Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Freedom of movement for persons ° Freedom of establishment ° Workers ° Medical practitioners, dentists and veterinary surgeons ° Access to those professions ° Restrictions justified on public health grounds ° Whether permissible ° Conditions and limits ° Single-practice rule barring access to the professions where a practice is maintained in another Member State ° Incompatibility with Treaty

(EEC Treaty, Arts 48 and 52)

Summary

Nationals of a Member State who practise their profession in another Member State are bound to observe the rules that govern the practice in that Member State of the profession in question. Where the professions of doctor, dentist and veterinary surgeon are concerned, those rules are in particular those inspired by concern to protect the health of humans and animals as efficiently and fully as possible. However, in so far as the rules have the effect of restricting the right of establishment and the freedom of movement of workers, they are compatible with the Treaty only if the restrictions which they entail are actually justified by the general obligations inherent in the practice of the professions in question and are imposed on nationals of that State as well as on nationals of other Member States. That is not the case where the restrictions are liable to create discrimination against practitioners established in other Member States or raise obstacles to access to the profession which go beyond what is necessary to achieve the intended objectives.

Consequently, national legislation providing for the single-practice rule and having the effect of preventing doctors, dentists and veterinary surgeons established in another Member State or working there as employed persons from establishing themselves or working as employed persons while maintaining their practice or employment in that Member State is incompatible with Articles 48 and 52 of the Treaty. Such legislation, which is in any event applied more strictly to practitioners practising in other Member States than to those practising in the national territory, is too absolute and general in nature for it to be justified by the need to provide permanent care and to organize the emergency service efficiently, aims which could be achieved in less restrictive ways.