EU, Icelandic, Liechtstein, Norwegian and Swiss citizens can practice a ‘regulated profession’ in Italy after obtaining recognition of their qualification or professional qualification.
On 18 January 2016 Directive 2013/55/EU was transposed in Italy with Legislative Decree 28 January 2016, n. 15 introduced some new features to facilitate the free movement of professionals in EU countries.
The “regulated profession” is the activity or set of activities that can be exercised only if you are in possession of certain titles, certificates, ratings.
Directive 2013/55/EU regulates the recognition of professional qualifications in the following cases: establishment and freedom to provide services. With the former, a European citizen can practice his profession in Italy after obtaining recognition of the qualification or title obtained in another EU State.
With the second, it can carry out in Italy on a temporary and occasional basis the professional activity which it carries out permanently in another EU State after having submitted a written preliminary declaration.
The directive introduced the possibility for five professions (pharmacist, physiotherapist, nurse, mountain guide and real estate agent) to request the recognition of your professional qualification or the freedom to provide services through the European Professional Card.
Equivalence is the recognition of the equality of value and effectiveness of a foreign qualification with a degree obtained in Italy.
The application must be submitted by the person concerned to the Superintendent of Studies of the province of residence, in the case of primary or secondary school leaving; to any Superintendent if it is a secondary school diploma. With regard to academic degrees obtained abroad, it is up to the universities to evaluate the “correspondence” with an Italian degree.
The application may be submitted:
- to the Italian Diplomatic Representation, if the foreign citizen is resident abroad; • directly to the University if the non-EU citizen is legally residing in Italy.
According to Law No. 148/2002, the University may request an integration of its course of study with a number of examinations established by the University.
The recognition of the professional qualifications required to pursue a profession and the academic recognition of the qualifications obtained are two differentiated issues and governed by different laws.
While the first concerns all professions for which a three-year university course is planned, the second concerns those professional activities requiring a university degree of less than three years, not university or secondary.
