EU Confirms that Directive Applies to Pros at Any Level

The first Directive relating to the recognition of professional qualifications, otherwise known as « the PQD » came out in 2005 and was enforceable in all 27 Member States (MS) as of the 20th of October 2007; in 2013, it was (slightly) modified (with the view to make it even easier for EU professionals to be mobile) by an other Directive which came into force across the EU on the 18th of January 2016; as of today, the PQD has therefore been in force for 13 year and in its latest version for over 4 years !!!

It concerns not 1 profession, not 100, not 1.000 but 4.800 regulated professions across the EU ...
Basically and to make it very very simple, this legal text establishes a principle that is as follows : you are a professional in your home MS, you MUST be recognized in the host MS where you are traveling to and if the local competent authority does not believe that you are a pro, THEY have to demonstrate precisely & explicitly that your training is not sufficient compared with that of the nationals : not a little bit different but very very different : in fact, substantially different, that is to say THEY must demonstrate that the matters included in your training are SO different than those in the training of the nationals, that it alters completely the very quality of your own professional status … And they must do so without talking about levels of qualifications !

Meanwhile, some national organisations & MS who saw the PQD as a threat to their internal work market, got together to create and sign a private deal amongst about 10 of them, for 1 single and unique profession out of the 4.800 : the ski instructor profession ; they consequently established a protectionist private contract called a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which established that ski instructors who wished to work in another signatory MS should FIRST undertake a test prior to declare under the Directive rules … Some MS even later included this test into their own training; they called this test, the « Eurotest ».

Although the MoU had no legal background, it was not as such « illegal », just « outside the law », and was run by the signatory MS under their own control as a PARALLEL PATH to the Directive which of course continued to be effective. This of course was NOT a problem at all and is only linked to the freedom of each EU MS to create any deal amongst themselves, so long as it is compatible with EU law which it was at first.

The problem occurred when the signatories of the MoU self convinced themselves but more than that convinced the whole ski instructor Trade that the MoU WAS the system and that the PQD WAS the side EU « thing » that mattered for other professions but NOT for ski instructors !

They effectively managed to convince most ski instructors that as far as their were concerned the MoU REPLACED the Directive !! What a blow !!

During the last 13 years, 1.000s of instructors across the EU consequently sadly followed this MoU route and even became absolutely convinced that it was THE system.

Although the MoU was more designed to make applicants fail and to destroy their ligaments through the Eurotests which furthermore were  managed in very arguable ways (timing, openers, registrations, …) some people, once having been through the system, started to defend it as the unique one and even made sure that their peers would also go through that very system, further more even considering that those who didn’t or refused and simply asked for the Directive to be applied to their case, should be considered as cowards or even traitors if not outlaws. For many, the MoU/Eurotest was indeed their manly rule (the boys) and the use of the Directive was considered as a side issue for incompetent skiers (the girls) … Bullying is international ...

It is only recently, through the success in French Courts of certain challengers, namely German, French & British citizens that the truth started to come out in public areas and across the Trade that the rule WAS indeed the Directive and that the scam was the MoU …

Indeed, as soon as French Administrative Courts started to be asked their opinion about the refusal by French administration to enforce the Directive, they cancelled the Decisions of the said French administration and asked local Préfets to reconsider their position …

Meanwhile, the EU Commission launched the Delegated Act (D.A.) in order to take control of the MoU side route that was becoming really out of control, in order to turn « the scam » into a legal text.

So was created the D.A. in order to offer a real legal extra supplementary route for recognition which was decided to be reserved to those holding the highest level of qualification, and only if they wished to do so. In no case does this D.A. replace the Directive of course.

Funny (or not) enough, the MoU signatories who could clearly see that their protectionist scam was getting out of their hands to become A REAL extra way for recognition instead of being THEIR OWN CROOKED WAY to select people and reserve access to the working market to a few (preferably those they chose !!), recently tried to convince the trade yet again, that the D.A. was replacing the MoU which in turn was replacing the Directive !!!

It is in this context that Track and Flow was recently addressed copy by the British Association of Ski Instructors (BASI) (a ski instructor organisation in the UK) of a letter asking the EU Commission for clarification on this issue. The EU Commission kindly addressed Track and Flow a copy of their answer to this professional organization which are both presented below for your information.

As you will see, both questions AND answers are cristal clear with regards the situation of UK qualifications holders OF ALL and any LEVELS : they can CONTINUE to declare … (not « start » to declare, but indeed continue to declare, the situation being 13 years old …)

As a consequence, whichever EU qualification you are holding from which ever MS, you can see that you can ask for it’s recognition in another MS … If you are a ski instructor or a snowboard instructor from anywhere in the EU, these letters demonstrate that you have the right to ask for the recognition of your qualifications regardless their level … and regardless the fact that it is the highest level or not in your own MS ...

Considering that the Directive will NO LONGER APPLY to UK citizens holding UK or EU qualifications nor to EU citizens holding UK qualifications as of the 31st of December 2020 (in 4 months time), let’s hope that UK qualification holders will rapidly receive this right info in order to take their chance to get their rights recognized.

Enjoy reading (click on the image below) and don’t hesitate in contacting us for more details ...

Track and Flow team.