Professional qualifications are invalid if they are not recognised in the country of origin
Case C-860/24 concerns a qualification awarded by a Romanian university. Freedom of movement does not oblige the host Member State to recognise it
The Court of Justice of the European Union revisits the recognition of professional qualifications in the sector teaching, clarifying the conditions for the application of Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, transposed into Italian law by Legislative Decree 206/2007.
In an order in the Italian case C-860/24, the European Court of Justice clarified that the principle of mutual trust, on which the system for the recognition of professional qualifications in the European Union is based, cannot pave the way for the movement of training qualifications obtained in the Member State of origin, issued by a private institution which, in that country, has not been authorised to issue training qualifications attesting to professional qualifications.
The facts
The dispute arose from a request made by a Romanian citizen who had been refused, by the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit, recognition of a certificate confirming the completion of a postgraduate programme in continuous professional development and training issued by a Romanian university. Consequently, the applicant had been unable to gain entry to the profession of specialist teacher
The Italian authority had pointed out that the qualification – – had not been issued by the relevant Romanian ministry and, therefore, the certificate produced could not be used to gain entry to the profession, as it did not constitute a valid qualification . The woman had challenged the decision and, before ruling on the matter, the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio sought the opinion of the European Court, which issued a reasoned order.
The decision of the European Court of Justice
Firstly, Luxembourg has clarified that Article 13 of the Directive stipulates that the applicant must hold a qualification which qualifies them in their Member State of origin to practise a regulated profession. It is true that in Romania the profession of special needs teacher is regulated, but in order to benefit from the Directive, the applicant must have obtained a specific qualification.
