The Green Paper presented by the European Commission aims to gather stakeholders’ views on the modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive (Directive 2005/36/EC). In the light of the results published in the paper, the Commission has decided to update the Directive with the possible ways forward that build on past achievements while developing new approaches to enhance mobility.

The primary aim of this is to facilitate mobility of EU citizens for professional purposes. It is one of the twelve levers for growth proposed in the Commission’s Single Market Act. The Green Paper follows a first technical-level public consultation launched in January 2011 and a report of how the Directive works in practice.

Among the measures proposed in the revision of the Directive, the introduction of a professional card closely linked to the Internal Market Information System (IMI) could make it considerably easier for professionals to have their qualifications recognised in another Member State. On the other hand, stakeholders are invited to give their input about the potential of new common platforms to facilitate the mobility of professionals where there is no automatic recognition by developing sets of commonly agreed criteria for professional qualifications. Furthermore, the minimum training requirements of certain professions (e.g. some health professions and architects) could be reformed.

In order to improve its works on the updating for the Directive, the Commission invites stakeholders to respond to a consultation by 20 September 2011. The Commission will subsequently organise a high level conference on 7 November 2011 and a legislative proposal is foreseen for December same year.