Action brought on 5 October 2023 – European Commission v Republic of Cyprus
(Case C-617/23)
Language of the case: Greek
Parties
Applicant: European Commission (represented by: D. Triantafyllou and L. Armati)
Defendant: Republic of Cyprus
Form of order sought
The applicant claims that the Court should:
declare that the Republic of Cyprus has failed to fulfil its obligations under Directive 2005/36/EC 1 and Article 49 TFEU by adopting national legislation incompatible with;
Article 1, Article 2(1), Article 4(1) and Article 50(1) of Directive 2005/36/EC, as well as Article 49 TFEU, in so far as Article 7(2), (4), (5) and (7), Article 7A(5), (6), (7) and (9) and Article 25(1D) of the ETEK (Technical and Scientific Chamber of Cyprus) Act, as revised, exclude from their scope of application professionals who hold full professional qualifications (but who are not legally established at the time of application), imposing the requirement of active practice of the profession and legal establishment in the Member State of origin as a condition for access to and practice of professions in the field of engineering sciences in Cyprus,
Article 21 and Article 46(1) and (4) of Directive 2005/36/EC, in so far as Article 7(4) of the ETEK Act, as revised, imposes additional requirements of professional practice or professional experience in cases falling under the automatic recognition of professional qualifications;
Chapter I of Title III of Directive 2005/36/EC by failing to ensure the application of the general system for the recognition of the profession of architect in Article 7 of the ETEK Act, as revised;
order the Republic of Cyprus to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments
The European Commission considers that the Cypriot legislation:
- excludes the recognition of professional qualifications of architects and civil engineers who do not already practise the profession in another Member State where they are already established,
- imposes additional requirements for access to the profession of architect, over and above those laid down by the Directive,
- does not ensure the automatic application of the general system of recognition, which falls within the sole discretion of the competent authority.
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1 Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications (OJ 2005 L 255, p. 22).