compensation measures

When may an authority require compensation measures?

Article 14(1) of Directive 2005/36/EC identifies two triggers: the prior training was at least one year shorter than that required in the host state, or it covers subjects that differ substantially from those in the domestic standard. Under paragraph 4, only those subjects are substantial whose knowledge is an essential prerequisite for practising the profession. Paragraph 5 requires a proportionality assessment: only if professional experience or further training cannot close the gap may the authority impose something. The decision must identify and explain the differences found.

Who chooses between adaptation period and examination?

Under Article 14(2), it is in principle the applicant who chooses between the adaptation period and the aptitude test. For professions whose practice requires precise knowledge of national law, the host state may prescribe one of the two measures. The adaptation period lasts a maximum of three years and is assessed. An offered aptitude test must be available within six months of the decision. Both target only the identified differences, not a repetition of the entire training.

What does this mean for graduates from EU countries abroad?

For a medical qualification from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Malta, or the Baltic states listed in Annex V, compensation measures are excluded because automatic recognition applies. They become relevant for healthcare professions and for constellations outside the annex — for example, when a degree was begun in Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Germany § 11 of the Professional Qualifications Assessment Act implements these requirements; in Austria, the Physicians' Act 1998; Switzerland applies comparable rules through the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons.

Costs, time, and discretion

An adaptation period ties up to three years of a person's working life and requires an institution willing to offer it — precisely where things frequently stall. Examination fees, translations, and travel costs add up, and places are not equally available everywhere. In practice, it usually works such that the authority lists the differences in an assessment decision and links the measure to them. Whether a difference is substantial is assessed by the authority with its own margin of discretion; the decision is subject to judicial review.