Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Freedom of movement for persons — Freedom of establishment — Workers — Recognition of higher-education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years ' duration — Scope of Directive 89/48 — Employment in the public service — Included — (EC Treaty, Art. 48(4) (now, after amendment, Art. 39(4) EC); Council Directive 89/48)

2. Freedom of movement for persons — Freedom of establishment — Workers — Recognition of higher-education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years ' duration — Scope of Directive 89/48 — Definition of regulated profession — National legal classifications not relevant — (Council Directive 89/48)

3. Freedom of movement for persons — Freedom of establishment — Workers — Recognition of higher-education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years ' duration — Directive 89/48 — Definition of diploma — Passing the final examination of a national public health college of a Member State — Included — Equivalence of such a diploma and a diploma obtained in another Member State — Assessment to be made by the national court — (Council Directive 89/48, Art. 3, first para., point (a))

4. Freedom of movement for persons — Workers — Access to hospital public service conditional, for persons holding a diploma obtained in a Member State and equivalent to that required in the host Member State, on passing an entrance examination for a national public health college — Not permissible — (EC Treaty, Art. 48 (now, after amendment, Art. 39 EC)

Summary

1. Employment in the public service falls in principle within the scope of Directive 89/48 on a general system for the recognition of higher-education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years ' duration, except where it is covered by Article 48(4) of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 39(4) EC) or by a separate directive establishing arrangements for the mutual recognition of diplomas by Member States.

see para. 39

2. The fact that under national law a particular post in the public service is governed by special public service rules is not relevant for the purposes of determining whether that post is a regulated profession within the meaning of Directive 89/48 on a general system for the recognition of higher-education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years ' duration. The definition of a regulated profession is a matter of Community law, whereas the national legal classifications of worker, employee and public servant or, moreover, of employment governed by public law or by private law can be varied freely by national legislatures and cannot therefore provide an appropriate criterion for interpretation.

see paras 42-43

3. Confirmation of passing the final examination of the national public health college of a Member State, which leads to permanent appointment to the hospital public service of that Member State, must be regarded as a diploma within the meaning of Directive 89/48 on a general system for the recognition of higher-education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years ' duration. It is for the national court to determine, for the purposes of applying point (a) of the first paragraph of Article 3 of that directive, whether a qualification obtained in another Member State by a national of a Member State wishing to pursue a regulated profession in the host Member State can be regarded as a diploma within the meaning of that provision and, if so, to determine the extent to which the training courses whose successful completion leads to the award of those diplomas are similar with regard to both their duration and the matters covered. If it is apparent from that court ' s examination that both qualifications constitute diplomas within the meaning of that directive and that those diplomas are awarded on the completion of equivalent education or training, the directive precludes the authorities of the host Member State from making access by that national of a Member State to the profession of manager in the hospital public service subject to the condition that he complete the training given by the national public health college and pass the final examination at the end of that training.

see para. 58, operative part 1

4. Any national measure which, although applicable without discrimination on grounds of nationality, is liable to hamper or to render less attractive the exercise by a national of a Member State of the freedom of movement of workers, is an obstacle to that fundamental freedom guaranteed by the Treaty. The requirement of passing an examination in order to take up employment in the public service cannot in itself be regarded as an obstacle in that sense. Inasmuch as all new jobs are, in principle, subject to the recruitment procedure provided for those jobs, the requirement of passing a recruitment competition in order to take up employment in the public service of a Member State cannot in itself be liable to dissuade candidates who have already sat a similar competition in another Member State from exercising their right to freedom of movement as workers.

However, where a national of a Member State holds a diploma obtained in one Member State which is equivalent to the diploma required in another Member State in order to take up employment in the hospital public service, Community law precludes the authorities of the second Member State from making that national ' s access to the employment in question subject to his passing the entrance examination of that Member State ' s public health college, where passing that examination is a precondition for being admitted to the training course at that college which is, in turn, a precondition for access to the employment concerned.

see paras 95-97, 101, 112, operative part 2