Subject files - Proportionality test before adoption of new regulation of professions - Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

The freedom to choose an occupation and to conduct a business is a fundamental right. In order to ensure easier access and exercise of regulated professions across the EU, in January 2017 the EC presented this proposal as part of the Services package. The committee report insisted on the balance between free provision of services and protection of public interest. Under the new rules, Member States (MS) have to conduct proportionality assessments before introducing new, or amending, existing

regulations of professions. They should communicate to the EC the reasons for considering that a new requirement to access/practise a profession, is justified and proportionate, and substantiate those reasons by qualitative and quantitative elements.

In order to make EU professional services provided by electronic means globally competitive in the coming decades, MS have to take into account scientific progress, including developments in the field of AI when regulating professions and updating access requirements. The Directive also insists that humans must always be ultimately responsible for decision-making, especially for professional services carrying risk of serious harm to public interest objectives.

The Directive was published in the OJ on 9.07.2018 and has to be transposed by MS by 30.07.2020. This Directive complements the one on recognition of professional qualifications. The EC has to review the functioning of the Directive by 18.01.2024 and every five years thereafter.