Article 1 Purpose
This Directive establishes rules according to which a Member State which makes access to or pursuit of a regulated profession in its territory contingent upon possession of specific professional qualifications (referred to hereinafter as the host Member State) shall recognise professional qualifications obtained in one or more other Member States (referred to hereinafter as the home Member State) and which allow the holder of the said qualifications to pursue the same profession there, for access to and pursuit of that profession.
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 1 Purpose):
This Directive establishes rules according to which a Member State which makes access to or pursuit of a regulated profession in its territory contingent upon possession of specific professional qualifications (referred to hereinafter as the host Member State) shall recognise professional qualifications obtained in one or more other Member States (referred to hereinafter as the home Member State) and which allow the holder of the said qualifications to pursue the same profession there, for access to and pursuit of that profession. This Directive also establishes rules concerning partial access to a regulated profession and recognition of professional traineeships pursued in another Member State.
Article 2 Scope
1. This Directive shall apply to all nationals of a Member State wishing to pursue a regulated profession in a Member State, including those belonging to the liberal professions, other than that in which they obtained their professional qualifications, on either a self-employed or employed basis. 2. Each Member State may permit Member State nationals in possession of evidence of professional qualifications not obtained in a Member State to pursue a regulated profession within the meaning of Article 3(1)(a) on its territory in accordance with its rules. In the case of professions covered by Title III, Chapter III, this initial recognition shall respect the minimum training conditions laid down in that Chapter. 3. Where, for a given regulated profession, other specific arrangements directly related to the recognition of professional qualifications are established in a separate instrument of Community law, the corresponding provisions of this Directive shall not apply.
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 2 Scope):
1. This Directive shall apply to all nationals of a Member State wishing to pursue a regulated profession in a Member State, including those belonging to the liberal professions, other than that in which they obtained their professional qualifications, on either a self-employed or employed basis. This Directive shall also apply to all nationals of a Member State who have pursued a professional traineeship outside the home Member State. 2. Each Member State may permit Member State nationals in possession of evidence of professional qualifications not obtained in a Member State to pursue a regulated profession within the meaning of Article 3(1)(a) on its territory in accordance with its rules. In the case of professions covered by Title III, Chapter III, this initial recognition shall respect the minimum training conditions laid down in that Chapter. 3. Where, for a given regulated profession, other specific arrangements directly related to the recognition of professional qualifications are established in a separate instrument of Community law, the corresponding provisions of this Directive shall not apply. 4. This Directive shall not apply to notaries who are appointed by an official act of government.
Article 3 Definitions
1. For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions apply: (a) ‘regulated profession’: a professional activity or group of professional activities, access to which, the pursuit of which, or one of the modes of pursuit of which is subject, directly or indirectly, by virtue of legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions to the possession of specific professional qualifications; in particular, the use of a professional title limited by legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions to holders of a given professional qualification shall constitute a mode of pursuit. Where the first sentence of this definition does not apply, a profession referred to in paragraph 2 shall be treated as a regulated profession; (b) ‘professional qualifications’: qualifications attested by evidence of formal qualifications, an attestation of competence referred to in Article 11, point (a) (i) and/or professional experience; (c) ‘evidence of formal qualifications’: diplomas, certificates and other evidence issued by an authority in a Member State designated pursuant to legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions of that Member State and certifying successful completion of professional training obtained mainly in the Community. Where the first sentence of this definition does not apply, evidence of formal qualifications referred to in paragraph 3 shall be treated as evidence of formal qualifications; (d) ‘competent authority’: any authority or body empowered by a Member State specifically to issue or receive training diplomas and other documents or information and to receive the applications, and take the decisions, referred to in this Directive; (e) ‘regulated education and training’: any training which is specifically geared to the pursuit of a given profession and which comprises a course or courses complemented, where appropriate, by professional training, or probationary or professional practice. The structure and level of the professional training, probationary or professional practice shall be determined by the laws, regulations or administrative provisions of the Member State concerned or monitored or approved by the authority designated for that purpose; (e) ‘regulated education and training’: any training which is specifically geared to the pursuit of a given profession and which comprises a course or courses complemented, where appropriate, by professional training, or probationary or professional practice. The structure and level of the professional training, probationary or professional practice shall be determined by the laws, regulations or administrative provisions of the Member State concerned or monitored or approved by the authority designated for that purpose; (f) ‘professional experience’: the actual and lawful pursuit of the profession concerned in a Member State; (g) ‘adaptation period’: the pursuit of a regulated profession in the host Member State under the responsibility of a qualified member of that profession, such period of supervised practice possibly being accompanied by further training. This period of supervised practice shall be the subject of an assessment. The detailed rules governing the adaptation period and its assessment as well as the status of a migrant under supervision shall be laid down by the competent authority in the host Member State. The status enjoyed in the host Member State by the person undergoing the period of supervised practice, in particular in the matter of right of residence as well as obligations, social rights and benefits, allowances and remuneration, shall be established by the competent authorities in that Member State in accordance with applicable Community law; (g) ‘adaptation period’: the pursuit of a regulated profession in the host Member State under the responsibility of a qualified member of that profession, such period of supervised practice possibly being accompanied by further training. This period of supervised practice shall be the subject of an assessment. The detailed rules governing the adaptation period and its assessment as well as the status of a migrant under supervision shall be laid down by the competent authority in the host Member State. The status enjoyed in the host Member State by the person undergoing the period of supervised practice, in particular in the matter of right of residence as well as obligations, social rights and benefits, allowances and remuneration, shall be established by the competent authorities in that Member State in accordance with applicable Community law; (h) ‘aptitude test’: a test limited to the professional knowledge of the applicant, made by the competent authorities of the host Member State with the aim of assessing the ability of the applicant to pursue a regulated profession in that Member State. In order to permit this test to be carried out, the competent authorities shall draw up a list of subjects which, on the basis of a comparison of the education and training required in the Member State and that received by the applicant, are not covered by the diploma or other evidence of formal qualifications possessed by the applicant. The aptitude test must take account of the fact that the applicant is a qualified professional in the home Member State or the Member State from which he comes. It shall cover subjects to be selected from those on the list, knowledge of which is essential in order to be able to pursue the profession in the host Member State. The test may also include knowledge of the professional rules applicable to the activities in question in the host Member State. The detailed application of the aptitude test and the status, in the host Member State, of the applicant who wishes to prepare himself for the aptitude test in that State shall be determined by the competent authorities in that Member State; (h) ‘aptitude test’: a test limited to the professional knowledge of the applicant, made by the competent authorities of the host Member State with the aim of assessing the ability of the applicant to pursue a regulated profession in that Member State. In order to permit this test to be carried out, the competent authorities shall draw up a list of subjects which, on the basis of a comparison of the education and training required in the Member State and that received by the applicant, are not covered by the diploma or other evidence of formal qualifications possessed by the applicant. The aptitude test must take account of the fact that the applicant is a qualified professional in the home Member State or the Member State from which he comes. It shall cover subjects to be selected from those on the list, knowledge of which is essential in order to be able to pursue the profession in the host Member State. The test may also include knowledge of the professional rules applicable to the activities in question in the host Member State. The detailed application of the aptitude test and the status, in the host Member State, of the applicant who wishes to prepare himself for the aptitude test in that State shall be determined by the competent authorities in that Member State; (i) ‘manager of an undertaking’: any person who in an undertaking in the occupational field in question has pursued an activity: (i) as a manager of an undertaking or a manager of a branch of an undertaking; or (ii) as a deputy to the proprietor or the manager of an undertaking where that post involves responsibility equivalent to that of the proprietor or manager represented; or (iii) in a managerial post with duties of a commercial and/or technical nature and with responsibility for one or more departments of the undertaking. (i) ‘manager of an undertaking’: any person who in an undertaking in the occupational field in question has pursued an activity: (i) as a manager of an undertaking or a manager of a branch of an undertaking; or (ii) as a deputy to the proprietor or the manager of an undertaking where that post involves responsibility equivalent to that of the proprietor or manager represented; or (iii) in a managerial post with duties of a commercial and/or technical nature and with responsibility for one or more departments of the undertaking. 2. A profession practised by the members of an association or organisation listed in Annex I shall be treated as a regulated profession. The purpose of the associations or organisations referred to in the first subparagraph is, in particular, to promote and maintain a high standard in the professional field concerned. To that end they are recognised in a special form by a Member State and award evidence of formal qualifications to their members, ensure that their members respect the rules of professional conduct which they prescribe, and confer on them the right to use a title or designatory letters or to benefit from a status corresponding to those formal qualifications. On each occasion that a Member State grants recognition to an association or organisation referred to in the first subparagraph, it shall inform the Commission, which shall publish an appropriate notification in the Official Journal of the European Union . 3. Evidence of formal qualifications issued by a third country shall be regarded as evidence of formal qualifications if the holder has three years' professional experience in the profession concerned on the territory of the Member State which recognised that evidence of formal qualifications in accordance with Article 2(2), certified by that Member State.
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 3 Definitions):
2. A profession practised by the members of an association or organisation listed in Annex I shall be treated as a regulated profession. The purpose of the associations or organisations referred to in the first subparagraph is, in particular, to promote and maintain a high standard in the professional field concerned. To that end they are recognised in a special form by a Member State and award evidence of formal qualifications to their members, ensure that their members respect the rules of professional conduct which they prescribe, and confer on them the right to use a title or designatory letters or to benefit from a status corresponding to those formal qualifications. On each occasion that a Member State grants recognition to an association or organisation referred to in the first subparagraph, it shall inform the Commission. The Commission shall examine whether that association or organisation fulfils the conditions provided for in the second subparagraph. In order to take due account of regulatory developments in Member States, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c in order to update Annex I where the conditions provided for in the second subparagraph are satisfied. Where the conditions provided for in the second subparagraph are not satisfied, the Commission shall adopt an implementing act in order to reject the requested update of Annex I. 3. Evidence of formal qualifications issued by a third country shall be regarded as evidence of formal qualifications if the holder has three years' professional experience in the profession concerned on the territory of the Member State which recognised that evidence of formal qualifications in accordance with Article 2(2), certified by that Member State.
Article 4 Effects of recognition
1. The recognition of professional qualifications by the host Member State allows the beneficiary to gain access in that Member State to the same profession as that for which he is qualified in the home Member State and to pursue it in the host Member State under the same conditions as its nationals. 2. For the purposes of this Directive, the profession which the applicant wishes to pursue in the host Member State is the same as that for which he is qualified in his home Member State if the activities covered are comparable.
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 4 Effects of recognition):
1. The recognition of professional qualifications by the host Member State shall allow beneficiaries to gain access in that Member State to the same profession as that for which they are qualified in the home Member State and to pursue it in the host Member State under the same conditions as its nationals. 2. For the purposes of this Directive, the profession which the applicant wishes to pursue in the host Member State is the same as that for which he is qualified in his home Member State if the activities covered are comparable. 3. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, partial access to a profession in the host Member State shall be granted under the conditions laid down in Article 4f.
Article 5 Principle of the free provision of services
1. Without prejudice to specific provisions of Community law, as well as to Articles 6 and 7 of this Directive, Member States shall not restrict, for any reason relating to professional qualifications, the free provision of services in another Member State: (a) if the service provider is legally established in a Member State for the purpose of pursuing the same profession there (hereinafter referred to as the Member State of establishment), and (b) where the service provider moves, if he has pursued that profession in the Member State of establishment for at least two years during the 10 years preceding the provision of services when the profession is not regulated in that Member State. The condition requiring two years' pursuit shall not apply when either the profession or the education and training leading to the profession is regulated. 2. The provisions of this title shall only apply where the service provider moves to the territory of the host Member State to pursue, on a temporary and occasional basis, the profession referred to in paragraph 1. The temporary and occasional nature of the provision of services shall be assessed case by case, in particular in relation to its duration, its frequency, its regularity and its continuity. 3. Where a service provider moves, he shall be subject to professional rules of a professional, statutory or administrative nature which are directly linked to professional qualifications, such as the definition of the profession, the use of titles and serious professional malpractice which is directly and specifically linked to consumer protection and safety, as well as disciplinary provisions which are applicable in the host Member State to professionals who pursue the same profession in that Member State.
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 5 Principle of the free provision of services):
1. Without prejudice to specific provisions of Community law, as well as to Articles 6 and 7 of this Directive, Member States shall not restrict, for any reason relating to professional qualifications, the free provision of services in another Member State: (a) if the service provider is legally established in a Member State for the purpose of pursuing the same profession there (hereinafter referred to as the Member State of establishment), and (b) where the service provider moves, if he has pursued that profession in one or several Member States for at least one year during the last 10 years preceding the provision of services when the profession is not regulated in the Member State of establishment. The condition of one year’s pursuit shall not apply if the profession or the education and training leading to the profession is regulated. 2. The provisions of this title shall only apply where the service provider moves to the territory of the host Member State to pursue, on a temporary and occasional basis, the profession referred to in paragraph 1. The temporary and occasional nature of the provision of services shall be assessed case by case, in particular in relation to its duration, its frequency, its regularity and its continuity. 3. Where a service provider moves, he shall be subject to professional rules of a professional, statutory or administrative nature which are directly linked to professional qualifications, such as the definition of the profession, the use of titles and serious professional malpractice which is directly and specifically linked to consumer protection and safety, as well as disciplinary provisions which are applicable in the host Member State to professionals who pursue the same profession in that Member State.
Article 6 Exemptions
Pursuant to Article 5(1), the host Member State shall exempt service providers established in another Member State from the requirements which it places on professionals established in its territory relating to: (a) authorisation by, registration with or membership of a professional organisation or body. In order to facilitate the application of disciplinary provisions in force on their territory according to Article 5(3), Member States may provide either for automatic temporary registration with or for pro forma membership of such a professional organisation or body, provided that such registration or membership does not delay or complicate in any way the provision of services and does not entail any additional costs for the service provider. A copy of the declaration and, where applicable, of the renewal referred to in Article 7(1), accompanied, for professions which have implications for public health and safety referred to in Article 7(4) or which benefit from automatic recognition under Title III Chapter III, by a copy of the documents referred to in Article 7(2) shall be sent by the competent authority to the relevant professional organisation or body, and this shall constitute automatic temporary registration or pro forma membership for this purpose; (b) registration with a public social security body for the purpose of settling accounts with an insurer relating to activities pursued for the benefit of insured persons. The service provider shall, however, inform in advance or, in an urgent case, afterwards, the body referred to in point (b) of the services which he has provided.
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 6 Exemptions):
Pursuant to Article 5(1), the host Member State shall exempt service providers established in another Member State from the requirements which it places on professionals established in its territory relating to: (b) registration with a public social security body for the purpose of settling accounts with an insurer relating to activities pursued for the benefit of insured persons. The service provider shall, however, inform in advance or, in an urgent case, afterwards, the body referred to in point (b) of the services which he has provided.
Article 7 Declaration to be made in advance, if the service provider moves
1. Member States may require that, where the service provider first moves from one Member State to another in order to provide services, he shall inform the competent authority in the host Member State in a written declaration to be made in advance including the details of any insurance cover or other means of personal or collective protection with regard to professional liability. Such declaration shall be renewed once a year if the service provider intends to provide temporary or occasional services in that Member State during that year. The service provider may supply the declaration by any means. 2. Moreover, for the first provision of services or if there is a material change in the situation substantiated by the documents, Member States may require that the declaration be accompanied by the following documents: (a) proof of the nationality of the service provider; (b) an attestation certifying that the holder is legally established in a Member State for the purpose of pursuing the activities concerned and that he is not prohibited from practising, even temporarily, at the moment of delivering the attestation; (c) evidence of professional qualifications; (d) for cases referred to in Article 5(1)(b), any means of proof that the service provider has pursued the activity concerned for at least two years during the previous ten years; (e) for professions in the security sector, where the Member State so requires for its own nationals, evidence of no criminal convictions. 3. The service shall be provided under the professional title of the Member State of establishment, in so far as such a title exists in that Member State for the professional activity in question. That title shall be indicated in the official language or one of the official languages of the Member State of establishment in such a way as to avoid any confusion with the professional title of the host Member State. Where no such professional title exists in the Member State of establishment, the service provider shall indicate his formal qualification in the official language or one of the official languages of that Member State. By way of exception, the service shall be provided under the professional title of the host Member State for cases referred to in Title III Chapter III. 4. For the first provision of services, in the case of regulated professions having public health or safety implications, which do not benefit from automatic recognition under Title III Chapter III, the competent authority of the host Member State may check the professional qualifications of the service provider prior to the first provision of services. Such a prior check shall be possible only where the purpose of the check is to avoid serious damage to the health or safety of the service recipient due to a lack of professional qualification of the service provider and where this does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose. Within a maximum of one month of receipt of the declaration and accompanying documents, the competent authority shall endeavour to inform the service provider either of its decision not to check his qualifications or of the outcome of such check. Where there is a difficulty which would result in delay, the competent authority shall notify the service provider within the first month of the reason for the delay and the timescale for a decision, which must be finalised within the second month of receipt of completed documentation. Where there is a substantial difference between the professional qualifications of the service provider and the training required in the host Member State, to the extent that that difference is such as to be harmful to public health or safety, the host Member State shall give the service provider the opportunity to show, in particular by means of an aptitude test, that he has acquired the knowledge or competence lacking. In any case, it must be possible to provide the service within one month of a decision being taken in accordance with the previous subparagraph. In the absence of a reaction of the competent authority within the deadlines set in the previous subparagraphs, the service may be provided. In cases where qualifications have been verified under this paragraph, the service shall be provided under the professional title of the host Member State.
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 7 Declaration to be made in advance, if the service provider moves):
1. Member States may require that, where the service provider first moves from one Member State to another in order to provide services, he shall inform the competent authority in the host Member State in a written declaration to be made in advance including the details of any insurance cover or other means of personal or collective protection with regard to professional liability. Such declaration shall be renewed once a year if the service provider intends to provide temporary or occasional services in that Member State during that year. The service provider may supply the declaration by any means. 3. The service shall be provided under the professional title of the Member State of establishment, in so far as such a title exists in that Member State for the professional activity in question. That title shall be indicated in the official language or one of the official languages of the Member State of establishment in such a way as to avoid any confusion with the professional title of the host Member State. Where no such professional title exists in the Member State of establishment, the service provider shall indicate his formal qualification in the official language or one of the official languages of that Member State. By way of exception, the service shall be provided under the professional title of the host Member State for cases referred to in Title III Chapter III. 4. For the first provision of services, in the case of regulated professions that have public health or safety implications which do not benefit from automatic recognition under Chapter II, III or IIIa of Title III, the competent authority of the host Member State may check the professional qualifications of the service provider prior to the first provision of services. Such a prior check shall be possible only where the purpose of the check is to avoid serious damage to the health or safety of the service recipient due to a lack of professional qualification of the service provider and where the check does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose. No later than one month after receipt of the declaration and accompanying documents, referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, the competent authority shall inform the service provider of its decision: (a) not to check his professional qualifications; Where there is a difficulty which would result in delay in taking a decision under the second subparagraph, the competent authority shall notify the service provider of the reason for the delay within the same deadline. The difficulty shall be solved within one month of that notification and the decision finalised within two months of resolution of the difficulty. Where there is a substantial difference between the professional qualifications of the service provider and the training required in the host Member State, to the extent that that difference is such as to be harmful to public health or safety, and that it cannot be compensated by the service provider’s professional experience or by knowledge, skills and competences acquired through lifelong learning formally validated to that end by a relevant body, the host Member State shall give that service provider the opportunity to show, by means of an aptitude test, as referred to in point (b) of the second subparagraph, that they have acquired the knowledge, skills or competence that were lacking. The host Member State shall take a decision on that basis on whether to allow the provision of services. In any case, it must be possible to provide the service within one month of the decision taken in accordance with the second subparagraph. In the absence of a reaction of the competent authority within the deadlines set out in the second and third subparagraphs, the service may be provided. In cases where professional qualifications have been verified under this paragraph, the service shall be provided under the professional title of the host Member State.
Article 8 Administrative cooperation
1. The competent authorities of the host Member State may ask the competent authorities of the Member State of establishment, for each provision of services, to provide any information relevant to the legality of the service provider's establishment and his good conduct, as well as the absence of any disciplinary or criminal sanctions of a professional nature. The competent authorities of the Member State of establishment shall provide this information in accordance with the provisions of Article 56. 2. The competent authorities shall ensure the exchange of all information necessary for complaints by a recipient of a service against a service provider to be correctly pursued. Recipients shall be informed of the outcome of the complaint.
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 8 Administrative cooperation):
1. The competent authorities of the host Member State may ask the competent authorities of the Member State of establishment, in the event of justified doubts, to provide any information relevant to the legality of the service provider’s establishment and good conduct, as well as the absence of any disciplinary or criminal sanctions of a professional nature. In the event that the competent authorities of the host Member State decide to check the service provider’s professional qualifications, they may ask the competent authorities of the Member State of establishment for information about the service provider’s training courses to the extent necessary to assess substantial differences likely to be harmful to public health or safety. The competent authorities of the Member State of establishment shall provide that information in accordance with Article 56. In the case of non-regulated professions in the home Member State, the assistance centres referred to in Article 57b may also provide such information. 2. The competent authorities shall ensure the exchange of all information necessary for complaints by a recipient of a service against a service provider to be correctly pursued. Recipients shall be informed of the outcome of the complaint.
Article 9 Information to be given to the recipients of the service
In cases where the service is provided under the professional title of the Member State of establishment or under the formal qualification of the service provider, in addition to the other requirements relating to information contained in Community law, the competent authorities of the host Member State may require the service provider to furnish the recipient of the service with any or all of the following information: (a) if the service provider is registered in a commercial register or similar public register, the register in which he is registered, his registration number, or equivalent means of identification contained in that register; (b) if the activity is subject to authorisation in the Member State of establishment, the name and address of the competent supervisory authority; (c) any professional association or similar body with which the service provider is registered; (d) the professional title or, where no such title exists, the formal qualification of the service provider and the Member State in which it was awarded; (e) if the service provider performs an activity which is subject to VAT, the VAT identification number referred to in Article 22(1) of the sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes - Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment ( 23 ); (f) details of any insurance cover or other means of personal or collective protection with regard to professional liability.
Article 10 Scope
This Chapter applies to all professions which are not covered by Chapters II and III of this Title and in the following cases in which the applicant, for specific and exceptional reasons, does not satisfy the conditions laid down in those Chapters: (a) for activities listed in Annex IV, when the migrant does not meet the requirements set out in Articles 17, 18 and 19; (b) for doctors with basic training, specialised doctors, nurses responsible for general care, dental practitioners, specialised dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives, pharmacists and architects, when the migrant does not meet the requirements of effective and lawful professional practice referred to in Articles 23, 27, 33, 37, 39, 43 and 49; (c) for architects, when the migrant holds evidence of formal qualification not listed in Annex V, point 5.7; (d) without prejudice to Article 21(1), 23 and 27, for doctors, nurses, dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives, pharmacists and architects holding evidence of formal qualifications as a specialist who must have taken part in the training leading to the possession of a title listed in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.4.2, 5.5.2, 5.6.2 and 5.7.1, and solely for the purpose of the recognition of the relevant specialty; (e) for nurses responsible for general care and specialized nurses holding evidence of formal qualifications as a specialist who have taken part in the training leading to the possession of a title listed in Annex V, point 5.2.2, when the migrant seeks recognition in another Member State where the relevant professional activities are pursued by specialised nurses without training as general care nurse; (f) for specialised nurses without training as general care nurse, when the migrant seeks recognition in another Member State where the relevant professional activities are pursued by nurses responsible for general care, specialised nurses without training as general care nurse or specialised nurses holding evidence of formal qualifications as a specialist who have taken part in the training leading to the possession of the titles listed in Annex V, point 5.22; (g) for migrants meeting the requirements set out in Article 3(3).
Article 11 Levels of qualification
For the purpose of applying Article 13, the professional qualifications are grouped under the following levels as described below: (a) an attestation of competence issued by a competent authority in the home Member State designated pursuant to legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions of that Member State, on the basis of: (i) either a training course not forming part of a certificate or diploma within the meaning of points (b), (c), (d) or (e), or a specific examination without prior training, or full-time pursuit of the profession in a Member State for three consecutive years or for an equivalent duration on a part-time basis during the previous 10 years, (ii) or general primary or secondary education, attesting that the holder has acquired general knowledge; (a) an attestation of competence issued by a competent authority in the home Member State designated pursuant to legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions of that Member State, on the basis of: (i) either a training course not forming part of a certificate or diploma within the meaning of points (b), (c), (d) or (e), or a specific examination without prior training, or full-time pursuit of the profession in a Member State for three consecutive years or for an equivalent duration on a part-time basis during the previous 10 years, (ii) or general primary or secondary education, attesting that the holder has acquired general knowledge; (b) a certificate attesting to a successful completion of a secondary course, (i) either general in character, supplemented by a course of study or professional training other than those referred to in point (c) and/or by the probationary or professional practice required in addition to that course, (ii) or technical or professional in character, supplemented where appropriate by a course of study or professional training as referred to in point (i), and/or by the probationary or professional practice required in addition to that course; (b) a certificate attesting to a successful completion of a secondary course, (i) either general in character, supplemented by a course of study or professional training other than those referred to in point (c) and/or by the probationary or professional practice required in addition to that course, (ii) or technical or professional in character, supplemented where appropriate by a course of study or professional training as referred to in point (i), and/or by the probationary or professional practice required in addition to that course; (c) a diploma certifying successful completion of (i) either training at post-secondary level other than that referred to in points (d) and (e) of a duration of at least one year or of an equivalent duration on a part-time basis, one of the conditions of entry of which is, as a general rule, the successful completion of the secondary course required to obtain entry to university or higher education or the completion of equivalent school education of the second secondary level, as well as the professional training which may be required in addition to that post-secondary course; or (ii) in the case of a regulated profession, training with a special structure, included in Annex II, equivalent to the level of training provided for under (i), which provides a comparable professional standard and which prepares the trainee for a comparable level of responsibilities and functions; (c) a diploma certifying successful completion of (i) either training at post-secondary level other than that referred to in points (d) and (e) of a duration of at least one year or of an equivalent duration on a part-time basis, one of the conditions of entry of which is, as a general rule, the successful completion of the secondary course required to obtain entry to university or higher education or the completion of equivalent school education of the second secondary level, as well as the professional training which may be required in addition to that post-secondary course; or (ii) in the case of a regulated profession, training with a special structure, included in Annex II, equivalent to the level of training provided for under (i), which provides a comparable professional standard and which prepares the trainee for a comparable level of responsibilities and functions; (d) a diploma certifying successful completion of training at post-secondary level of at least three and not more than four years' duration, or of an equivalent duration on a part-time basis, at a university or establishment of higher education or another establishment providing the same level of training, as well as the professional training which may be required in addition to that post-secondary course; (e) a diploma certifying that the holder has successfully completed a post-secondary course of at least four years' duration, or of an equivalent duration on a part-time basis, at a university or establishment of higher education or another establishment of equivalent level and, where appropriate, that he has successfully completed the professional training required in addition to the post-secondary course. The Commission may adapt the list in Annex II to take account of training which meets the requirements provided for in point (c)(ii) of the first paragraph. 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 11 Levels of qualification):
For the purposes of Article 13 and Article 14(6), professional qualifications shall be grouped under the following levels: (d) a diploma certifying that the holder has successfully completed training at post-secondary level of at least three and not more than four years’ duration, or of an equivalent duration on a part-time basis, which may in addition be expressed with an equivalent number of ECTS credits, at a university or establishment of higher education or another establishment of equivalent level and, where appropriate, that he has successfully completed the professional training required in addition to the post-secondary course; (e) a diploma certifying that the holder has successfully completed a post-secondary course of at least four years’ duration, or of an equivalent duration on a part-time basis, which may in addition be expressed with an equivalent number of ECTS credits, at a university or establishment of higher education or another establishment of equivalent level and, where appropriate, that he has successfully completed the professional training required in addition to the post-secondary course.
Article 12 Equal treatment of qualifications
Any evidence of formal qualifications or set of evidence of formal qualifications issued by a competent authority in a Member State, certifying successful completion of training in the Community which is recognised by that Member State as being of an equivalent level and which confers on the holder the same rights of access to or pursuit of a profession or prepares for the pursuit of that profession, shall be treated as evidence of formal qualifications of the type covered by Article 11, including the level in question. Any professional qualification which, although not satisfying the requirements contained in the legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions in force in the home Member State for access to or the pursuit of a profession, confers on the holder acquired rights by virtue of these provisions, shall also be treated as such evidence of formal qualifications under the same conditions as set out in the first subparagraph. This applies in particular if the home Member State raises the level of training required for admission to a profession and for its exercise, and if an individual who has undergone former training, which does not meet the requirements of the new qualification, benefits from acquired rights by virtue of national legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions; in such case this former training is considered by the host Member State, for the purposes of the application of Article 13, as corresponding to the level of the new training.
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 12 Equal treatment of qualifications):
Any evidence of formal qualifications or set of evidence of formal qualifications issued by a competent authority in a Member State, certifying successful completion of training in the Union, on a full or part-time basis, within or outside formal programmes, which is recognised by that Member State as being of an equivalent level and which confers on the holder the same rights of access to or pursuit of a profession or prepares for the pursuit of that profession, shall be treated as evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Article 11, including the level in question. Any professional qualification which, although not satisfying the requirements contained in the legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions in force in the home Member State for access to or the pursuit of a profession, confers on the holder acquired rights by virtue of these provisions, shall also be treated as such evidence of formal qualifications under the same conditions as set out in the first subparagraph. This applies in particular if the home Member State raises the level of training required for admission to a profession and for its exercise, and if an individual who has undergone former training, which does not meet the requirements of the new qualification, benefits from acquired rights by virtue of national legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions; in such case this former training is considered by the host Member State, for the purposes of the application of Article 13, as corresponding to the level of the new training.
Article 13 Conditions for recognition
1. If access to or pursuit of a regulated profession in a host Member State is contingent upon possession of specific professional qualifications, the competent authority of that Member State shall permit access to and pursuit of that profession, under the same conditions as apply to its nationals, to applicants possessing the attestation of competence or evidence of formal qualifications required by another Member State in order to gain access to and pursue that profession on its territory. Attestations of competence or evidence of formal qualifications shall satisfy the following conditions: (a) they shall have been issued by a competent authority in a Member State, designated in accordance with the legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions of that Member State; (b) they shall attest a level of professional qualification at least equivalent to the level immediately prior to that which is required in the host Member State, as described in Article 11. 2. Access to and pursuit of the profession, as described in paragraph 1, shall also be granted to applicants who have pursued the profession referred to in that paragraph on a full-time basis for two years during the previous 10 years in another Member State which does not regulate that profession, providing they possess one or more attestations of competence or documents providing evidence of formal qualifications. Attestations of competence and evidence of formal qualifications shall satisfy the following conditions: (b) they shall attest a level of professional qualification at least equivalent to the level immediately prior to that required in the host Member State, as described in Article 11; (c) they shall attest that the holder has been prepared for the pursuit of the profession in question. The two years' professional experience referred to in the first subparagraph may not, however, be required if the evidence of formal qualifications which the applicant possesses certifies regulated education and training within the meaning of Article 3(1)(e) at the levels of qualifications described in Article 11, points (b), (c), (d) or (e). The regulated education and training listed in Annex III shall be considered as such regulated education and training at the level described in Article 11, point (c). The Commission may adapt the list in Annex III to take account of regulated education and training which provides a comparable professional standard and which prepares the trainee for a comparable level of responsibilities and functions. 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). 3. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, point (b) and to paragraph 2, point (b), the host Member State shall permit access and pursuit of a regulated profession where access to this profession is contingent in its territory upon possession of a qualification certifying successful completion of higher or university education of four years' duration, and where the applicant possesses a qualification referred to in Article 11, point (c).
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 13 Conditions for recognition):
1. If access to or pursuit of a regulated profession in a host Member State is contingent upon possession of specific professional qualifications, the competent authority of that Member State shall permit applicants to access and pursue that profession, under the same conditions as apply to its nationals, if they possess an attestation of competence or evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Article 11, required by another Member State in order to gain access to and pursue that profession on its territory. Attestations of competence or evidence of formal qualifications shall be issued by a competent authority in a Member State, designated in accordance with the laws, regulations or administrative provisions of that Member State. 2. Access to, and pursuit of, a profession as described in paragraph 1 shall also be granted to applicants who have pursued the profession in question on a full-time basis for one year or for an equivalent overall duration on a part-time basis during the previous 10 years in another Member State which does not regulate that profession, and who possess one or more attestations of competence or evidence of formal qualifications issued by another Member State which does not regulate the profession. Attestations of competence and evidence of formal qualifications shall satisfy the following conditions: (a) they are issued by a competent authority in a Member State, designated in accordance with the laws, regulations or administrative provisions of that Member State; (b) they attest that the holder has been prepared for the pursuit of the profession in question. The one year of professional experience referred to in the first subparagraph may not, however, be required if the evidence of formal qualifications which the applicant possesses certifies regulated education and training. 3. The host Member State shall accept the level attested under Article 11 by the home Member State, as well as the certificate by which the home Member State certifies that regulated education and training or vocational training with a special structure referred to in point (c)(ii) of Article 11 is equivalent to the level provided for in point (c)(i) of Article 11. 4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article and from Article 14, the competent authority of the host Member State may refuse access to, and pursuit of, the profession to holders of an attestation of competence classified under point (a) of Article 11 where the national professional qualification required to exercise the profession on its territory is classified under point (e) of Article 11.
Article 14 Compensation measures
1. Article 13 does not preclude the host Member State from requiring the applicant to complete an adaptation period of up to three years or to take an aptitude test if: (a) the duration of the training of which he provides evidence under the terms of Article 13, paragraph 1 or 2, is at least one year shorter than that required by the host Member State; (b) the training he has received covers substantially different matters than those covered by the evidence of formal qualifications required in the host Member State; (c) the regulated profession in the host Member State comprises one or more regulated professional activities which do not exist in the corresponding profession in the applicant's home Member State within the meaning of Article 4(2), and that difference consists in specific training which is required in the host Member State and which covers substantially different matters from those covered by the applicant's attestation of competence or evidence of formal qualifications. 2. If the host Member State makes use of the option provided for in paragraph 1, it must offer the applicant the choice between an adaptation period and an aptitude test. Where a Member State considers, with respect to a given profession, that it is necessary to derogate from the requirement, set out in the previous subparagraph, that it give the applicant a choice between an adaptation period and an aptitude test, it shall inform the other Member States and the Commission in advance and provide sufficient justification for the derogation. If, after receiving all necessary information, the Commission considers that the derogation referred to in the second subparagraph is inappropriate or that it is not in accordance with Community law, it shall, within three months, ask the Member State in question to refrain from taking the envisaged measure. In the absence of a response from the Commission within the abovementioned deadline, the derogation may be applied. 3. By way of derogation from the principle of the right of the applicant to choose, as laid down in paragraph 2, for professions whose pursuit requires precise knowledge of national law and in respect of which the provision of advice and/or assistance concerning national law is an essential and constant aspect of the professional activity, the host Member State may stipulate either an adaptation period or an aptitude test. This applies also to the cases provided for in Article 10 points (b) and (c), in Article 10 point (d) concerning doctors and dental practitioners in Article 10 point (f) when the migrant seeks recognition in another Member State where the relevant professional activities are pursued by nurses responsible for general care or specialised nurses holding evidence of formal qualifications as a specialist who have taken part in the training leading to the possession of the titles listed in Annex V, point 5.2.2 and in Article 10 point (g). In the cases covered by Article 10 point (a), the host Member State may require an adaptation period or an aptitude test if the migrant envisages pursuing professional activities in a self-employed capacity or as a manager of an undertaking which require the knowledge and the application of the specific national rules in force, provided that knowledge and application of those rules are required by the competent authorities of the host Member State for access to such activities by its own nationals. 4. For the purpose of applying paragraph 1 points (b) and (c), ‘substantially different matters’ means matters of which knowledge is essential for pursuing the profession and with regard to which the training received by the migrant shows important differences in terms of duration or content from the training required by the host Member State. 5. Paragraph 1 shall be applied with due regard to the principle of proportionality. In particular, if the host Member State intends to require the applicant to complete an adaptation period or take an aptitude test, it must first ascertain whether the knowledge acquired by the applicant in the course of his professional experience in a Member State or in a third country, is of a nature to cover, in full or in part, the substantial difference referred to in paragraph 4.
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 14 Compensation measures):
1. Article 13 shall not preclude the host Member State from requiring the applicant to complete an adaptation period of up to three years or to take an aptitude test if: (a) the training the applicant has received covers substantially different matters than those covered by the evidence of formal qualifications required in the host Member State; (b) the regulated profession in the host Member State comprises one or more regulated professional activities which do not exist in the corresponding profession in the applicant’s home Member State, and the training required in the host Member State covers substantially different matters from those covered by the applicant’s attestation of competence or evidence of formal qualifications. 2. If the host Member State makes use of the option provided for in paragraph 1, it must offer the applicant the choice between an adaptation period and an aptitude test. Where a Member State considers, with respect to a given profession, that it is necessary to derogate from the requirement, set out in the previous subparagraph, that it give the applicant a choice between an adaptation period and an aptitude test, it shall inform the other Member States and the Commission in advance and provide sufficient justification for the derogation. Where the Commission considers that the derogation referred to in the second subparagraph is inappropriate or that it is not in accordance with Union law, it shall adopt an implementing act, within three months of receiving all necessary information, to ask the relevant Member State to refrain from taking the envisaged measure. In the absence of a response from the Commission within that deadline, the derogation may be applied. 3. By way of derogation from the principle of the right of the applicant to choose, as laid down in paragraph 2, for professions whose pursuit requires precise knowledge of national law and in respect of which the provision of advice and/or assistance concerning national law is an essential and constant aspect of the professional activity, the host Member State may stipulate either an adaptation period or an aptitude test. In the cases covered by Article 10 point (a), the host Member State may require an adaptation period or an aptitude test if the migrant envisages pursuing professional activities in a self-employed capacity or as a manager of an undertaking which require the knowledge and the application of the specific national rules in force, provided that knowledge and application of those rules are required by the competent authorities of the host Member State for access to such activities by its own nationals. By way of derogation from the principle of the right of the applicant to choose, as laid down in paragraph 2, the host Member State may stipulate either an adaptation period or an aptitude test in the case of: In the case of a holder of a professional qualification referred to in point (a) of Article 11 who applies for recognition of his professional qualifications where the national professional qualification required is classified under point (d) of Article 11, the host Member State may impose both an adaptation period and an aptitude test. 4. For the purposes of paragraphs 1 and 5, ‘substantially different matters’ means matters in respect of which knowledge, skills and competences acquired are essential for pursuing the profession and with regard to which the training received by the migrant shows significant differences in terms of content from the training required by the host Member State. 5. Paragraph 1 shall be applied with due regard to the principle of proportionality. In particular, if the host Member State intends to require the applicant to complete an adaptation period or take an aptitude test, it must first ascertain whether the knowledge, skills and competences acquired by the applicant in the course of his professional experience or through lifelong learning, and formally validated to that end by a relevant body, in any Member State or in a third country, is of such nature as to cover, in full or in part, the substantially different matters defined in paragraph 4. 6. The decision imposing an adaptation period or an aptitude test shall be duly justified. In particular, the applicant shall be provided with the following information: (a) the level of the professional qualification required in the host Member State and the level of the professional qualification held by the applicant in accordance with the classification set out in Article 11; and (b) the substantial differences referred to in paragraph 4 and the reasons for which those differences cannot be compensated by knowledge, skills and competences acquired in the course of professional experience or through lifelong learning formally validated to that end by a relevant body. 7. Member States shall ensure that an applicant has the possibility of taking the aptitude test referred to in paragraph 1 not later than six months after the initial decision imposing an aptitude test on the applicant.
Article 15 Waiving of compensation measures on the basis of common platforms
1. For the purpose of this Article, ‘common platforms’ is defined as a set of criteria of professional qualifications which are suitable for compensating for substantial differences which have been identified between the training requirements existing in the various Member States for a given profession. These substantial differences shall be identified by comparison between the duration and contents of the training in at least two thirds of the Member States, including all Member States which regulate this profession. The differences in the contents of the training may result from substantial differences in the scope of the professional activities. 2. Common platforms as defined in paragraph 1 may be submitted to the Commission by Member States or by professional associations or organisations which are representative at national and European level. If the Commission, after consulting the Member States, is of the opinion that a draft common platform facilitates the mutual recognition of professional qualifications, it may present draft measures with a view to their adoption. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3). 3. Where the applicant's professional qualifications satisfy the criteria established in the measure adopted in accordance with paragraph 2, the host Member State shall waive the application of compensation measures under Article 14. 4. Paragraphs 1 to 3 shall not affect the competence of Member States to decide the professional qualifications required for the pursuit of professions in their territory as well as the contents and the organisation of their systems of education and professional training. 5. If a Member State considers that the criteria established in a measure adopted in accordance with paragraph 2 no longer offer adequate guarantees with regard to professional qualifications, it shall inform the Commission accordingly. The Commission shall, if appropriate, present a draft measure for adoption. That measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 58(3). 6. The Commission shall, by 20 October 2010, submit to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the operation of this Article and, if necessary, appropriate proposals for amending this Article.
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.
Article 16 Requirements regarding professional experience
If, in a Member State, access to or pursuit of one of the activities listed in Annex IV is contingent upon possession of general, commercial or professional knowledge and aptitudes, that Member State shall recognise previous pursuit of the activity in another Member State as sufficient proof of such knowledge and aptitudes. The activity must have been pursued in accordance with Articles 17, 18 and 19.
Article 17 Activities referred to in list I of Annex IV
1. For the activities in list I of Annex IV, the activity in question must have been previously pursued: (a) for six consecutive years on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking; or (b) for three consecutive years on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking, where the beneficiary proves that he has received previous training of at least three years for the activity in question, evidenced by a certificate recognised by the Member State or judged by a competent professional body to be fully valid; or (c) for four consecutive years on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking, where the beneficiary can prove that he has received, for the activity in question, previous training of at least two years' duration, attested by a certificate recognised by the Member State or judged by a competent professional body to be fully valid; or (d) for three consecutive years on a self-employed basis, if the beneficiary can prove that he has pursued the activity in question on an employed basis for at least five years; or (e) for five consecutive years in an executive position, of which at least three years involved technical duties and responsibility for at least one department of the company, if the beneficiary can prove that he has received, for the activity in question, previous training of at least three years' duration, as attested by a certificate recognised by the Member State or judged by a competent professional body to be fully valid. 2. In cases (a) and (d), the activity must not have finished more than 10 years before the date on which the complete application was submitted by the person concerned to the competent authority referred to in Article 56. 3. Paragraph 1(e) shall not apply to activities in Group ex 855, hairdressing establishments, of the ISIC Nomenclature.
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 17 Activities referred to in list I of Annex IV):
2. In cases (a) and (d), the activity must not have finished more than 10 years before the date on which the complete application was submitted by the person concerned to the competent authority referred to in Article 56. 3. Paragraph 1(e) shall not apply to activities in Group ex 855, hairdressing establishments, of the ISIC Nomenclature.
Article 18 Activities referred to in list II of Annex IV
1. For the activities in list II of Annex IV, the activity in question must have been previously pursued: (a) for five consecutive years on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking, or (b) for three consecutive years on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking, where the beneficiary proves that he has received previous training of at least three years for the activity in question, evidenced by a certificate recognised by the Member State or judged by a competent professional body to be fully valid, or (c) for four consecutive years on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking, where the beneficiary can prove that he has received, for the activity in question, previous training of at least two years' duration, attested by a certificate recognised by the Member State or judged by a competent professional body to be fully valid, or (d) for three consecutive years on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking, if the beneficiary can prove that he has pursued the activity in question on an employed basis for at least five years, or (e) for five consecutive years on an employed basis, if the beneficiary can prove that he has received, for the activity in question, previous training of at least three years' duration, as attested by a certificate recognised by the Member State or judged by a competent professional body to be fully valid, or (f) for six consecutive years on an employed basis, if the beneficiary can prove that he has received previous training in the activity in question of at least two years' duration, as attested by a certificate recognised by the Member State or judged by a competent professional body to be fully valid. 2. In cases (a) and (d), the activity must not have finished more than 10 years before the date on which the complete application was submitted by the person concerned to the competent authority referred to in Article 56.
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 18 Activities referred to in list II of Annex IV):
2. In cases (a) and (d), the activity must not have finished more than 10 years before the date on which the complete application was submitted by the person concerned to the competent authority referred to in Article 56.
Article 19 Activities referred to in list III of Annex IV
1. For the activities in list III of Annex IV, the activity in question must have been previously pursued: (a) for three consecutive years, either on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking, or (b) for two consecutive years, either on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking, if the beneficiary can prove that he has received previous training for the activity in question, as attested by a certificate recognised by the Member State or judged by a competent professional body to be fully valid, or (c) for two consecutive years, either on a self-employed basis or as a manager of an undertaking, if the beneficiary can prove that he has pursued the activity in question on an employed basis for at least three years, or (d) for three consecutive years, on an employed basis, if the beneficiary can prove that he has received previous training for the activity in question, as attested by a certificate recognised by the Member State or judged by a competent professional body to be fully valid. 2. In cases (a) and (c), the activity must not have finished more than 10 years before the date on which the complete application was submitted by the person concerned to the competent authority referred to in Article 56.
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 19 Activities referred to in list III of Annex IV):
2. In cases (a) and (c), the activity must not have finished more than 10 years before the date on which the complete application was submitted by the person concerned to the competent authority referred to in Article 56.
Article 20 
Adaptation of the lists of activities in Annex IV The Commission may adapt the lists of activities in Annex IV which are the subject of recognition of professional experience pursuant to Article 16 with a view to updating or clarifying the nomenclature, provided that this does not involve any change in the activities related to the individual categories. 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 20 Adaptation of lists of activities in Annex IV):
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c concerning the adaptation of the lists of activities set out in Annex IV which are the subject of recognition of professional experience pursuant to Article 16, with a view to updating or clarifying the activities listed in Annex IV in particular in order to further specify their scope and to take due account of the latest developments in the field of activity-based nomenclatures, provided that this does not involve any narrowing of the scope of the activities related to the individual categories and that there is no shift of activities between the existing lists I, II and III of Annex IV.
Article 21 Principle of automatic recognition
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 dental practitioner, as specialised dental practitioner, as veterinary surgeon, as pharmacist and as architect, listed in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.6.2 and 5.7.1 respectively, which satisfy the minimum training conditions referred to in Articles 24, 25, 31, 34, 35, 38, 44 and 46 respectively, and shall, for the purposes of access to and pursuit of the professional activities, give such evidence the same effect on its territory as the evidence of formal qualifications which it itself issues. Such evidence of formal qualifications must be issued by the competent bodies in the Member States and accompanied, where appropriate, by the certificates listed in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.6.2 and 5.7.1 respectively. The provisions of the first and second subparagraphs do not affect the acquired rights referred to in Articles 23, 27, 33, 37, 39 and 49. 2. Each Member State shall recognise, for the purpose of pursuing general medical practice in the framework of its national social security system, evidence of formal qualifications listed in Annex V, point 5.1.4 and issued to nationals of the Member States by the other Member States in accordance with the minimum training conditions laid down in Article 28. The provisions of the previous subparagraph do not affect the acquired rights referred to in Article 30. 3. Each Member State shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife, awarded to nationals of Member States by the other Member States, listed in Annex V, point 5.5.2, which complies with the minimum training conditions referred to in Article 40 and satisfies the criteria set out in Article 41, and shall, for the purposes of access to and pursuit of the professional activities, give such evidence the same effect on its territory as the evidence of formal qualifications which it itself issues. This provision does not affect the acquired rights referred to in Articles 23 and 43. 4. Member States shall not be obliged to give effect to evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, point 5.6.2, for the setting up of new pharmacies open to the public. For the purposes of this paragraph, pharmacies which have been open for less than three years shall also be considered as new pharmacies. 5. Evidence of formal qualifications as an architect referred to in Annex V, point 5.7.1, which is subject to automatic recognition pursuant to paragraph 1, proves completion of a course of training which began not earlier than during the academic reference year referred to in that Annex. 6. Each Member State shall make access to and pursuit of the professional activities of doctors, nurses responsible for general care, dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives and pharmacists subject to possession of evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2 respectively, attesting that the person concerned has acquired, over the duration of his training, and where appropriate, the knowledge and skills referred to in Articles 24(3), 31(6), 34(3), 38(3), 40(3) and 44(3). The Commission may adapt the knowledge and skills referred to in Articles 24(3), 31(6), 34(3), 38(3), 40(3) and 44(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). Such updates shall not entail, for any Member State, an amendment of its existing legislative principles regarding the structure of professions as regards training and conditions of access by natural persons. 7. Each Member State shall notify the Commission of the legislative, regulatory and administrative provisions which it adopts with regard to the issuing of evidence of formal qualifications in the area covered by this Chapter. In addition, for evidence of formal qualifications in the area referred to in Section 8, this notification shall be addressed to the other Member States. The Commission shall publish an appropriate communication in the Official Journal of the European Union , indicating the titles adopted by the Member States for evidence of formal qualifications and, where appropriate, the body which issues the evidence of formal qualifications, the certificate which accompanies it and the corresponding professional title referred to 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, 5.6.2 and 5.7.1 respectively.
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 21 Principle of automatic recognition):
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 dental practitioner, as specialised dental practitioner, as veterinary surgeon, as pharmacist and as architect, listed in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.6.2 and 5.7.1 respectively, which satisfy the minimum training conditions referred to in Articles 24, 25, 31, 34, 35, 38, 44 and 46 respectively, and shall, for the purposes of access to and pursuit of the professional activities, give such evidence the same effect on its territory as the evidence of formal qualifications which it itself issues. Such evidence of formal qualifications must be issued by the competent bodies in the Member States and accompanied, where appropriate, by the certificates listed in Annex V, points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.6.2 and 5.7.1 respectively. The provisions of the first and second subparagraphs do not affect the acquired rights referred to in Articles 23, 27, 33, 37, 39 and 49. 2. Each Member State shall recognise, for the purpose of pursuing general medical practice in the framework of its national social security system, evidence of formal qualifications listed in Annex V, point 5.1.4 and issued to nationals of the Member States by the other Member States in accordance with the minimum training conditions laid down in Article 28. The provisions of the previous subparagraph do not affect the acquired rights referred to in Article 30. 3. Each Member State shall recognise evidence of formal qualifications as a midwife, awarded to nationals of Member States by the other Member States, listed in Annex V, point 5.5.2, which complies with the minimum training conditions referred to in Article 40 and satisfies the criteria set out in Article 41, and shall, for the purposes of access to and pursuit of the professional activities, give such evidence the same effect on its territory as the evidence of formal qualifications which it itself issues. This provision does not affect the acquired rights referred to in Articles 23 and 43. 4. In respect of the operation of pharmacies that are not subject to territorial restrictions, a Member State may, by way of derogation, decide not to give effect to evidence of formal qualifications referred to in point 5.6.2 of Annex V, for the setting up of new pharmacies open to the public. For the purposes of this paragraph, pharmacies which have been open for less than three years shall also be considered as new pharmacies. That derogation may not be applied in respect of pharmacists whose formal qualifications have already been recognised by the competent authorities of the host Member State for other purposes and who have been effectively and lawfully engaged in the professional activities of a pharmacist for at least three consecutive years in that Member State. 5. Evidence of formal qualifications as an architect referred to in Annex V, point 5.7.1, which is subject to automatic recognition pursuant to paragraph 1, proves completion of a course of training which began not earlier than during the academic reference year referred to in that Annex. 6. Each Member State shall make access to, and pursuit of, the professional activities of doctors, nurses responsible for general care, dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives and pharmacists subject to possession of evidence of formal qualifications referred to in points 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3, 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and 5.6.2 of Annex V respectively, attesting that the professional concerned, over the duration of his training, has acquired, as appropriate, the knowledge, skills and competences referred to in Articles 24(3), 31(6), 31(7), 34(3), 38(3), 40(3) and 44(3). In order to take account of generally acknowledged scientific and technical progress, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 57c to update the knowledge and skills referred to in Articles 24(3), 31(6), 34(3), 38(3), 40(3), 44(3) and 46(4) to reflect the evolution of Union law directly affecting the professionals concerned. Such updates 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 updates shall respect the responsibility of the Member States for the organisation of education systems, as set out in Article 165(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
Article 22 Common provisions on training
With regard to the training referred to in Articles 24, 25, 28, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40, 44 and 46: (a) Member States may authorise part-time training under conditions laid down by the competent authorities; those authorities shall ensure that the overall duration, level and quality of such training is not lower than that of continuous full-time training; (b) in accordance with the procedures specific to each Member State, continuing education and training shall ensure that persons who have completed their studies are able to keep abreast of professional developments to the extent necessary to maintain safe and effective practice.
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 22 Common provisions on training):
With regard to the training referred to in Articles 24, 25, 28, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40, 44 and 46: (a) Member States may authorise part-time training under conditions laid down by the competent authorities; those authorities shall ensure that the overall duration, level and quality of such training is not lower than that of continuous full-time training; (b) Member States shall, in accordance with the procedures specific to each Member State, ensure, by encouraging continuous professional development, that professionals whose professional qualification is covered by Chapter III of this Title are able to update their knowledge, skills and competences in order to maintain a safe and effective practice and keep abreast of professional developments. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the measures taken pursuant to point (b) of the first paragraph by 18 January 2016.