and his professional experience may be
     other health establishments structures concerned            taken into account in place of all or part of the
     with general medical practice;                              training referred to in Article 2.
(d) it shall entail the personal participation of the
     candidate in the activities and responsibilities of
     the persons with whom he works.                                                      Article 5
                                                                 1.    From 1 January 1993 and subject to the
2.     The Member States shall make the issue of                 acquired rights it has recognized, each Member State
diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal              shall make the exercise of general medical practice
qualifications awarded after specific training in                under its social security system conditional on
general medical practice conditional upon the                    possession of a diploma, certificate or other evidence
candidate holding one of the diplomas, certificates or           of formal qualifications as referred to in Article 1(1).
other evidence of qualifations referred to in Article 3
of Directive 75/363/EEC.
                                                                 However, Member States may exempt from this
3.     The Member States shall designate the auth-               condition persons who are undergoing specific
orities or bodies competent to issue the diplomas,               training in general medical practice.
certificates    and    other     evidence     of    formal
qualifications awarded after specific training in
general medical practice.                                        2.    Each Member State shall specify the acquired
                                                                 rights that it recognizes. However, it shall recognize
                         Article 3                               the right to exercise the activities of general medical
                                                                 practitioner under its national social security system
1.     Without prejudice to the principle set out in             without the diploma, certificate or other evidence of
Article 2 (1) (b) that training shall be full-time, the          formal qualifications referred to in Article 1 (1) as
Member States may permit part-time specific training             having been acquired by all those doctors who on 31
in general medical practice when for well-founded                December 1992 possess such a right under Directive
personal reasons training on a full-time basis would             75/362/EEC and who are established on its territory
not be practicable.                                              by virtue of Article 2 or 9 (1) of that Directive.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 13/6                            Official Journal of the European Communities                               15.1.85
3.     Member States may apply paragraph 1 before                                       Article 8
1 January 1993 on condition that any doctor is able
to establish himself in practice on their territory until       1.    "Without prejudice to Article 7, host Member
31 December 1992 by virtue of Articles 2 or 9 (1) of            States shall ensure that the nationals of Member
Directive 75/362/EEC.                                           States covered by Article 6 have the right to use the
                                                                lawful academic title, or, where appropriate, the
4.     The competent authorities of each Member                 abbreviation thereof, of their Member State of origin
State shall issue on request a certificate granting             or of the Member State from which they come, in the
doctors possessing acquired rights by virtue of                 language of that Member State. Host Member States
paragraph 2 the right to practise under its national            may require this title to be followed by the name and
social security system without the diploma, certificate         location of the establishment or examining board
or other evidence of formal qualifications as referred          which awarded it.
to in Article 1 (1).
                                                                2.    If the academic title used in the Member State
5.     The provisions of paragraph 1 shall in no way            of origin, or in the Member State from which a
prejudice any facility which may be granted in                  foreign national comes, can be confused in the host
accordance with their own rules by Member States in             Member State with a title requiring specific training
respect of their own territory for purposes of auth-            which the person concerned has not undergone, the
orizing as general medical practitioners under a social         host Member State may require such a person to use
security system persons who do not possess diplomas,            the title employed in the Member State of origin or
certificates or other formal evidence of medical                the Member State from which he comes in suitable
training and of specific training in general medical            wording to be drawn up by the host member State.
practice obtained in both cases in a Member State,
but who possess diplomas, certificates or other
evidence of either or both of these schemes of                                           Article 9
training obtained in a non-member country.                      Not later than 1 January 1995, the Commission shall
                                                                present a report to the Council describing the extent
                         Article 6                              to which the application of Article 5 has helped to
                                                                 achieve the objective that any doctor wishing to
 1.     Each Member State shall recognize the
                                                                practise as general medical practitioner must have
diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal
                                                                 completed specific training in general medical
qualifications referred to in Article 1 (1) issued to
                                                                practice; it shall also present the necessary proposals
nationals of Member States by other Member States
                                                                to achieve this objective in full.
 in accordance with Articles 2, 3 or 4 as being
 equivalent within its territory to the diplomas, cer-
 tificates or other evidence of formal qualifications                                   Article 10
 awarded by that Member State, and thus authorizing
                                                                 1.   Member States shall inform the Commission and
the exercise of the activities of general medical
                                                                 the other Member States of the measures taken to
practitioner under its national social security system.
                                                                 comply with this Directive.
 2.     Each Member State shall recognize the cer-
                                                                 They shall also notify the Commission and the other
 tificates referred to in Article 5 (4) issued to
                                                                 Member States of the date of entry into force of these
 Community nationals by other Member States and
                                                                 measures.
 consider them as equivalent to the certificates,
 diplomas and the like issued by its own competent
 authorities and entitling the holder to practise as a           2.   As soon as a Member State has informed the
 general medical practitioner under its national social          Commission of the date of entry into force of the
 security system.                                                measures it has taken in conformity with Article 1(1)
                                                                 and (2), the latter shall publish an appropirate notice
                                                                 in the Official Journal of the European Communities
                         Article 7
                                                                 indicating the designations adopted by that Member
  Nationals of Member States to whom a Member                    State for the diploma, certificate or other evidence of
  State has issued the diplomas, certificates and other          formal qualifications in question.
  evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Article
  1 (1) shall have the right to use in the host Member
                                                                                        Article 11
  State the professional title adopted by that State
 pursuant to Article 1 (2) and the abbreviation thereof.         This Directive is addressed to the Member States.