Modernising the Professional Qualifications Directive 2005/36/EC

On 19th December 2011 the European Commission published its proposal for amending Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications. The Single Market Act included such a revision as ‘Lever 2 – Citizen’s mobility’. This blog will comment on the proposal and reactions to it as it passes through the legislative process.

Negotiations on the proposed Directive started last Wednesday (25 January 2012) and have begun with generic aspects of the proposed Directive. The European Commission would like the measure adopted by the end of 2012.

The proposal is entitled Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications and Regulation on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System and is available on Eur-Lex as an html, PDF or doc.

European Commission DG Markt Directorate E – SERVICES, Unit E4 deals with the free movement of professionals. Their website is very helpful and carries a lot of useful information. In the European Parliament, IMCO (Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection) will be dealing with it. The European Commission presented its proposal and the Impact Assessment to the IMCO Members on the 9th January. The first exchange of views in the Committee are expected on the 28th February.

Precursors to the proposal to revise Directive 2005/36/EC can be found here.

More posts will follow.