VLASSOPOLOU CASE

Mutual recognition of professional qualifications is regulated bythe

European Union directive2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional
qualifications ,modified by Council Directive 2006/100/EC.
Procedure:
The competent authority of the host Member State shall acknowledge
receipt of the application within one month of receipt and inform the
applicant of any missing document.
The procedure for examining an application for authorisation to practice
a regulated profession must be completed as quickly as possible and
lead to a duly substantiateddecisionby the competent authority in the
host Member State in any casewithin three months after the date
on which the applicant's complete file was submitted. However,
thisdeadlinemay be extended by one month in certain cases.
The decision, or failure to reach a decision within thedeadline, shall be
subject toappealunder national law.

The case
Irene Vlassopoulou
7 May 1991
Ministry of justice, federal and
European affairs of the province
of Banden Wurttemberg
Court of Justice of European
Communities
Article 52

Article 52
Article 52: EEC must be interpreted as requiring the national
authorities of a member-State to which an application for
admission to the profession of lawyer is made by a Community
subject who is already admitted to practice as a lawyer in his
country of origin and who practices as a legal adviser in the
first-mentioned member State to examine to what extent the
knowledge and qualifications attested by the diploma obtained
by the person concerned in his country of origin correspond to
those required by the rules of the host State if those diplomas
correspond only partially, the national authorities in question are
entitled to require the person concerned to prove that he has
acquired the knowledge and qualification that is lacking.

 According to the Amsterdam Treaty

there is a distinctions between
recognition foracademic purposes( you
would like your title to be recognized
because you wish to continue your
studies) and recognition for
professional purposes( you would like
your title to be recognized because you
wish to work in a certain profession).

 Academic purposes: Each Member State

is responsible under the Amsterdam
Treaty for its own educational content
and organization. There are no
community provisions imposing mutual
recognition of diplomas (except for
certain regulated occupations that are
referred to below under the heading of
recognition for professional purposes).

 Professional purpose: It depends on professions that

areregulatedfrom the standpoint of qualifications
andnon-regulated professions.
Regulated: A profession is said to beregulatedwhen it
is a statutory requirement to hold a diploma or other
occupational qualification in order to pursue the
profession in question. In that case, the lack of the
necessary national diploma constitutes a legal obstacle
to access to the profession.
If the profession you wish to pursue isnot regulated,
you are subject to the rules of the labour market and
the behaviour of that market and not to any legal
constraints with regard to your diploma.

 Even though the European

Commission tries to encourage
mutual recognition of degrees
through programs such as ERASMUS
MUNDUS the participation on the
ERASMUS program is totally
voluntary according to each state,
and so there do not exist
diplomas or degrees that are
valid throughout Europe.

Bibliography
The evolution on the recognition of
diplomas Charalampos Kikirikos
www.europa.eu
The European Recognition Manual for
Higher Education Institutions