Professional qualifications, recognition: doctor, dentist, architect...(amend. direct. 89/48/EEC, 92/51/EEC)

The committee adopted the recommendation for second reading (codecision procedure) by Rainer WIELAND (EPP/ED, D) approving the Council's common position on the recognition of professional qualifications subject to a number of amendments, mainly of a technical or linguistic nature. One amendment sought to reinstate Parliament's demand at first reading that the minimum training time for doctors be raised from two to three years, while another sought to ensure that medical specialists should have adequate knowledge of general medical practice. The committee also pointed out that the various directives listed in the title had been amended on several occasions and that the resulting complex legal situation could be grasped only with difficulty by lawyers and the general public. It accordingly called for easily accessible consolidated versions of the altered legislation to be made available. �