European professional card for services providers

The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection adopted an own-initiative report by Charlotte CEDERSCHIÖLD (EPP-ED, SE) on the creation of a European professional card for service providers.

The report stresses that greater mobility of persons and services between Member States and between regions is an essential element in achieving the Lisbon agenda for growth and jobs. However, there are still major obstacles for persons wanting to work in another Member State: 20% of complaints received by SOLVIT in 2007 concerned the recognition of professional qualifications required to pursue a regulated profession.

Directive 2005/36/EC states that the introduction, at European level, of professional cards by professional associations or organisations could facilitate the mobility of professionals, in particular by speeding up the exchange of information between the host Member State and the Member State of origin. In its resolution on the impact and consequences of the exclusion of health services from the Directive on services in the internal market, the Parliament called for the setting up of ‘a European card to provide access to information on the skills of health care professionals.

Based on theses facts, the report encourages all initiatives that aim to facilitate cross-border mobility as a means to the efficient functioning of the services and labour markets. In this context, MEPs call on the Commission to assess the transposition of Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications and call on the Member States to strive for a more harmonised approach to the recognition of qualifications and competences, to simplify the administrative processes involved and to reduce the costs incurred by professionals.

MEPs stress that a European professional card could be an advantage even for non-regulated and non-harmonised professions, as it would have an information role particularly for employers and consumers, which would be the case for most liberal professions. They therefore call on the Commission to take stock of different initiatives concerning the development of professional cards and to report to Parliament on a representative inventory.

If there is sufficient demand to develop one, MEPs consider that a professional card should be as simple, easy and liberal as possible, avoiding any new bureaucratic burdens, and that it could establish a "common language" in the qualifications of certain professions.

In any event, a European professional card should not have a negative effect on cross-border mobility, and should only be used as proof of the right to move without being a condition for such movement. Information on a European professional card should be reliable, validated and updated by the competent national authorities and should comply with the highest standards of the protection of privacy.

Where appropriate, information contained in EUROPASS CVs could also be included on the European professional card.

Lastly, MEPs consider that the professions themselves should finance the development and implementation of a European professional card, if felt appropriate.