I. Information on Community law

Basic principle:

The paramedical professions are covered by the general system for the recognition of professional qualifications, with the exception of nurses (general care) and midwives, for whom minimum harmonisation has been introduced enabling qualifications to be recognised automatically (see the relevant Factsheets).

Scope: 

1. The profile of two professions with the same name or with different names in two Member States may vary considerably from one Member State to another (see Factsheet on the general system, Additional requirements).
   
   
2. The paramedical professions are subject to the rules in force in the Member State in which the profession in question is practised: the authorities there lay down the conditions governing the right to take up and practise the profession. The paramedical professions are in most cases closely regulated; practitioners must be registered and enjoy a monopoly in providing treatment in their respective fields.
   
   
3. In some Member States certain professional activities may be restricted to doctors (chiropractic, osteopathy, alternative medicine, for instance, in Austria, Belgium, France and Italy) whereas in other Member States persons who are not qualified doctors but hold other qualifications may be authorised to practise (as in the case of Heilpraktiker (non-medical practitioners) in Germany, chiropractors in Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom and osteopaths in Finland and the United Kingdom).
   
   
4. Recognition of the qualifications of specialist nurses is, as a rule, covered by the general system. But where specialist nurses wish to work in a Member State in which that profession is practised by nurses responsible for general care, there are two possibilities.
   Nurses with specialist training who first acquired one of the qualifications listed in the Directive on nurses responsible for general care can have their qualifications recognised automatically.
   
   In the case of nurses with specialist training who did not first acquire one of those qualifications, the host Member State must examine their qualifications and compare them against its own training requirements (Articles 48, 52 and 59 of the EC Treaty and judgments of the EC Court of Justice in the Heylens, Vlassopoulou and Newman cases).
   
   
5. The social security arrangements for these professions, which vary from one Member State to another, should also be noted. For instance, some services provided by members of these professions who meet certain requirements may qualify for reimbursement.
   
   
6. In a very few cases where the difference between two professional qualifications is too great, the general system may not apply.

Some paramedical professions:

Care assistants, hearing-aid makers, chiropractors, dieticians, occupational therapists, dental hygienists, specialist nurses, diagnostic radiographers, masseur/physiotherapists, dispensing optometrist opticians, speech therapists, orthoptists, osteopaths, chiropodists, psychologists, psychotherapists, laboratory technicians, therapists.

Reference documents:

• Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988;
• Council Directive 92/51/EEC of 18 June 1992; 
• Guide for users of the general system for the recognition of professional qualifications.

II. Formalities in France

Examples of regulated professions in France

(This list is not exhaustive and is provided for guidance only.)

Care assistants, hearing-aid makers, child-care assistants, dieticians, occupational therapists, dental hygienists, diagnostic radiographers, masseur/physiotherapists, oculists (in France, oculists or ophthalmologists form a medical, not a paramedical, profession), dispensing optometrist opticians, speech therapists, chiropodists, psychologists, psychomotor therapists, laboratory technicians.

This list does not mean that there are not other, non-regulated, paramedical professions in France; it merely refers to some professions for which regulations exist.

How to proceed:

Applications for recognition must be sent to the competent authority in France for the regulated profession you wish to practise there. The contact point (see Section III for address) can put you in touch with the appropriate authority. For further information on your profession in the different Member States, contact the appropriate professional association at European or national level.

Supporting documents:

Contact the competent authority for a list of precisely which documents are required. As an indication, you will probably be expected to provide a document proving that you have the nationality of a Member State and diploma(s) certifying that you are qualified to practise the same profession in the Member State from which you come. If that profession is not regulated in the Member State from which you come, you will also have to provide proof that you have practised the profession for at least two of the previous ten years.

Translations and charges:

You will be required to provide original documents (or certified copies) and translations. You may have to pay administrative costs.

National rules:

These rules are published in the Journal officiel de la République française. They are very numerous and vary from one regulated profession to another. To obtain the rules governing the profession of interest to you, you can contact (via the contact point) the French authorities competent for that profession.

III. Useful addresses in France

Contact point:
Yves Vallat
Ministère de l'éducation nationale, de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche
Rue Dutot 61-65
F - 75015 Paris
Tel.: +33.1.40.65.66.19
Minitel: code 3615CEE

Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2006
Reproduction is authorised.