Europe, Labor market, social policy and social services, Research

Study on Updating and Clarifying the List of Activities in Annex IV of the Professional Qualifications Directive

Project description:
This project consists of undertaking a study to assist the European Commission in assessing the possibility of updating and clarifying Annex IV of the Professional Qualifications Directive 2005/36/EC, which mainly relates to activities in the craft, commerce and industry sectors.

The study will answer some of the following research questions:

  • How efficiently and effectively does the mechanism for the automatic recognition of professionals within specified regulated professions under Annex IV of the Directive work in practice?
  • To what extent is there scope to update and modernize the list of professions exempted under Annex IV?
  • How far can some of the broad activities listed be updated so that a range of specialized regulated professions are separately mentioned? (e.g. construction).
  • If Annex IV were updated, to what extent should activity-based classifications as opposed to an occupation-based system continue to be used?
  • What are the potential benefits of the updating and modernization of Annex IV in terms of legal certainty for national competent authorities and professionals undertaking work-related mobility within the EU?
  • How far can current inconsistencies and uncertainties with regard to the application of Annex IV and the automatic recognition regime be overcome?


General Objectives of the Project:
The specific aims of this study are to:

  • Compare the current list of activities in Annex IV of the Professional Qualifications Directive 2005/36/EC that use Industrial Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) codes (1958) with the latest revised ISIC codes (2008) and the NACE classification codes (2007);
  • Explore the extent to which (and how) it might be possible to simplify and update Annex IV under the comitology procedure, in accordance with Article 20 of the Directive; and
  • Assess the impact of the updating and modernization of the list of activities in Annex IV (e.g. relative sectoral and economic weighting drawing on Eurostat SBS data, number of professionals affected).


Project Structure and Involvement of CASE:
The key study tasks of the project are the following:

  • Task 1: Establish the current state of play by providing a comprehensive inventory of the professions regulated in EU Member States which are deemed to pursue activities listed in the current version of Annex IV.
  • Task 2: Explore the concrete possibilities that could be used by the Commission to update and clarify the current Annex IV list (based on a modernisation of activity classification codes from ISIC 1958 to either ISIC 2008, NACE 2007 or a combination of the two).
  • Task 3: Develop case studies focusing on the following sectors: construction, electrical engineering, wholesale and retail trade, transport and personal services.


CASE will provide wider country expertise in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia under Tasks 1 and 3.