As part of its September infringements’ package, the Commission has urged the UK to transpose EU rules on recognition of professional qualifications.
As part of its role as “Guardian of the Treaties”, the European Commission requested the UK and 13 other Member States to transpose Directive 2013/55/EU on the recognition of professional qualifications into national law.
The Directive allows for EU professionals working in other Member States to have their qualifications recognised by that Member State and should have been transposed into national legislation by 18 January 2016.
The Commission has asserted that the UK has not yet communicated to it the complete transposition of the Directive into national law.
It is however unclear why this action has been taken against the UK as it brought into force the European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2015 on 18 January 2016 in order to implement the EU rules.
The UK now has two months to notify the Commission of the full transposition of the Directive. If the UK fails to do so within this timeframe, the Commission may refer it to the Court of Justice.
