CEPI - European Association of Real Estate Professions

The 2005 Directive on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications facilitates the free movement of EU citizens who wish to work in a different Member State on a permanent or temporary basis. In order to make it easier for them to do so, the European Commission has published a scoreboard giving an overview of how Member States have implemented the Directive. It has also published a "user's guide" providing answers to how the system works. CEPI welcomes the publication of this information which will improve transparency and make it easier for EU citizens to exercise their rights in the Internal Market.

The 2005 Directive on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications is a central piece of legislation of the Internal Market. It should have been implemented by 20 October 2007, but five Member States (Austria, Belgium, France, Greece and Luxembourg) have not done so. The scoreboard published by the Commission gives a detailed overview of how Member States have implemented the Directive.

Recognition is automatic for those professions the conditions for qualification of which have been harmonised at European level (such as professionals in the health sector and architects), or is governed for the remaining professions by a system of mutual recognition of qualifications on a case by case basis.

The "user's guide" published by the Commission provides 66 questions and 66 responses dealing with situations with which a professional might be confronted in terms of the recognition of his/her qualification when moving to another Member State.

More information is available here. (15/12/2009)