(1)

Under Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), specific acquired rights provisions apply to the recognition of certain professional qualifications issued in Romania to nurses responsible for general care.

(2)

Nurses responsible for general care whose training did not meet the minimum requirements under Directive 2005/36/EC and which started before the date of accession of Romania to the Union, can benefit from recognition under Article 33a of Directive 2005/36/EC if they fulfil the requirements specified therein.

(3)

A number of host Member States have recognised the professional qualifications of nurses responsible for general care trained in Romania whose qualifications did not meet the requirements to benefit from recognition under Article 33a of Directive 2005/36/EC for the purpose of access to the same profession in that Member State. Those host Member States applied for this purpose either the recognition rules under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union or the general system set out in Articles 10 to 14 of that Directive. That general system was applied on the understanding that nurses trained in Romania could benefit from that general system in the same way as nurses responsible for general care not trained in Romania whose qualifications did not meet the requirements of Article 33 of that Directive, which is referred to in Article 10, point (b), of that Directive. In order to protect such acquired rights and to preserve the legitimate expectations of those nurses that have benefitted from them, Member States should ensure that any such recognition of professional qualifications of nurses trained in Romania whose qualifications did not meet the requirements of the different versions of Article 33a of Directive 2005/36/EC applicable until the entry into force of this Directive remains valid. In addition, in order to improve legal clarity and certainty with regard to the fact that the assessment pursuant to Articles 10 to 14 of Directive 2005/36/EC is to be applied in the situation where the qualifications of a nurse do not meet the requirements under Article 33a of Directive 2005/36/EC, as amended by this Directive, a specific reference to that amended Article should be included in Article 10, point (b), of Directive 2005/36/EC.

(4)

Romania has set up a special upgrading programme to enable participants to upgrade their professional qualifications to satisfy all the minimum training requirements set out for the profession of nurse responsible for general care in Directive 2005/36/EC. For that purpose, Romania liaised beforehand with other Member States and the Commission.

(5)

Romania introduced the special upgrading programme via Joint Order of the Minister of National Education and of the Minister of Health No 4317/943/2014 (4). It was endorsed by the Romanian Order of Nurses, Midwives and Medical Assistants and by Order of the Minister of National Education No 5114/2014 (5).

(6)

The special upgrading programme was set up for holders of the evidence of formal qualifications referred to in Article 33a of Directive 2005/36/EC, as well as for holders of evidence of certain post-secondary qualifications listed in Article 4 of Order of the Minister of National Education No 5114/2014.

(7)

Romania presented the results of the special upgrading programme in 2018 to the relevant expert group, namely the Group of coordinators for the recognition of professional qualifications, and, following consultations, no Member State objected to the proposal that the graduates of that programme should benefit from a more favourable recognition regime.

(8)

On 11 May 2020, the Commission published, under Article 60(2) of Directive 2005/36/EC, a report on the results of the special upgrading programme. That report concluded that Romania had implemented the special upgrading programme negotiated beforehand with the Member States to enable its participants to upgrade their qualifications to meet the minimum requirements set out in Directive 2005/36/EC.

(9)

In order to include the special upgrading programme in the criteria for the recognition based on acquired rights specific to nurses responsible for general care trained in Romania, it is appropriate to amend Article 33a of Directive 2005/36/EC so that nurses with relevant evidence of having completed that programme can benefit from recognition without the need to prove professional experience in Romania, as is currently the case.

(10)

Directive 2005/36/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

in Article 10, point (b) is replaced by the following:

(2)

Article 33a is replaced by the following:

(3)

the following Article is inserted:

(*1)  Directive 2013/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 amending Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications and Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System (“the IMI Regulation”) (OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 132.)’."