The main European legal instruments covering the mutual recognition of
professional qualificationsis: Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications. The directive covers the
European Economic Area
The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Ass ...
and has been amended several times.
The directive provides a modern EU system of recognition of professional experience and promotes automatic recognition of professional experience across the EU. The qualifications of some professions, such as doctors and architects, have been extensively harmonised by Directive 2005/36/EC. The directive offers more general guidelines for other professions, that have not been specifically regulated this Directive, or other specific rules. Any form of work that would normally be restricted in a member state to people who had gained a professional qualification in that member state are also open to nationals of the EU (and member states of the European Economic Area) who have gained a similar professional qualification in another member state.
Professions regulated in most or all EU states include:
Accountancy - British-qualified
accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy.
Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...
s (
Chartered Certified Accountant
Founded in 1904, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is the global professional accounting body offering the Chartered Certified Accountant qualification (ACCA). It has 240,952 members and 541,930 future members worldwid ...
(ACCA) or
Chartered Accountant (ACA or CA) or
International Accountant (AIA) in the UK)
Engineering -
Chartered Engineer
Regulation and licensure in engineering is established by various jurisdictions of the world to encourage life, public welfare, safety, well-being, then environment and other interests of the general public and to define the licensure process thro ...
or
EUR ING
European Engineer (EUR ING) is an international professional qualification and title for highly qualified engineers used in over 32 European countries. Contemporary EUR ING engineers are degree-qualified and have gained the highest level of profess ...
(European Engineer),
Incorporated Engineer (UK), corporate membership of a UK professional engineering institution such as
MIET - Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
Teaching -
Teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
s (qualified teacher status in the UK)
Law -
Lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
s (
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
s,
solicitor
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
s and
advocate
An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...
s in the UK).
Note that the regulations only apply to nationals of the 27 countries belonging to the European Economic Area - e.g. an American who gained Qualified Teacher Status in the UK would not be able, under these regulations, to teach in France, but an Irish citizen would. However, the situation would be different if the American were married to a European ''and'' they were living in a country other than the country of which the European is a national.
See also
*
European Chemist
European Chemist (EurChem) is an international professional qualification awarded by the European Chemist Registration Board of the European Chemical Society (EuChemS) for chemists and is for use in many European countries.
As Europe increasingly ...
*
European Engineer
European Engineer (EUR ING) is an international professional qualification and title for highly qualified engineers used in over 32 European countries. Contemporary EUR ING engineers are degree-qualified and have gained the highest level of profess ...
*
Incorporated Engineer
An engineering technologist is a professional trained in certain aspects of development and implementation of a respective area of technology. Engineering technology education is even more applied and less theoretical than engineering education ...
*
Homologation
Homologation (Greek ''homologeo'', ὁμολογέω, "to agree") is the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or professional body, any of which would normally work fr ...
*
European Qualifications Framework
The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) acts as a translation device to make national qualifications more readable across Europe, promoting workers' and learners' mobility between countries and facilitating their lifelong learning. The EQF a ...
The Directives referred to above have been consolidated under Directive 2005/36/EC. This was to be transposed by Member States in October 2007.
References
{{Reflist
Qualifications
Professional titles and certifications
Professional ethics