In Case E-12/22, Dr Maximilian Maier – REQUEST to the Court under Article 34 of the Agreement between the EFTA States on the Establishment of a Surveillance Authority and a Court of Justice by the Administrative Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein (Verwaltungsgerichtshof des Fürstentums Liechtenstein), concerning the interpretation of Directive 98/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 to facilitate practice of the profession of lawyer on a permanent basis in a Member State other than that in which the qualification was obtained, as adapted to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, the Court, composed of Páll Hreinsson, President, Bernd Hammermann (Judge-Rapporteur) and Siri Teigum (ad hoc), Judges, gave judgment on 19 October 2023, the operative part of which is as follows:

Directive 98/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 to facilitate practice of the profession of lawyer on a permanent basis in a Member State other than that in which the qualification was obtained must be interpreted as precluding a national provision which prohibits a lawyer, who on a permanent basis practises the profession under the lawyer’s home-country professional title in a host EEA State other than the one in which the lawyer obtained the qualification, from being appointed as a legal aid lawyer, legal aid defence counsel or public defender and which thereby goes beyond the exceptions provided for in Article 5(2) and 5(3) of the Directive.