Update on EU policy developments concerning professional qualifications

As part of its efforts to galvanise the Single Market, the European Commission has recently launched a “mutual evaluation” exercise where member states will be asked to supply details of which professions they regulate and how. The Commission will then produce a comprehensive map, designed to guide peer review.
At issue are the number of regulated professions and the manner in which they are regulated. The Commission has no exact figure – it typically speaks of 4 000+. Professions are regulated in widely differing ways in different countries. Only the seven “sectoral” professions (medical doctor, dentist, general care nurse, midwife, veterinary surgeon, pharmacist and architect) are regulated at EU/EEA level.
The aims of the mutual evaluation are to rationalise regulatory activities, to ease access to the professions as far as consumer protection permits, and to extend the scope of automatic professional recognition. For more information, see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52013DC0676:EN:NOT. More...