Article 23 Acquired rights
1. Without prejudice to the acquired rights specific to the professions concerned, in cases where the evidence of formal qualifications as doctor giving access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training and specialised doctor, as nurse responsible for general care, as dental practitioner, as specialised dental practitioner, as veterinary surgeon, as midwife and as pharmacist held by Member States nationals does not satisfy all the training requirements referred to in Articles 24, 25, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40 and 44, each Member State shall recognise as sufficient proof evidence of formal qualifications issued by those Member States insofar as such evidence attests successful completion of training which began before the reference dates laid down in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2 and is accompanied by a certificate stating that the holders have been effectively and lawfully engaged in the activities in question for at least three consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of the certificate. 2. The same provisions shall apply to evidence of formal qualifications as doctor giving access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training and specialised doctor, as nurse responsible for general care, as dental practitioner, as specialised dental practitioner, as veterinary surgeon, as midwife and as pharmacist, obtained in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic, which does not satisfy all the minimum training requirements laid down in Articles 24, 25, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40 and 44 if such evidence certifies successful completion of training which began before: (a) 3 October 1990 for doctors with basic training, nurses responsible for general care, dental practitioners with basic training, specialised dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives and pharmacists, and (b) 3 April 1992 for specialised doctors. The evidence of formal qualifications referred to in the first subparagraph confers on the holder the right to pursue professional activities throughout German territory under the same conditions as evidence of formal qualifications issued by the competent German authorities referred to in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2. 3. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 37(1), each Member State shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications as doctor giving access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training and specialised doctor, as nurse responsible for general care, as veterinary surgeon, as midwife, as pharmacist and as architect held by Member States nationals and issued by the former Czechoslovakia, or whose training commenced, for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, before 1 January 1993, where the authorities of either of the two aforementioned Member States attest that such evidence of formal qualifications has the same legal validity within their territory as the evidence of formal qualifications which they issue and, with respect to architects, as the evidence of formal qualifications specified for those Member States in Annex VI, point 6, as regards access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training, specialised doctor, nurse responsible for general care, veterinary surgeon, midwife, pharmacist with respect to the activities referred to in Article 45(2), and architect with respect to the activities referred to in Article 48, and the pursuit of such activities. Such an attestation must be accompanied by a certificate issued by those same authorities stating that such persons have effectively and lawfully been engaged in the activities in question within their territory for at least three consecutive years during the five years prior to the date of issue of the certificate. 4. Each Member State shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications as doctor giving access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training and specialised doctor, as nurse responsible for general care, as dental practitioner, as specialised dental practitioner, as veterinary surgeon, as midwife, as pharmacist and as architect held by nationals of the Member States and issued by the former Soviet Union, or whose training commenced (a) for Estonia, before 20 August 1991, (b) for Latvia, before 21 August 1991, (c) for Lithuania, before 11 March 1990, where the authorities of any of the three aforementioned Member States attest that such evidence has the same legal validity within their territory as the evidence which they issue and, with respect to architects, as the evidence of formal qualifications specified for those Member States in Annex VI, point 6, as regards access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training, specialised doctor, nurse responsible for general care, dental practitioner, specialised dental practitioner, veterinary surgeon, midwife, pharmacist with respect to the activities referred to in Article 45(2), and architect with respect to the activities referred to in Article 48, and the pursuit of such activities. With regard to evidence of formal qualifications as veterinary surgeons issued by the former Soviet Union or in respect of which training commenced, for Estonia, before 20 August 1991, the attestation referred to in the preceding subparagraph must be accompanied by a certificate issued by the Estonian authorities stating that such persons have effectively and lawfully been engaged in the activities in question within their territory for at least five consecutive years during the seven years prior to the date of issue of the certificate. 5. Each Member State shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications as doctor giving access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training and specialised doctor, as nurse responsible for general care, as dental practitioner, as specialised dental practitioner, as veterinary surgeon, as midwife, as pharmacist and as architect held by nationals of the Member States and issued by the former Yugoslavia, or whose training commenced, for Slovenia, before 25 June 1991, where the authorities of the aforementioned Member State attest that such evidence has the same legal validity within their territory as the evidence which they issue and, with respect to architects, as the evidence of formal qualifications specified for those Member States in Annex VI, point 6, as regards access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training, specialised doctor, nurse responsible for general care, dental practitioner, specialised dental practitioner, veterinary surgeon, midwife, pharmacist with respect to the activities referred to in Article 45(2), and architect with respect to the activities referred to in Article 48, and the pursuit of such activities. 6. Each Member State shall recognise as sufficient proof for Member State nationals whose evidence of formal qualifications as a doctor, nurse responsible for general care, dental practitioner, veterinary surgeon, midwife and pharmacist does not correspond to the titles given for that Member State in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.3, 5.1.4, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2, evidence of formal qualifications issued by those Member States accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent authorities or bodies. The certificate referred to in the first subparagraph shall state that the evidence of formal qualifications certifies successful completion of training in accordance with Articles 24, 25, 28, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40 and 44 respectively and is treated by the Member State which issued it in the same way as the qualifications whose titles are listed in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.3, 5.1.4, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 23 Acquired rights):
1. Without prejudice to the acquired rights specific to the professions concerned, in cases where the evidence of formal qualifications as doctor giving access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training and specialised doctor, as nurse responsible for general care, as dental practitioner, as specialised dental practitioner, as veterinary surgeon, as midwife and as pharmacist held by Member States nationals does not satisfy all the training requirements referred to in Articles 24, 25, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40 and 44, each Member State shall recognise as sufficient proof evidence of formal qualifications issued by those Member States insofar as such evidence attests successful completion of training which began before the reference dates laid down in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2 and is accompanied by a certificate stating that the holders have been effectively and lawfully engaged in the activities in question for at least three consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of the certificate. 2. The same provisions shall apply to evidence of formal qualifications as doctor giving access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training and specialised doctor, as nurse responsible for general care, as dental practitioner, as specialised dental practitioner, as veterinary surgeon, as midwife and as pharmacist, obtained in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic, which does not satisfy all the minimum training requirements laid down in Articles 24, 25, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40 and 44 if such evidence certifies successful completion of training which began before: (a) 3 October 1990 for doctors with basic training, nurses responsible for general care, dental practitioners with basic training, specialised dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives and pharmacists, and (b) 3 April 1992 for specialised doctors. The evidence of formal qualifications referred to in the first subparagraph confers on the holder the right to pursue professional activities throughout German territory under the same conditions as evidence of formal qualifications issued by the competent German authorities referred to in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2. 3. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 37(1), each Member State shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications as doctor giving access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training and specialised doctor, as nurse responsible for general care, as veterinary surgeon, as midwife, as pharmacist and as architect held by Member States nationals and issued by the former Czechoslovakia, or whose training commenced, for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, before 1 January 1993, where the authorities of either of the two aforementioned Member States attest that such evidence of formal qualifications has the same legal validity within their territory as the evidence of formal qualifications which they issue and, with respect to architects, as the evidence of formal qualifications specified for those Member States in Annex VI, point 6, as regards access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training, specialised doctor, nurse responsible for general care, veterinary surgeon, midwife, pharmacist with respect to the activities referred to in Article 45(2), and architect with respect to the activities referred to in Article 48, and the pursuit of such activities. Such an attestation must be accompanied by a certificate issued by those same authorities stating that such persons have effectively and lawfully been engaged in the activities in question within their territory for at least three consecutive years during the five years prior to the date of issue of the certificate. 4. where the authorities of any of the three aforementioned Member States attest that such evidence has the same legal validity within their territory as the evidence which they issue and, with respect to architects, as the evidence of formal qualifications specified for those Member States in Annex VI, point 6, as regards access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training, specialised doctor, nurse responsible for general care, dental practitioner, specialised dental practitioner, veterinary surgeon, midwife, pharmacist with respect to the activities referred to in Article 45(2), and architect with respect to the activities referred to in Article 48, and the pursuit of such activities. With regard to evidence of formal qualifications as veterinary surgeons issued by the former Soviet Union or in respect of which training commenced, for Estonia, before 20 August 1991, the attestation referred to in the preceding subparagraph must be accompanied by a certificate issued by the Estonian authorities stating that such persons have effectively and lawfully been engaged in the activities in question within their territory for at least five consecutive years during the seven years prior to the date of issue of the certificate. 6. Each Member State shall recognise as sufficient proof for Member State nationals whose evidence of formal qualifications as a doctor, nurse responsible for general care, dental practitioner, veterinary surgeon, midwife and pharmacist does not correspond to the titles given for that Member State in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.3, 5.1.4, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2, evidence of formal qualifications issued by those Member States accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent authorities or bodies. The certificate referred to in the first subparagraph shall state that the evidence of formal qualifications certifies successful completion of training in accordance with Articles 24, 25, 28, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40 and 44 respectively and is treated by the Member State which issued it in the same way as the qualifications whose titles are listed in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.3, 5.1.4, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2.
Article 23a Specific circumstances
1. By way of derogation from the present Directive, Bulgaria may authorise the holders of the qualification of ‘фелдшер’ (feldsher) awarded in Bulgaria before 31 December 1999 and exercising this profession under the Bulgarian national social security scheme on 1 January 2000 to continue to exercise the said profession, even if parts of their activity fall under the provisions of the present Directive concerning doctors of medicine and nurses responsible for general care respectively. 2. The holders of the Bulgarian qualification of ‘фелдшер’ (feldsher) referred to in paragraph 1 are not entitled to obtain professional recognition in other Member States as doctors of medicine nor as nurses responsible for general care under this Directive.
Article 24 Basic medical training
1. Admission to basic medical training shall be contingent upon possession of a diploma or certificate providing access, for the studies in question, to universities. 2. Basic medical training shall comprise a total of at least six years of study or 5 500 hours of theoretical and practical training provided by, or under the supervision of, a university. For persons who began their studies before 1 January 1972, the course of training referred to in the first subparagraph may comprise six months of full-time practical training at university level under the supervision of the competent authorities. 3. Basic medical training shall provide an assurance that the person in question has acquired the following knowledge and skills: (a) adequate knowledge of the sciences on which medicine is based and a good understanding of the scientific methods including the principles of measuring biological functions, the evaluation of scientifically established facts and the analysis of data; (b) sufficient understanding of the structure, functions and behaviour of healthy and sick persons, as well as relations between the state of health and physical and social surroundings of the human being; (c) adequate knowledge of clinical disciplines and practices, providing him with a coherent picture of mental and physical diseases, of medicine from the points of view of prophylaxis, diagnosis and therapy and of human reproduction; (d) suitable clinical experience in hospitals under appropriate supervision.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 24 Basic medical training):
1. Admission to basic medical training shall be contingent upon possession of a diploma or certificate providing access, for the studies in question, to universities. 2. Basic medical training shall comprise a total of at least five years of study, which may in addition be expressed with the equivalent ECTS credits, and shall consist of at least 5 500 hours of theoretical and practical training provided by, or under the supervision of, a university. For professionals who began their studies before 1 January 1972, the course of training referred to in the first subparagraph may comprise six months of full-time practical training at university level under the supervision of the competent authorities.
Article 25 Specialist medical training
1. Admission to specialist medical training shall be contingent upon completion and validation of six years of study as part of a training programme referred to in Article 24 in the course of which the trainee has acquired the relevant knowledge of basic medicine. 2. Specialist medical training shall comprise theoretical and practical training at a university or medical teaching hospital or, where appropriate, a medical care establishment approved for that purpose by the competent authorities or bodies. The Member States shall ensure that the minimum duration of specialist medical training courses referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.3 is not less than the duration provided for in that point. Training shall be given under the supervision of the competent authorities or bodies. It shall include personal participation of the trainee specialised doctor in the activity and responsibilities entailed by the services in question. 3. Training shall be given on a full-time basis at specific establishments which are recognised by the competent authorities. It shall entail participation in the full range of medical activities of the department where the training is given, including duty on call, in such a way that the trainee specialist devotes all his professional activity to his practical and theoretical training throughout the entire working week and throughout the year, in accordance with the procedures laid down by the competent authorities. Accordingly, these posts shall be the subject of appropriate remuneration. 4. The Member States shall make the issuance of evidence of specialist medical training contingent upon possession of evidence of basic medical training referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.1. 5. The Commission may adapt the minimum periods of training referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.3, to scientific and technical progress. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 25 Specialist medical training):
1. Admission to specialist medical training 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. 2. Specialist medical training shall comprise theoretical and practical training at a university or medical teaching hospital or, where appropriate, a medical care establishment approved for that purpose by the competent authorities or bodies. The Member States shall ensure that the minimum duration of specialist medical training courses referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.3 is not less than the duration provided for in that point. Training shall be given under the supervision of the competent authorities or bodies. It shall include personal participation of the trainee specialised doctor in the activity and responsibilities entailed by the services in question. 3. Training shall be given on a full-time basis at specific establishments which are recognised by the competent authorities. It shall entail participation in the full range of medical activities of the department where the training is given, including duty on call, in such a way that the trainee specialist devotes all his professional activity to his practical and theoretical training throughout the entire working week and throughout the year, in accordance with the procedures laid down by the competent authorities. Accordingly, these posts shall be the subject of appropriate remuneration. 3a. Member States may provide, in national legislation, for partial exemptions from parts of the specialist medical training courses listed in point 5.1.3 of Annex V, to be applied on a case-by-case basis provided that that part of the training has been followed already during another specialist training course listed in point 5.1.3 of Annex V, for which the professional has already obtained the professional qualification in a Member State. Member States shall ensure that the granted exemption equates to not more than half of the minimum duration of the specialist medical training course in question. Each Member State shall notify the Commission and the other Member States of the national legislation concerned for any such partial exemptions. 4. The Member States shall make the issuance of evidence of specialist medical training contingent upon possession of evidence of basic medical training referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.1. 5. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning the adaptation of the minimum periods of training referred to in point 5.1.3 of Annex V to scientific and technical progress.
Article 26 Types of specialist medical training
Evidence of formal qualifications as a specialised doctor referred to in Article 21 is such evidence awarded by the competent authorities or bodies referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.2 as corresponds, for the specialised training in question, to the titles in use in the various Member States and referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.3. The Commission may include in Annex V, point 5.1.3, new medical specialties common to at least two-fifths of the Member States with a view to updating this Directive in the light of changes in national legislation. That measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 26 Types of specialist medical training):
Evidence of formal qualifications as a specialised doctor referred to in Article 21 is such evidence awarded by the competent authorities or bodies referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.2 as corresponds, for the specialised training in question, to the titles in use in the various Member States and referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.3. In order to take due account of changes in national legislation and with a view to updating this Directive, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning the inclusion in point 5.1.3 of Annex V of new medical specialties common to at least two-fifths of the Member States.
Article 27 Acquired rights specific to specialised doctors
1. A host Member State may require of specialised doctors whose part-time specialist medical training was governed by legislative, regulatory and administrative provisions in force as of 20 June 1975 and who began their specialist training no later than 31 December 1983 that their evidence of formal qualifications be accompanied by a certificate stating that they have been effectively and lawfully engaged in the relevant activities for at least three consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of that certificate. 2. Every Member State shall recognise the qualification of specialised doctors awarded in Spain to doctors who completed their specialist training before 1 January 1995, even if that training does not satisfy the minimum training requirements provided for in Article 25, in so far as that qualification is accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent Spanish authorities and attesting that the person concerned has passed the examination in specific professional competence held in the context of exceptional measures concerning recognition laid down in Royal Decree 1497/99, with a view to ascertaining that the person concerned possesses a level of knowledge and skill comparable to that of doctors who possess a qualification as a specialised doctor defined for Spain in Annex V, points 5.1.2 and 5.1.3. 3. Every Member State which has repealed its legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions relating to the award of evidence of formal qualifications as a specialised doctor referred to in Annex V, points 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 and which has adopted measures relating to acquired rights benefiting its nationals, shall grant nationals of other Member States the right to benefit from those measures, in so far as such evidence of formal qualifications was issued before the date on which the host Member State ceased to issue such evidence for the specialty in question. The dates on which these provisions were repealed are set out in Annex V, point 5.1.3.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 27 Acquired rights specific to specialised doctors):
1. A host Member State may require of specialised doctors whose part-time specialist medical training was governed by legislative, regulatory and administrative provisions in force as of 20 June 1975 and who began their specialist training no later than 31 December 1983 that their evidence of formal qualifications be accompanied by a certificate stating that they have been effectively and lawfully engaged in the relevant activities for at least three consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of that certificate. 2. Every Member State shall recognise the qualification of specialised doctors awarded in Spain to doctors who completed their specialist training before 1 January 1995, even if that training does not satisfy the minimum training requirements provided for in Article 25, in so far as that qualification is accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent Spanish authorities and attesting that the person concerned has passed the examination in specific professional competence held in the context of exceptional measures concerning recognition laid down in Royal Decree 1497/99, with a view to ascertaining that the person concerned possesses a level of knowledge and skill comparable to that of doctors who possess a qualification as a specialised doctor defined for Spain in Annex V, points 5.1.2 and 5.1.3. 2a. Member States shall recognise the qualifications of specialised doctors awarded in Italy, and listed in points 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 of Annex V, to doctors who started their specialist training after 31 December 1983 and before 1 January 1991, despite the training concerned not satisfying all the training requirements set out in Article 25, if the qualification is accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent Italian authorities stating that the doctor concerned has effectively and lawfully been engaged, in Italy, in the activities of a medical specialist in the same specialist area concerned, for at least seven consecutive years during the 10 years preceding the award of the certificate. 3. Every Member State which has repealed its legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions relating to the award of evidence of formal qualifications as a specialised doctor referred to in Annex V, points 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 and which has adopted measures relating to acquired rights benefiting its nationals, shall grant nationals of other Member States the right to benefit from those measures, in so far as such evidence of formal qualifications was issued before the date on which the host Member State ceased to issue such evidence for the specialty in question. The dates on which these provisions were repealed are set out in Annex V, point 5.1.3.
Article 28 Specific training in general medical practice
1. Admission to specific training in general medical practice shall be contingent on the completion and validation of six years of study as part of a training programme referred to in Article 24. 2. The specific training in general medical practice leading to the award of evidence of formal qualifications issued before 1 January 2006 shall be of a duration of at least two years on a full-time basis. In the case of evidence of formal qualifications issued after that date, the training shall be of a duration of at least three years on a full-time basis. Where the training programme referred to in Article 24 comprises practical training given by an approved hospital possessing appropriate general medical equipment and services or as part of an approved general medical practice or an approved centre in which doctors provide primary medical care, the duration of that practical training may, up to a maximum of one year, be included in the duration provided for in the first subparagraph for certificates of training issued on or after 1 January 2006. The option provided for in the second subparagraph shall be available only for Member States in which the specific training in general medical practice lasted two years as of 1 January 2001. 3. The specific training in general medical practice shall be carried out on a full-time basis, under the supervision of the competent authorities or bodies. It shall be more practical than theoretical. The practical training shall be given, on the one hand, for at least six months in an approved hospital possessing appropriate equipment and services and, on the other hand, for at least six months as part of an approved general medical practice or an approved centre at which doctors provide primary health care. The practical training shall take place in conjunction with other health establishments or structures concerned with general medicine. Without prejudice to the minimum periods laid down in the second subparagraph, however, the practical training may be given during a period of not more than six months in other approved establishments or health structures concerned with general medicine. The training shall require the personal participation of the trainee in the professional activity and responsibilities of the persons with whom he is working. 4. Member States shall make the issuance of evidence of formal qualifications in general medical practice subject to possession of evidence of formal qualifications in basic medical training referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.1. 5. Member States may issue evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.4 to a doctor who has not completed the training provided for in this Article but who has completed a different, supplementary training, as attested by evidence of formal qualifications issued by the competent authorities in a Member State. They may not, however, award evidence of formal qualifications unless it attests knowledge of a level qualitatively equivalent to the knowledge acquired from the training provided for in this Article. Member States shall determine, inter alia , the extent to which the complementary training and professional experience already acquired by the applicant may replace the training provided for in this Article. The Member States may only issue the evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.4 if the applicant has acquired at least six months' experience of general medicine in a general medical practice or a centre in which doctors provide primary health care of the types referred to in paragraph 3.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 28 Specific training in general medical practice):
1. 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. 2. The specific training in general medical practice leading to the award of evidence of formal qualifications issued before 1 January 2006 shall be of a duration of at least two years on a full-time basis. In the case of evidence of formal qualifications issued after that date, the training shall be of a duration of at least three years on a full-time basis. Where the training programme referred to in Article 24 comprises practical training given by an approved hospital possessing appropriate general medical equipment and services or as part of an approved general medical practice or an approved centre in which doctors provide primary medical care, the duration of that practical training may, up to a maximum of one year, be included in the duration provided for in the first subparagraph for certificates of training issued on or after 1 January 2006. The option provided for in the second subparagraph shall be available only for Member States in which the specific training in general medical practice lasted two years as of 1 January 2001. 3. The specific training in general medical practice shall be carried out on a full-time basis, under the supervision of the competent authorities or bodies. It shall be more practical than theoretical. The practical training shall be given, on the one hand, for at least six months in an approved hospital possessing appropriate equipment and services and, on the other hand, for at least six months as part of an approved general medical practice or an approved centre at which doctors provide primary health care. The practical training shall take place in conjunction with other health establishments or structures concerned with general medicine. Without prejudice to the minimum periods laid down in the second subparagraph, however, the practical training may be given during a period of not more than six months in other approved establishments or health structures concerned with general medicine. The training shall require the personal participation of the trainee in the professional activity and responsibilities of the persons with whom he is working. 4. Member States shall make the issuance of evidence of formal qualifications in general medical practice subject to possession of evidence of formal qualifications in basic medical training referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.1. 5. Member States may issue evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.4 to a doctor who has not completed the training provided for in this Article but who has completed a different, supplementary training, as attested by evidence of formal qualifications issued by the competent authorities in a Member State. They may not, however, award evidence of formal qualifications unless it attests knowledge of a level qualitatively equivalent to the knowledge acquired from the training provided for in this Article. Member States shall determine, inter alia , the extent to which the complementary training and professional experience already acquired by the applicant may replace the training provided for in this Article. The Member States may only issue the evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.4 if the applicant has acquired at least six months' experience of general medicine in a general medical practice or a centre in which doctors provide primary health care of the types referred to in paragraph 3.
Article 29 Pursuit of the professional activities of general practitioners
Each Member State shall, subject to the provisions relating to acquired rights, make the pursuit of the activities of a general practitioner in the framework of its national social security system contingent upon possession of evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.4. Member States may exempt persons who are currently undergoing specific training in general medicine from this condition.
Article 30 Acquired rights specific to general practitioners
1. Each Member State shall determine the acquired rights. It shall, however, confer as an acquired right the right to pursue the activities of a general practitioner in the framework of its national social security system, without the evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.4, on all doctors who enjoy this right as of the reference date stated in that point by virtue of provisions applicable to the medical profession giving access to the professional activities of doctor with basic training and who are established as of that date on its territory, having benefited from the provisions of Articles 21 or 23. The competent authorities of each Member State shall, on demand, issue a certificate stating the holder's right to pursue the activities of general practitioner in the framework of their national social security systems, without the evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.1.4, to doctors who enjoy acquired rights pursuant to the first subparagraph. 2. Every Member State shall recognise the certificates referred to in paragraph 1, second subparagraph, awarded to nationals of Member States by the other Member States, and shall give such certificates the same effect on its territory as evidence of formal qualifications which it awards and which permit the pursuit of the activities of a general practitioner in the framework of its national social security system.
Article 31 Training of nurses responsible for general care
1. Admission to training for nurses responsible for general care shall be contingent upon completion of general education of 10 years, as attested by a diploma, certificate or other evidence issued by the competent authorities or bodies in a Member State or by a certificate attesting success in an examination, of an equivalent level, for admission to a school of nursing. 2. Training of nurses responsible for general care shall be given on a full-time basis and shall include at least the programme described in Annex V, point 5.2.1. The Commission may adapt the content listed in Annex V, point 5.2.1, to scientific and technical progress. That measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3). Such updates may not entail, for any Member State, any amendment of its existing legislative principles relating to the structure of professions as regards training and the conditions of access by natural persons. 3. The training of nurses responsible for general care shall comprise at least three years of study or 4 600 hours of theoretical and clinical training, the duration of the theoretical training representing at least one-third and the duration of the clinical training at least one half of the minimum duration of the training. Member States may grant partial exemptions to persons who have received part of their training on courses which are of at least an equivalent level. The Member States shall ensure that institutions providing nursing training are responsible for the coordination of theoretical and clinical training throughout the entire study programme. 4. Theoretical training is that part of nurse training from which trainee nurses acquire the professional knowledge, insights and skills necessary for organising, dispensing and evaluating overall health care. The training shall be given by teachers of nursing care and by other competent persons, in nursing schools and other training establishments selected by the training institution. 5. Clinical training is that part of nurse training in which trainee nurses learn, as part of a team and in direct contact with a healthy or sick individual and/or community, to organise, dispense and evaluate the required comprehensive nursing care, on the basis of the knowledge and skills which they have acquired. The trainee nurse shall learn not only how to work in a team, but also how to lead a team and organise overall nursing care, including health education for individuals and small groups, within the health institute or in the community. This training shall take place in hospitals and other health institutions and in the community, under the responsibility of nursing teachers, in cooperation with and assisted by other qualified nurses. Other qualified personnel may also take part in the teaching process. Trainee nurses shall participate in the activities of the department in question insofar as those activities are appropriate to their training, enabling them to learn to assume the responsibilities involved in nursing care. 6. Training for nurses responsible for general care shall provide an assurance that the person in question has acquired the following knowledge and skills: (a) adequate knowledge of the sciences on which general nursing is based, including sufficient understanding of the structure, physiological functions and behaviour of healthy and sick persons, and of the relationship between the state of health and the physical and social environment of the human being; (b) sufficient knowledge of the nature and ethics of the profession and of the general principles of health and nursing; (c) adequate clinical experience; such experience, which should be selected for its training value, should be gained under the supervision of qualified nursing staff and in places where the number of qualified staff and equipment are appropriate for the nursing care of the patient; (d) the ability to participate in the practical training of health personnel and experience of working with such personnel; (e) experience of working with members of other professions in the health sector.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 31 Training of nurses responsible for general care):
1. Admission to training for nurses responsible for general care shall be contingent upon either: (a) completion of general education of 12 years, as attested by a diploma, certificate or other evidence issued by the competent authorities or bodies in a Member State or a certificate attesting success in an examination of an equivalent level and giving access to universities or to higher education institutions of a level recognised as equivalent; or (b) completion of general education of at least 10 years, as attested by a diploma, certificate or other evidence issued by the competent authorities or bodies in a Member State or a certificate attesting success in an examination of an equivalent level and giving access to a vocational school or vocational training programme for nursing. 2. Training of nurses responsible for general care shall be given on a full-time basis and shall include at least the programme described in Annex V, point 5.2.1. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning amendments to the list set out in point 5.2.1 of Annex V with a view to adapting it to scientific and technical progress. The amendments referred to in the second subparagraph shall not entail an amendment of existing essential legislative principles in Member States regarding the structure of professions as regards training and conditions of access by natural persons. Such amendments shall respect the responsibility of the Member States for the organisation of education systems, as set out in Article 165(1) TFEU. 3. The training of nurses responsible for general care shall comprise a total of at least three years of study, which may in addition be expressed with the equivalent ECTS credits, and shall consist of at least 4 600 hours of theoretical and clinical training, the duration of the theoretical training representing at least one third and the duration of the clinical training at least one half of the minimum duration of the training. Member States may grant partial exemptions to professionals who have received part of their training on courses which are of at least an equivalent level. The Member States shall ensure that institutions providing nursing training are responsible for the coordination of theoretical and clinical training throughout the entire study programme. 4. Theoretical education is that part of nurse training from which trainee nurses acquire the professional knowledge, skills and competences required under paragraphs 6 and 7. The training shall be given by teachers of nursing care and by other competent persons, at universities, higher education institutions of a level recognised as equivalent or at vocational schools or through vocational training programmes for nursing. 5. Clinical training is that part of nurse training in which trainee nurses learn, as part of a team and in direct contact with a healthy or sick individual and/or community, to organise, dispense and evaluate the required comprehensive nursing care, on the basis of the knowledge, skills and competences which they have acquired. The trainee nurse shall learn not only how to work in a team, but also how to lead a team and organise overall nursing care, including health education for individuals and small groups, within health institutes or in the community. This training shall take place in hospitals and other health institutions and in the community, under the responsibility of nursing teachers, in cooperation with and assisted by other qualified nurses. Other qualified personnel may also take part in the teaching process. Trainee nurses shall participate in the activities of the department in question insofar as those activities are appropriate to their training, enabling them to learn to assume the responsibilities involved in nursing care.
Article 32 Pursuit of the professional activities of nurses responsible for general care
For the purposes of this Directive, the professional activities of nurses responsible for general care are the activities pursued on a professional basis and referred to in Annex V, point 5.2.2.
Article 33 Acquired rights specific to nurses responsible for general care
1. Where the general rules of acquired rights apply to nurses responsible for general care, the activities referred to in Article 23 must have included full responsibility for the planning, organisation and administration of nursing care delivered to the patient. 2. As regards the Polish qualification of nurse responsible for general care, only the following acquired rights provisions shall apply. In the case of nationals of the Member States whose evidence of formal qualifications as nurse responsible for general care was awarded by, or whose training started in, Poland before 1 May 2004 and who do not satisfy the minimum training requirements laid down in Article 31, Member States shall recognise the following evidence of formal qualifications as nurse responsible for general care as being sufficient proof if accompanied by a certificate stating that those Member State nationals have effectively and lawfully been engaged in the activities of a nurse responsible for general care in Poland for the period specified below: (a) evidence of formal qualifications as a nurse at degree level (dyplom licencjata pielęgniarstwa) — at least three consecutive years during the five years prior to the date of issue of the certificate, (b) evidence of formal qualifications as a nurse certifying completion of post-secondary education obtained from a medical vocational school (dyplom pielęgniarki albo pielęgniarki dyplomowanej) — at least five consecutive years during the seven years prior to the date of issue of the certificate. The said activities must have included taking full responsibility for the planning, organisation and administration of nursing care delivered to the patient. 3. Member States shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications in nursing awarded in Poland, to nurses who completed training before 1 May 2004, which did not comply with the minimum training requirements laid down in Article 31, attested by the diploma ‘bachelor’ which has been obtained on the basis of a special upgrading programme contained in Article 11 of the Act of 20 April 2004 on the amendment of the Act on professions of nurse and midwife and on some other legal acts (Official Journal of the Republic of Poland of 30 April 2004 No 92, pos. 885), and the Regulation of the Minister of Health of 11 May 2004 on the detailed conditions of delivering studies for nurses and midwives, who hold a certificate of secondary school (final examination — matura) and are graduates of medical lyceum and medical vocational schools teaching in a profession of a nurse and a midwife (Official Journal of the Republic of Poland of 13 May 2004 No 110, pos. 1170), with the aim of verifying that the person concerned has a level of knowledge and competence comparable to that of nurses holding the qualifications which, in the case of Poland, are defined in Annex V, point 5.2.2.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 33 Acquired rights specific to nurses responsible for general care):
1. Where the general rules of acquired rights apply to nurses responsible for general care, the activities referred to in Article 23 must have included full responsibility for the planning, organisation and administration of nursing care delivered to the patient.
Article 34 Basic dental training
1. Admission to basic dental training presupposes possession of a diploma or certificate giving access, for the studies in question, to universities or higher institutes of a level recognised as equivalent, in a Member State. 2. Basic dental training shall comprise a total of at least five years of full-time theoretical and practical study, comprising at least the programme described in Annex V, point 5.3.1 and given in a university, in a higher institute providing training recognised as being of an equivalent level or under the supervision of a university. The Commission may adapt the content listed in Annex V, point 5.3.1, to scientific and technical progress. That measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3). Such updates may not entail, for any Member State, any amendment of its existing legislative principles relating to the system of professions as regards training and the conditions of access by natural persons. 3. Basic dental training shall provide an assurance that the person in question has acquired the following knowledge and skills: (a) adequate knowledge of the sciences on which dentistry is based and a good understanding of scientific methods, including the principles of measuring biological functions, the evaluation of scientifically established facts and the analysis of data; (b) adequate knowledge of the constitution, physiology and behaviour of healthy and sick persons as well as the influence of the natural and social environment on the state of health of the human being, in so far as these factors affect dentistry; (c) adequate knowledge of the structure and function of the teeth, mouth, jaws and associated tissues, both healthy and diseased, and their relationship to the general state of health and to the physical and social well-being of the patient; (d) adequate knowledge of clinical disciplines and methods, providing the dentist with a coherent picture of anomalies, lesions and diseases of the teeth, mouth, jaws and associated tissues and of preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic dentistry; (e) suitable clinical experience under appropriate supervision. This training shall provide him with the skills necessary for carrying out all activities involving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of anomalies and diseases of the teeth, mouth, jaws and associated tissues.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 34 Basic dental training):
1. Admission to basic dental training presupposes possession of a diploma or certificate giving access, for the studies in question, to universities or higher institutes of a level recognised as equivalent, in a Member State. 2. Basic dental training shall comprise a total of at least five years of study, which may in addition be expressed with the equivalent ECTS credits, and shall consist of at least 5 000 hours of full-time theoretical and practical training that comprises at least the programme described in point 5.3.1 of Annex V and that is provided in a university, in a higher institute providing training recognised as being of an equivalent level or under the supervision of a university. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning the amendment of the list set out in point 5.3.1 of Annex V with a view to adapting it to scientific and technical progress. The amendments referred to in the second subparagraph shall not entail an amendment of existing essential legislative principles in Member States regarding the structure of professions as regards training and conditions of access by natural persons. Such amendments shall respect the responsibility of the Member States for the organisation of education systems, as set out in Article 165(1) TFEU. This training shall provide him with the skills necessary for carrying out all activities involving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of anomalies and diseases of the teeth, mouth, jaws and associated tissues.
Article 35 Specialist dental training
1. Admission to specialist dental training shall entail the completion and validation of five years of theoretical and practical instruction within the framework of the training referred to in Article 34, or possession of the documents referred to in Articles 23 and 37. 2. Specialist dental training shall comprise theoretical and practical instruction in a university centre, in a treatment teaching and research centre or, where appropriate, in a health establishment approved for that purpose by the competent authorities or bodies. Full-time specialist dental courses shall be of a minimum of three years' duration supervised by the competent authorities or bodies. It shall involve the personal participation of the dental practitioner training to be a specialist in the activity and in the responsibilities of the establishment concerned. The Commission may adapt the minimum period of training referred to in the second subparagraph to scientific and technical progress. That measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3). 3. The Member States shall make the issuance of evidence of specialist dental training contingent upon possession of evidence of basic dental training referred to in Annex V, point 5.3.2.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 35 Specialist dental training):
1. Admission to specialist dental training shall be contingent upon completion and validation of basic dental training referred to in Article 34, or possession of the documents referred to in Articles 23 and 37. 2. Specialist dental training shall comprise theoretical and practical instruction in a university centre, in a treatment teaching and research centre or, where appropriate, in a health establishment approved for that purpose by the competent authorities or bodies. Full-time specialist dental courses shall be of a minimum of three years’ duration and shall be supervised by the competent authorities or bodies. They shall involve the personal participation of the dental practitioner training to be a specialist in the activity and in the responsibilities of the establishment concerned. 3. The Member States shall make the issuance of evidence of specialist dental training contingent upon possession of evidence of basic dental training referred to in Annex V, point 5.3.2. 4. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning the adaptation of the minimum period of training referred to in paragraph 2 to scientific and technical progress. 5. In order to take due account of changes in national legislation, and with a view to updating this Directive, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning the inclusion in point 5.3.3 of Annex V of new dental specialties common to at least two-fifths of the Member States.
Article 36 Pursuit of the professional activities of dental practitioners
1. For the purposes of this Directive, the professional activities of dental practitioners are the activities defined in paragraph 3 and pursued under the professional qualifications listed in Annex V, point 5.3.2. 2. The profession of dental practitioner shall be based on dental training referred to in Article 34 and shall constitute a specific profession which is distinct from other general or specialised medical professions. Pursuit of the activities of a dental practitioner requires the possession of evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.3.2. Holders of such evidence of formal qualifications shall be treated in the same way as those to whom Articles 23 or 37 apply. 3. The Member States shall ensure that dental practitioners are generally able to gain access to and pursue the activities of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of anomalies and diseases affecting the teeth, mouth, jaws and adjoining tissue, having due regard to the regulatory provisions and rules of professional ethics on the reference dates referred to in Annex V, point 5.3.2.
Article 37 Acquired rights specific to dental practitioners
1. Every Member State shall, for the purposes of the pursuit of the professional activities of dental practitioners under the qualifications listed in Annex V, point 5.3.2, recognise evidence of formal qualifications as a doctor issued in Italy, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania to persons who began their medical training on or before the reference date stated in that Annex for the Member State concerned, accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent authorities of that Member State. The certificate must show that the two following conditions are met: (a) that the persons in question have been effectively, lawfully and principally engaged in that Member State in the activities referred to in Article 36 for at least three consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of the certificate; (b) that those persons are authorised to pursue the said activities under the same conditions as holders of evidence of formal qualifications listed for that Member State in Annex V, point 5.3.2. Persons who have successfully completed at least three years of study, certified by the competent authorities in the Member State concerned as being equivalent to the training referred to in Article 34, shall be exempt from the three-year practical work experience referred to in the second subparagraph, point (a). With regard to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, evidence of formal qualifications obtained in the former Czechoslovakia shall be accorded the same level of recognition as Czech and Slovak evidence of formal qualifications and under the same conditions as set out in the preceding subparagraphs. 2. Each Member State shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications as a doctor issued in Italy to persons who began their university medical training after 28 January 1980 and no later than 31 December 1984, accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent Italian authorities. The certificate must show that the three following conditions are met: (a) that the persons in question passed the relevant aptitude test held by the competent Italian authorities with a view to establishing that those persons possess a level of knowledge and skills comparable to that of persons possessing evidence of formal qualifications listed for Italy in Annex V, point 5.3.2; (b) that they have been effectively, lawfully and principally engaged in the activities referred to in Article 36 in Italy for at least three consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of the certificate; (c) that they are authorised to engage in or are effectively, lawfully and principally engaged in the activities referred to in Article 36, under the same conditions as the holders of evidence of formal qualifications listed for Italy in Annex V, point 5.3.2. Persons who have successfully completed at least three years of study certified by the competent authorities as being equivalent to the training referred to in Article 34 shall be exempt from the aptitude test referred to in the second subparagraph, point (a). Persons who began their university medical training after 31 December 1984 shall be treated in the same way as those referred to above, provided that the abovementioned three years of study began before 31 December 1994.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 37 Acquired rights specific to dental practitioners):
1. Every Member State shall, for the purposes of the pursuit of the professional activities of dental practitioners under the qualifications listed in Annex V, point 5.3.2, recognise evidence of formal qualifications as a doctor issued in Italy, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania to persons who began their medical training on or before the reference date stated in that Annex for the Member State concerned, accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent authorities of that Member State. The certificate must show that the two following conditions are met: (a) that the persons in question have been effectively, lawfully and principally engaged in that Member State in the activities referred to in Article 36 for at least three consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of the certificate; (b) that those persons are authorised to pursue the said activities under the same conditions as holders of evidence of formal qualifications listed for that Member State in Annex V, point 5.3.2. Persons who have successfully completed at least three years of study, certified by the competent authorities in the Member State concerned as being equivalent to the training referred to in Article 34, shall be exempt from the three-year practical work experience referred to in the second subparagraph, point (a). With regard to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, evidence of formal qualifications obtained in the former Czechoslovakia shall be accorded the same level of recognition as Czech and Slovak evidence of formal qualifications and under the same conditions as set out in the preceding subparagraphs. 2. Each Member State shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications as a doctor issued in Italy to persons who began their university medical training after 28 January 1980 and no later than 31 December 1984, accompanied by a certificate issued by the competent Italian authorities. The certificate must show that the three following conditions are met: (a) that the persons in question passed the relevant aptitude test held by the competent Italian authorities with a view to establishing that those persons possess a level of knowledge and skills comparable to that of persons possessing evidence of formal qualifications listed for Italy in Annex V, point 5.3.2; (b) that they have been effectively, lawfully and principally engaged in the activities referred to in Article 36 in Italy for at least three consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of the certificate; (c) that they are authorised to engage in or are effectively, lawfully and principally engaged in the activities referred to in Article 36, under the same conditions as the holders of evidence of formal qualifications listed for Italy in Annex V, point 5.3.2. Persons who have successfully completed at least three years of study certified by the competent authorities as being equivalent to the training referred to in Article 34 shall be exempt from the aptitude test referred to in the second subparagraph, point (a). Persons who began their university medical training after 31 December 1984 shall be treated in the same way as those referred to above, provided that the abovementioned three years of study began before 31 December 1994. 3. As regards evidence of formal qualifications of dental practitioners, Member States shall recognise such evidence pursuant to Article 21 in cases where the applicants began their training on or before 18 January 2016. 4. Each Member State shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications as a doctor issued in Spain to professionals who began their university medical training between 1 January 1986 and 31 December 1997, accompanied by a certificate issued by the Spanish competent authorities. The certificate shall confirm that the following conditions have been met: (a) the professional in question has successfully completed at least three years of study, certified by the Spanish competent authorities as being equivalent to the training referred to in Article 34; (b) the professional in question was effectively, lawfully and principally engaged in the activities referred to in Article 36 in Spain for at least three consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of the certificate; (c) the professional in question is authorised to engage in or is effectively, lawfully and principally engaged in the activities referred to in Article 36, under the same conditions as the holders of evidence of formal qualifications listed for Spain in point 5.3.2 of Annex V.
Article 38 The training of veterinary surgeons
1. The training of veterinary surgeons shall comprise a total of at least five years of full-time theoretical and practical study at a university or at a higher institute providing training recognised as being of an equivalent level, or under the supervision of a university, covering at least the study programme referred to in Annex V, point 5.4.1. The Commission may adapt the content listed in Annex V, point 5.4.1, to scientific and technical progress. That measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3). Such updates may not entail, for any Member State, any amendment of its existing legislative principles relating to the structure of professions as regards training and conditions of access by natural persons. 2. Admission to veterinary training shall be contingent upon possession of a diploma or certificate entitling the holder to enter, for the studies in question, university establishments or institutes of higher education recognised by a Member State to be of an equivalent level for the purpose of the relevant study. 3. Training as a veterinary surgeon shall provide an assurance that the person in question has acquired the following knowledge and skills: (a) adequate knowledge of the sciences on which the activities of the veterinary surgeon are based; (b) adequate knowledge of the structure and functions of healthy animals, of their husbandry, reproduction and hygiene in general, as well as their feeding, including the technology involved in the manufacture and preservation of foods corresponding to their needs; (c) adequate knowledge of the behaviour and protection of animals; (d) adequate knowledge of the causes, nature, course, effects, diagnosis and treatment of the diseases of animals, whether considered individually or in groups, including a special knowledge of the diseases which may be transmitted to humans; (e) adequate knowledge of preventive medicine; (f) adequate knowledge of the hygiene and technology involved in the production, manufacture and putting into circulation of animal foodstuffs or foodstuffs of animal origin intended for human consumption; (g) adequate knowledge of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the subjects listed above; (h) adequate clinical and other practical experience under appropriate supervision.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 38 The training of veterinary surgeons):
1. The training of veterinary surgeons shall comprise a total of at least five years of full-time theoretical and practical study, which may in addition be expressed with the equivalent ECTS credits, at a university or at a higher institute providing training recognised as being of an equivalent level, or under the supervision of a university, covering at least the study programme referred to in point 5.4.1 of Annex V. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning the amendment of the list set out in point 5.4.1 of Annex V with a view to adapting it to scientific and technical progress. The amendments referred to in the second subparagraph shall not entail an amendment of existing essential legislative principles in Member States regarding the structure of professions as regards training and conditions of access by natural persons. Such amendments shall respect the responsibility of the Member States for the organisation of education systems, as set out in Article 165(1) TFEU. 2. Admission to veterinary training shall be contingent upon possession of a diploma or certificate entitling the holder to enter, for the studies in question, university establishments or institutes of higher education recognised by a Member State to be of an equivalent level for the purpose of the relevant study.
Article 39 Acquired rights specific to veterinary surgeons
Without prejudice to Article 23(4), with regard to nationals of Member States whose evidence of formal qualifications as a veterinary surgeon was issued by, or whose training commenced in, Estonia before 1 May 2004, Member States shall recognise such evidence of formal qualifications as a veterinary surgeon if it is accompanied by a certificate stating that such persons have effectively and lawfully been engaged in the activities in question in Estonia for at least five consecutive years during the seven years prior to the date of issue of the certificate.
Article 40 The training of midwives
1. The training of midwives shall comprise a total of at least: (a) specific full-time training as a midwife comprising at least three years of theoretical and practical study (route I) comprising at least the programme described in Annex V, point 5.5.1, or (b) specific full-time training as a midwife of 18 months' duration (route II), comprising at least the study programme described in Annex V, point 5.5.1, which was not the subject of equivalent training of nurses responsible for general care. The Member States shall ensure that institutions providing midwife training are responsible for coordinating theory and practice throughout the programme of study. The Commission may adapt the content listed in Annex V, point 5.5.1, to scientific and technical progress. That measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3). Such updates must not entail, for any Member State, any amendment of existing legislative principles relating to the structure of professions as regards training and the conditions of access by natural persons. 2. Access to training as a midwife shall be contingent upon one of the following conditions: (a) completion of at least the first 10 years of general school education for route I, or (b) possession of evidence of formal qualifications as a nurse responsible for general care referred to in Annex V, point 5.2.2 for route II. 3. Training as a midwife shall provide an assurance that the person in question has acquired the following knowledge and skills: (a) adequate knowledge of the sciences on which the activities of midwives are based, particularly obstetrics and gynaecology; (b) adequate knowledge of the ethics of the profession and the professional legislation; (c) detailed knowledge of biological functions, anatomy and physiology in the field of obstetrics and of the newly born, and also a knowledge of the relationship between the state of health and the physical and social environment of the human being, and of his behaviour; (d) adequate clinical experience gained in approved institutions under the supervision of staff qualified in midwifery and obstetrics; (e) adequate understanding of the training of health personnel and experience of working with such.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 40 The training of midwives):
1. The training of midwives shall comprise a total of at least: (a) specific full-time training as a midwife comprising at least three years of theoretical and practical study (route I) comprising at least the programme described in Annex V, point 5.5.1, or (b) specific full-time training as a midwife of 18 months' duration (route II), comprising at least the study programme described in Annex V, point 5.5.1, which was not the subject of equivalent training of nurses responsible for general care. The Member States shall ensure that institutions providing midwife training are responsible for coordinating theory and practice throughout the programme of study. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning the amendment of the list set out in point 5.5.1 of Annex V with a view to adapting it to scientific and technical progress. The amendments referred to in the third subparagraph shall not entail an amendment of existing essential legislative principles in Member States regarding the structure of professions as regards training and conditions of access by natural persons. Such amendments shall respect the responsibility of the Member States for the organisation of education systems, as set out in Article 165(1) TFEU. 2. Admission to training as a midwife shall be contingent upon one of the following conditions: (a) completion of at least 12 years of general school education or possession of a certificate attesting success in an examination, of an equivalent level, for admission to a midwifery school for route I; (b) possession of evidence of formal qualifications as a nurse responsible for general care referred to in point 5.2.2 of Annex V for route II.
Article 41 Procedures for the recognition of evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife
1. The evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife referred to in Annex V, point 5.5.2 shall be subject to automatic recognition pursuant to Article 21 in so far as they satisfy one of the following criteria: (a) full-time training of at least three years as a midwife: (i) either made contingent upon possession of a diploma, certificate or other evidence of qualification giving access to universities or higher education institutes, or otherwise guaranteeing an equivalent level of knowledge; or (ii) followed by two years of professional practice for which a certificate has been issued in accordance with paragraph 2; (a) full-time training of at least three years as a midwife: (i) either made contingent upon possession of a diploma, certificate or other evidence of qualification giving access to universities or higher education institutes, or otherwise guaranteeing an equivalent level of knowledge; or (ii) followed by two years of professional practice for which a certificate has been issued in accordance with paragraph 2; (b) full-time training as a midwife of at least two years or 3 600 hours, contingent upon possession of evidence of formal qualifications as a nurse responsible for general care referred to in Annex V, point 5.2.2; (c) full-time training as a midwife of at least 18 months or 3 000 hours, contingent upon possession of evidence of formal qualifications as a nurse responsible for general care referred to in Annex V, point 5.2.2 and followed by one year's professional practice for which a certificate has been issued in accordance with paragraph 2. 2. The certificate referred to in paragraph 1 shall be issued by the competent authorities in the home Member State. It shall certify that the holder, after obtaining evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife, has satisfactorily pursued all the activities of a midwife for a corresponding period in a hospital or a health care establishment approved for that purpose.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 41 Procedures for the recognition of evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife):
2. The certificate referred to in paragraph 1 shall be issued by the competent authorities in the home Member State. It shall certify that the holder, after obtaining evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife, has satisfactorily pursued all the activities of a midwife for a corresponding period in a hospital or a health care establishment approved for that purpose.
Article 42 Pursuit of the professional activities of a midwife
1. The provisions of this section shall apply to the activities of midwives as defined by each Member State, without prejudice to paragraph 2, and pursued under the professional titles set out in Annex V, point 5.5.2. 2. The Member States shall ensure that midwives are able to gain access to and pursue at least the following activities: (a) provision of sound family planning information and advice; (b) diagnosis of pregnancies and monitoring normal pregnancies; carrying out the examinations necessary for the monitoring of the development of normal pregnancies; (c) prescribing or advising on the examinations necessary for the earliest possible diagnosis of pregnancies at risk; (d) provision of programmes of parenthood preparation and complete preparation for childbirth including advice on hygiene and nutrition; (e) caring for and assisting the mother during labour and monitoring the condition of the foetus in utero by the appropriate clinical and technical means; (f) conducting spontaneous deliveries including where required episiotomies and in urgent cases breech deliveries; (g) recognising the warning signs of abnormality in the mother or infant which necessitate referral to a doctor and assisting the latter where appropriate; taking the necessary emergency measures in the doctor's absence, in particular the manual removal of the placenta, possibly followed by manual examination of the uterus; (h) examining and caring for the new-born infant; taking all initiatives which are necessary in case of need and carrying out where necessary immediate resuscitation; (i) caring for and monitoring the progress of the mother in the post-natal period and giving all necessary advice to the mother on infant care to enable her to ensure the optimum progress of the new-born infant; (j) carrying out treatment prescribed by doctors; (k) drawing up the necessary written reports.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 42 Pursuit of the professional activities of a midwife):
1. The provisions of this section shall apply to the activities of midwives as defined by each Member State, without prejudice to paragraph 2, and pursued under the professional titles set out in Annex V, point 5.5.2.
Article 43 Acquired rights specific to midwives
1. Every Member State shall, in the case of Member State nationals whose evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife satisfies all the minimum training requirements laid down in Article 40 but, by virtue of Article 41, is not recognised unless it is accompanied by a certificate of professional practice referred to in Article 41(2), recognise as sufficient proof evidence of formal qualifications issued by those Member States before the reference date referred to in Annex V, point 5.5.2, accompanied by a certificate stating that those nationals have been effectively and lawfully engaged in the activities in question for at least two consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of the certificate. 2. The conditions laid down in paragraph 1 shall apply to the nationals of Member States whose evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife certifies completion of training received in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic and satisfying all the minimum training requirements laid down in Article 40 but where the evidence of formal qualifications, by virtue of Article 41, is not recognised unless it is accompanied by the certificate of professional experience referred to in Article 41(2), where it attests a course of training which began before 3 October 1990. 3. As regards the Polish evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife, only the following acquired rights provisions shall apply. In the case of Member States nationals whose evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife was awarded by, or whose training commenced in, Poland before 1 May 2004, and who do not satisfy the minimum training requirements as set out in Article 40, Member States shall recognise the following evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife if accompanied by a certificate stating that such persons have effectively and lawfully been engaged in the activities of a midwife for the period specified below: (a) evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife at degree level (dyplom licencjata położnictwa): at least three consecutive years during the five years prior to the date of issue of the certificate, (b) evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife certifying completion of post-secondary education obtained from a medical vocational school (dyplom położnej): at least five consecutive years during the seven years prior to the date of issue of the certificate. 4. Member States shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications in midwifery awarded in Poland, to midwives who completed training before 1 May 2004, which did not comply with the minimum training requirements laid down in Article 40, attested by the diploma ‘bachelor’ which has been obtained on the basis of a special upgrading programme contained in Article 11 of the Act of 20 April 2004 on the amendment of the Act on professions of nurse and midwife and on some other legal acts (Official Journal of the Republic of Poland of 30 April 2004 No 92, pos. 885), and the Regulation of the Minister of Health of 11 May 2004 on the detailed conditions of delivering studies for nurses and midwives, who hold a certificate of secondary school (final examination — matura) and are graduates of medical lyceum and medical vocational schools teaching in a profession of a nurse and a midwife (Official Journal of the Republic of Poland of 13 May 2004 No 110, pos 1170), with the aim of verifying that the person concerned has a level of knowledge and competence comparable to that of midwives holding the qualifications which, in the case of Poland, are defined in Annex V, point 5.5.2.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 43 Acquired rights specific to midwives):
1. Every Member State shall, in the case of Member State nationals whose evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife satisfies all the minimum training requirements laid down in Article 40 but, by virtue of Article 41, is not recognised unless it is accompanied by a certificate of professional practice referred to in Article 41(2), recognise as sufficient proof evidence of formal qualifications issued by those Member States before the reference date referred to in Annex V, point 5.5.2, accompanied by a certificate stating that those nationals have been effectively and lawfully engaged in the activities in question for at least two consecutive years during the five years preceding the award of the certificate. 1a. As regards evidence of formal qualifications of midwives, Member States shall recognise automatically those qualifications where the applicant started the training before 18 January 2016, and the admission requirement for such training was 10 years of general education or an equivalent level for route I, or completed training as a nurse responsible for general care as attested by evidence of formal qualification referred to in point 5.2.2 of Annex V before starting a midwifery training falling under route II. 2. The conditions laid down in paragraph 1 shall apply to the nationals of Member States whose evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife certifies completion of training received in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic and satisfying all the minimum training requirements laid down in Article 40 but where the evidence of formal qualifications, by virtue of Article 41, is not recognised unless it is accompanied by the certificate of professional experience referred to in Article 41(2), where it attests a course of training which began before 3 October 1990.
Article 44 Training as a pharmacist
1. Admission to a course of training as a pharmacist shall be contingent upon possession of a diploma or certificate giving access, in a Member State, to the studies in question, at universities or higher institutes of a level recognised as equivalent. 2. Evidence of formal qualifications as a pharmacist shall attest to training of at least five years' duration, including at least: (a) four years of full-time theoretical and practical training at a university or at a higher institute of a level recognised as equivalent, or under the supervision of a university; (b) six-month traineeship in a pharmacy which is open to the public or in a hospital, under the supervision of that hospital's pharmaceutical department. That training cycle shall include at least the programme described in Annex V, point 5.6.1. The Commission may adapt the content listed in Annex V, point 5.6.1, to scientific and technical progress. That measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3). Such updates must not entail, for any Member State, any amendment of existing legislative principles relating to the structure of professions as regards training and the conditions of access by natural persons. 3. Training for pharmacists shall provide an assurance that the person concerned has acquired the following knowledge and skills: (a) adequate knowledge of medicines and the substances used in the manufacture of medicines; (b) adequate knowledge of pharmaceutical technology and the physical, chemical, biological and microbiological testing of medicinal products; (c) adequate knowledge of the metabolism and the effects of medicinal products and of the action of toxic substances, and of the use of medicinal products; (d) adequate knowledge to evaluate scientific data concerning medicines in order to be able to supply appropriate information on the basis of this knowledge; (e) adequate knowledge of the legal and other requirements associated with the pursuit of pharmacy.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 44 Training as a pharmacist):
1. Admission to a course of training as a pharmacist shall be contingent upon possession of a diploma or certificate giving access, in a Member State, to the studies in question, at universities or higher institutes of a level recognised as equivalent. 2. Evidence of formal qualifications as a pharmacist shall attest to training of at least five years’ duration, which may in addition be expressed with the equivalent ECTS credits, comprising at least: (a) four years of full-time theoretical and practical training at a university or at a higher institute of a level recognised as equivalent, or under the supervision of a university; (b) during or at the end of the theoretical and practical training, six-month traineeship in a pharmacy which is open to the public or in a hospital under the supervision of that hospital’s pharmaceutical department. The training cycle referred to in this paragraph shall include at least the programme described in point 5.6.1 of Annex V. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning the amendment of the list set out in point 5.6.1 of Annex V with a view to adapting it to scientific and technical progress, including the evolution of pharmacological practice. The amendments referred to in the second subparagraph shall not entail an amendment of existing essential legislative principles in Member States regarding the structure of professions as regards training and conditions of access by natural persons. Such amendments shall respect the responsibility of the Member States for the organisation of education systems, as set out in Article 165(1) TFEU.
Article 45 Pursuit of the professional activities of a pharmacist
1. For the purposes of this Directive, the activities of a pharmacist are those, access to which and pursuit of which are contingent, in one or more Member States, upon professional qualifications and which are open to holders of evidence of formal qualifications of the types listed in Annex V, point 5.6.2. 2. The Member States shall ensure that the holders of evidence of formal qualifications in pharmacy at university level or a level deemed to be equivalent, which satisfies the provisions of Article 44, are able to gain access to and pursue at least the following activities, subject to the requirement, where appropriate, of supplementary professional experience: (a) preparation of the pharmaceutical form of medicinal products; (b) manufacture and testing of medicinal products; (c) testing of medicinal products in a laboratory for the testing of medicinal products; (d) storage, preservation and distribution of medicinal products at the wholesale stage; (e) preparation, testing, storage and supply of medicinal products in pharmacies open to the public; (f) preparation, testing, storage and dispensing of medicinal products in hospitals; (g) provision of information and advice on medicinal products. 3. If a Member State makes access to or pursuit of one of the activities of a pharmacist contingent upon supplementary professional experience, in addition to possession of evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.6.2, that Member State shall recognise as sufficient proof in this regard a certificate issued by the competent authorities in the home Member State stating that the person concerned has been engaged in those activities in the home Member State for a similar period. 4. The recognition referred to in paragraph 3 shall not apply with regard to the two-year period of professional experience required by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for the grant of a State public pharmacy concession. 5. If, on 16 September 1985, a Member State had a competitive examination in place designed to select from among the holders referred to in paragraph 2, those who are to be authorised to become owners of new pharmacies whose creation has been decided on as part of a national system of geographical division, that Member State may, by way of derogation from paragraph 1, proceed with that examination and require nationals of Member States who possess evidence of formal qualifications as a pharmacist referred to in Annex V, point 5.6.2 or who benefit from the provisions of Article 23 to take part in it.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal Fast and efficient recognition of professional qualifications for access to regulated professions is key to making the fundamental internal m arket freedoms work for EU citizens. Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 1 (‘the Professional Qualifications Directive’) sets out the rules on cross-border recognition of qualifications for access to regulated professions, as well as minimum training requirements for several professions , including nurses responsible for general care . Under the Professional Qualifications Directive, Member States are obliged, upon application by the holder and without additional conditions, to recognise the qualifications of nurses responsible for general care held by EU citizens that meet the minimum requirements under the Directive if the evidence of those qualifications is listed under the relevant annex. This evidence relates to training that started after the reference date, which usually corresponds to the EU accession date of the country in which the qualification was obtained. Furthermore, Member States are bound to recognise certain qualifications that do not meet the minimum requirements if the applicant can prove a specific number of years of professional experience, as set out under the acquired rights provisions. Lastly, for those who cannot benefit from either of these two possibilities, the general system of recognition will, in principle, apply. Under this system, if there are substantial differences between the applicant’s qualifications and those required in the host Member State that cannot be covered by knowledge and skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of their professional experience or through lifelong learning, the host Member State can require compensatory measures in the form of an aptitude test or an adaptation period from the applicant before granting access to the regulated profession. If the EU citizen cannot benefit from any recognition regime under Directive 2005/36/EC, the application must in principle be assessed by the host Member State under the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). Organising the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care during EU accession is a complex process. It involves adapting existing training programmes to ensure that, as of the accession date, students can only enrol in compliant training courses. Additionally, individuals who started non-compliant training before the reference date will need to meet additional requirements before they can benefit from cross-border recognition. To facilitate the recognition of qualifications of nurses responsible for general care whose qualifications did not meet the minimum training requirements upon accession, Romania has set up an upgrading programme following a recommendation introduced in recital 36 of Directive 2013/55/EU that amended Directive 2005/36/EC. Romania introduced the programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 2 . It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minist er of National Education No 5114/2014 3 . Before its launch, the content of the programme was discussed with the Commission and Member State experts. The experts analysed the training that Romania had delivered in the past at post-secondary and higher education levels to determine the extent to which they met the minimum requirements under the Professional Qualifications Directive. The upgrading courses were subsequently designed to bridge the identified gaps. To implement the upgrading programme at post-secondary level, eight ‘train the trainer’ sessions with experts from several Member States were organised between 2013 and 2014 by the Romanian Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants, and the National Commission of Hospitals Accreditation. The upgrading programme started in the 2014/2015 academic year. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, by the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, it had been completed by 23 higher education graduates and more than 3 000 post-secondary graduates. Romania presented the implementation of the upgrading programme to Member States in the Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications in March and May 2018. The Professional Qualifications Directive, as currently applicable, does not oblige host Member States to automatically recogni s e the qualifications of nurses who have successfully completed the upgrading programme. The current rules merely oblige the host Member State to consider the upgrading programme as evidence of additional skills and knowledge acquired on a case-by-case basis as part of the process of recognition under the general system. However, the Commission envisages a revision of the Directive’s acquired rights provisions for Romanian nurses following the assessment of the upgrading programme ’s results . This assessment was published in a Commission r eport on 11 May 2020 4 . The Commission is therefore proposing a targeted amendment of the rules of special acquired rights laid down in Article 33(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC to facilitate the recognition process for nurses responsible for general care who have completed the Romanian upgrading programme. Namely, the Commission proposes that these nurses should benefit from recognition under special acquired rights without the need to prove professional experience.
Revised version (Article 45 Pursuit of the professional activities of a pharmacist):
1. For the purposes of this Directive, the activities of a pharmacist are those, access to which and pursuit of which are contingent, in one or more Member States, upon professional qualifications and which are open to holders of evidence of formal qualifications of the types listed in Annex V, point 5.6.2. 3. If a Member State makes access to or pursuit of one of the activities of a pharmacist contingent upon supplementary professional experience, in addition to possession of evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.6.2, that Member State shall recognise as sufficient proof in this regard a certificate issued by the competent authorities in the home Member State stating that the person concerned has been engaged in those activities in the home Member State for a similar period. 4. The recognition referred to in paragraph 3 shall not apply with regard to the two-year period of professional experience required by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for the grant of a State public pharmacy concession. 5. If, on 16 September 1985, a Member State had a competitive examination in place designed to select from among the holders referred to in paragraph 2, those who are to be authorised to become owners of new pharmacies whose creation has been decided on as part of a national system of geographical division, that Member State may, by way of derogation from paragraph 1, proceed with that examination and require nationals of Member States who possess evidence of formal qualifications as a pharmacist referred to in Annex V, point 5.6.2 or who benefit from the provisions of Article 23 to take part in it.