Harold Price v Conseil des ventes volontaires de meubles aux enchères publiques.
Date: 2006-09-07
36. It is clear from the general scheme of Article 3 of Directives 89/48 and 92/51 that only one of the two mechanisms for recognition of diplomas provided for in points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 3 of those directives may apply in any particular factual context. The mechanism provided for in point (a) applies where the profession concerned is a regulated profession in the Member State where the training took place. The second mechanism, provided for in point (b), applies only where the profession concerned is not a regulated profession in that Member State.
45. However, it is possible that the activities of director of voluntary sales are to be treated as regulated professional activities under either the second subparagraph of Article 1(d) of Directive 89/48 or the second subparagraph of Article 1(f) of Directive 92/51, since the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is involved, at least to some extent, in the organisation of those activities. If that is the case, the fact that that organisation requires its members to complete a three-year post-secondary course followed by two years’ professional training, and thus makes pursuit of the profession subject to possession of a diploma within the meaning of Article 1(a) of Directive 89/48, would make point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 3 of Directive 89/48 applicable if the other conditions stated in the second indent of Article 1(d) of that directive were also fulfilled.
47. Point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 3 of Directive 89/48 is applicable where the profession concerned is regulated in the Member State where the education and training took place. Since Mr Price is not a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors the question of recognition pursuant to that provision of diplomas awarded by that organisation does not arise in this case, even if it were to be established that the profession of director of voluntary sales constitutes a regulated profession in the United Kingdom by virtue of the rules laid down by that organisation. It is clear from the case-law that the fact that Mr Price had been a trainee member of that organisation or that he completed part of the training required to become a member of that organisation is not sufficient to enable him to rely on Directive 89/48 (see, to that effect, Case C-313/01 Morgenbesser  [2003] ECR I-13467, paragraphs 51 and 52).
Applicability of point (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 3 of Directive 89/48
52. As a preliminary point, it must be recalled that pursuant to Article 234 EC, which is based on a clear separation of functions between national courts and tribunals and the Court of Justice, the latter is empowered to rule on the interpretation or validity of Community provisions only on the basis of the facts which the national court or tribunal puts before it, and that it is for the national court or tribunal to apply the rules of Community law to a specific case (Case C-421/01 Traunfellner [2003] ECR I-11941, paragraph 21).
54. Unlike the sectoral directives relating to specific professions, Directive 89/48 is not intended to harmonise the conditions for the taking up or pursuit of the various professions to which it applies. The Member States remain competent to define such conditions within the limits imposed by Community law. The extent to which the practice of a particular profession requires a precise knowledge of national law must therefore be determined solely in the light of national provisions.
55. Where professions are regulated by the national authorities, it may be assumed that the content of the education and training required in order to take up a regulated profession is governed by requirements connected to the practice of that profession. The content of the education and training required by a Member State which regulates that profession is therefore a criterion which is especially relevant in order to establish the requirements connected to the practice thereof.