The European Commission has decided to pursue infringement procedures against Cyprus and 11 Member States for failure to implement certain Internal Market Directives into national law.
The Commission will refer Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain to the European Court of Justice over non-implementation of a Directive on recognition of professional qualifications. Denmark will also be sent a reasoned opinion on the same grounds.
The Netherlands will be referred to the Court over non-implementation of a Directive on transparency obligations of listed companies, as will the United Kingdom over non-implementation of a Directive on motor insurance. Finally, the Commission has decided, under Article 228 of the EC Treaty, to send a letter of formal notice to Luxembourg requesting information on its compliance with a previous Court judgement concerning implementation of a Directive on public procurement.
Recognition of professional qualifications – Belgium, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Cyprus, Austria, Portugal and Denmark
The Commission has decided to take eight Member States, namely Belgium, Ireland, Greece, France, Cyprus, Austria and Portugal, to the Court of Justice for failure to communicate measures transposing Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications.
This Directive stems from the reform of the system for the recognition of professional qualifications launched by the Commission to help make labour markets more flexible, to further open up the supply of services, to encourage greater automatic recognition of qualifications and to simplify administrative procedures.
The Directive merges into a single legislative act fifteen individual directives, including twelve sectoral directives covering the professions of doctor, general care nurse, dentist, veterinary surgeon, midwife and architect and three directives establishing a general system for the recognition of professional qualifications covering most other regulated professions. It simplifies the structure of the system for the recognition of qualifications and improves the way it operates. It thus aims to facilitate mobility in the single market for qualified persons who move to another Member State to provide a service or to establish themselves there permanently.
The deadline for transposition of Directive 2005/36/EC was 20 October 2007.
