PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS : COURT SPELLS OUT CONDITIONS FOR PARTIAL ACCESS TO PROFESSION.

Partial access to a regulated profession cannot be refused if there is no threat to consumer protection or public health.

This, in essence, is the ruling handed down by the EU Court of Justice, on 27 June (Case C-575/11), which concerns recognition of a qualification of masseur-hydrotherapist.

Greek national Eleftherios-Themistoklis Nasiopoulos obtained a qualification in Germany entitling him to exercise the profession of masseur-hydrotherapist, after a period of training lasting two and a half years. This profession is not regulated in Greece, however. The closest profession is physiotherapist, the minimum training for which runs for three years. The Greek Health Ministry consequently turned down Nasiopoulos's application for access to the profession of physiotherapist in Greece.

The Greek Council of State turned to the EU Court of Justice for a ruling.

According to the EU court, refusing partial access to a regulated profession may be justified only by "overriding reasons relating to the public interest" since it constitutes an obstacle to the mobility of European workers, a key element of the single market. In this case, the judges found that neither the public health nor consumer protection was fundamentally threatened. The court nevertheless added that consumers must not be misled as to the scope of the service provider's qualifications and suggested an obligation to use the professional title in its original form and in the language of the host member state...