- The number of regulated professions varies considerably between member states
- EU rules to facilitate the procedure are not applied consistently
- Authorities do not consult alerts about misconduct when reviewing applications
There are still many obstacles facing EU citizens who want to work or set up a business in another member state. The fact is that getting professional qualifications recognised continues to be a problem, according to a report published today by the European Court of Auditors. The EU adopted a directive in 2005 to facilitate recognition and to prevent member states from imposing excessive conditions on citizens. Yet, there are shortcomings in the way the directive is applied by national authorities and the European Commission, and the information available to citizens is often unreliable. There is currently no legal obligation for authorities to consult the alerts register listing professionals with a record of misconduct.
EU citizens have the right to choose where they work. However, as member states continue to regulate access to certain professions on health and safety grounds, labour mobility between EU member states depends on a system of mutual recognition of professional qualifications.
The number of regulated professions in the member states varies considerably (from 88 in Lithuania to 415 in Hungary). According to a calculation the auditors made on the basis of data from 2023, each member state regulates an average of 212 professions, equivalent to around 5700 professions across the EU.
“A nurse or mechanic who wants to work in another member state can be discouraged by the process of having their professional qualifications recognised: it can be a long and excessively bureaucratic process,” said Stef Blok, the ECA member responsible for the audit. “We found huge procedural disparities between member states when they apply EU rules, to the detriment of those wishing to pursue a regulated profession elsewhere in the EU. To protect EU citizens, we believe that the alert mechanism should be integrated into the recognition procedure for those professions dealing with health and safety, and those requiring integrity – particularly when dealing with minors.”
Member states fail to monitor the length of recognition procedures on a regular basis, and do not always act as swiftly as the EU directive requires. At times, excessive documentation is requested (motivation letters, sworn translations, or proof of residence before actually moving to the country). According to the auditors, there is rarely any justification of the way fees are calculated, or the reasons why these fees differ considerably between member states or authorities (from €0 to €17 500 for pilots in one country). The auditors also found instances where member states always impose a specific measure (additional training or a test) without providing applicants with justification. In other cases, they found disproportionate prior checks to verify qualifications, even though there was no commensurate public health interest.
Although the EU has taken certain measures to modernise recognition, they are rarely used. This is the case of the European Professional Card, which covers, for instance, the highly sought-after nursing profession. In this case, the card is used in only 5% of professional recognition decisions. One improvement was to make the EU’s web-based Internal Market Information System mandatory for professional qualifications, the aim being to facilitate cooperation between member states and with the Commission. However, the system is not user-friendly. The auditors found that, when granting professional recognition, the authorities did not consider the alerts encoded in the system by other member states, even when there were substantial reasons for doing so, such as misconduct, ongoing disciplinary measures or criminal convictions.
Background information
EU citizens have the right to move freely between member states for professional purposes or to set up a business. The EU Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications was due to be incorporated into national law by 2016. Member states are entitled to lay down rules for access to a number of professions, which are then known as “regulated professions”. Nurses, teachers, carpenters/joiners, and civil engineers are among the most mobile regulated professions in the EU.