Deregulation of Professions Must Be Business- and Consumer- Friendly

In early October, the European Commission adopted a Communication on evaluating national regulations on access to professions. The Communication reacts to the requirements of the modernized Directive 2005/36/EC dealing with the recognition of professional qualifications, which is to be approved by the Council in November. The Czech Republic with its 362 regulated professions belongs to the EU Member States with the highest number of regulated professions. Over the next two years, Member States will undergo a mutual evaluation and justify barriers restricting the access to certain professions.

Given these facts, CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU hosted a debate on 22 October 2013 in Prague to discuss the modernized Directive on recognition of professional qualifications and the persisting administrative obstacles in this area in the Czech Republic. During the debate, Manuel Hubert from the European Commission informed about the benefits of the European Professional Card concept which has been introduced within the revised Directive. “Basically, it is an electronic confirmation that aims to facilitate and speed up the administrative procedures necessary for the recognition of professional qualification in another Member State”, explained Mr. Hubert. He also highlighted that under the modernized Directive, each MS is supposed to create a full list of regulated professions pursued in its territory by March 2014, thus creating European map of regulated professions. In the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports is currently working on this task.

Markéta Holečková from the Centre for the recognition of professional qualifications stated that although the number of regulated professions has been in gradual decline since 2005, the Czech Republic is still on the top in comparison with the other EU Member States. Pavla Břečková, Member of the Board of the Czech Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Crafts said: “we should keep in mind that although the deregulation is necessary and desirable, it must go hand in hand with the protection of consumer health and safety, which is our top priority”.