Hugo Fernando Hocsman v Ministre de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité.
Date: 2000-09-14
21 In Vlassopoulou, paragraph 16, the Court held that Article 52 of the Treaty must be interpreted as meaning that a Member State seised of an application for authorisation to practise a profession access to which, under national law, depends on the possession of a diploma or professional qualification must take into consideration the diplomas, certificates and other evidence of qualifications which the person concerned has acquired in order to practise that profession in another Member State, by comparing the specialised knowledge and abilities certified by those diplomas with the knowledge and qualifications required by the national rules.
22 Applying the same principle, the Court held in Haim, paragraph 28, that in order to verify whether a training period requirement prescribed by the national rules is satisfied, the competent national authorities must take into account the professional experience of the person concerned, including that which he has acquired in another Member State.
23 Since those decisions have been confirmed on several occasions (see, most recently, Case C-234/97 Fernández de Bobadilla v Museo Nacional del Prado [1999] ECR I-4773, paragraphs 29 to 31), it is settled that the authorities of a Member State to whom an application has been made by a Community national for authorisation to practise a profession access to which depends, under national law, on the possession of a diploma or professional qualification, or on periods of practical experience, must take into consideration all the diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications of the person concerned and his relevant experience, by comparing the specialised knowledge and abilities so certified and that experience with the knowledge and qualifications required by the national rules.
24 Those judgments are merely the expression in individual cases of a principle which is inherent in the fundamental freedoms of the Treaty.
31 While that principle was indeed applied in cases concerning professions for the practice of which there were no harmonisation or coordination measures in existence at the time, its legal ambit cannot be reduced as a result of the adoption of directives on mutual recognition of diplomas.
32 The object of such directives is, as appears from Article 57(1) of the Treaty, to make it easier for persons to take up and pursue activities as self-employed persons, and hence to make the existing possibilities of taking up those activities easier for nationals of other Member States. In that context the Court has held that, if the freedom of establishment provided for by Article 52 can be ensured in a Member State either under the laws and regulations in force or by virtue of the practices of the public administration or professional associations, a person subject to Community law cannot be denied the practical benefit of that freedom solely because, for a particular profession, the directives provided for by Article 57 of the Treaty have not yet been adopted (see Case 71/76 Thieffry v Conseil de l'Ordre des Avocats à la Cour de Paris [1977] ECR 765, paragraph 17).
33 The function of directives which lay down common rules and criteria for mutual recognition of diplomas is thus to introduce a system in which Member States are obliged to accept the equivalence of certain diplomas and cannot require the persons concerned to comply with requirements other than those laid down by the relevant directives.
34 Where the requirements such as those set out in Directive 93/16 are satisfied, mutual recognition of the diplomas in question renders superfluous their recognition under the principle referred to in paragraphs 23 and 24 above. However, that principle unquestionably remains relevant in situations not covered by such directives, as in Dr Hocsman's case.
36 If that comparative examination of diplomas and professional experience results in the finding that the knowledge and qualifications certified by the diploma awarded abroad correspond to those required by the national provisions, the competent authorities of the host Member State must recognise that diploma, and if appropriate also the professional experience, as fulfilling the requirements laid down by its national provisions. If, on the other hand, the comparison reveals that the knowledge and qualifications correspond only partially, those authorities are entitled to require the person concerned to show that he has acquired the knowledge and qualifications not attested (see, to that effect, Vlassopoulou, paragraphs 19 and 20, and Fernández de Bobadilla, paragraphs 32 and 33).