Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Freedom of movement for persons - Freedom of establishment - Freedom to provide services - Doctors - Recognition of diplomas and evidence of formal qualifications - Directive 93/16 - Medical specialists holding a diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications in specialised medicine which is not entitled to automatic unconditional recognition - Access to additional training in the host State - Obligation to sit a standard competition for admission to training in specialised medicine - Not permissible

(Council Directive 93/16, Art. 8)

2. Freedom of movement for persons - Freedom of establishment - Freedom to provide services - Doctors - Recognition of diplomas and evidence of formal qualifications - Directive 93/16 - Scope - Reimbursement of medical services by an insurance body to which the doctor established in another Member State does not belong - Scope - Organisation of national social security schemes - Powers of the Member States

(Council Directive 93/16, Art. 18)

Summary

1. A Member State which requires a migrant doctor whose diploma, certificate or other evidence of training in specialised medicine is not covered by the system of automatic and unconditional recognition established by that directive to sit the standard national competition for admission to training in a medical specialty, in order to have access to additional training for migrant doctors who wish to practise a specialised field of medicine in that Member State, fails to fulfil its obligations under Article 8 of Directive 93/16, which aims to facilitate the free movement of doctors and the mutual recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications.

While it is true that a host Member State may in principle make the award of the diploma sought by the migrant doctor subject to completion of additional training, Article 8(3) of that directive makes it clear that such additional training may relate only to fields which, according to the domestic legislation of the host Member State, are not already covered by the diplomas, certificates or other evidence of formal qualifications held by the migrant doctor.

The host Member State is thus not free either to include other fields in the additional training it requires of migrant doctors or to subject them to the same conditions of access as apply to a doctor wishing to undergo training for the first time in order to obtain a diploma, certificate of other evidence of formal qualification in specialised medicine.

( see paras 29, 34, 39-40, operative part 1 )

2. While Article 18 of Directive 93/16, which aims to facilitate the free movement of doctors and the mutual recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications, exempts nationals of Member States established in another Member State, in cases of provision of services entailing travel on the part of the person concerned, from another requirement that may be laid down by the national law of the Member State where services are provided, namely registration with a public social security body to enable settlement, in that State, with insurance bodies of accounts relating to services rendered to persons insured under social security schemes, neither Article 18 of Directive 93/16 nor any other provision of that directive seeks to eliminate all obstacles that might exist in the Member States relating to the reimbursement of the cost of medical services by an insurance body to which the doctor established in another Member State does not belong.

That would go beyond the bounds of a directive on the mutual recognition of diplomas and would not be consistent with the 22nd recital of the preamble to Directive 93/16, according to which the directive does not affect the power of the Member States to organise their national security schemes.

( see paras 51-53 )