European Professional Card - simplifying the recognition of professional qualifications of foreigners

Late last month, the government approved a draft of a law on the recognition of professional qualifications implementing the relevant European Union regulations concerning the regulating of the general and sectoral system of the recognition of professional qualifications. In connection with the effect of the amendment, which is scheduled for 1 January 2016, other related regulations are to be amended whose aims are primarily to simplify the entire process of recognizing the professional qualifications of foreigners in the Czech Republic, as well as providing guarantees to the recipients of their services, who are mostly patients.


The simplification is primarily seen in the issuing of a European Professional Card, which will be done electronically on the basis of data contained in the information system of the internal market of the European Commission. The entire process, from submission to the handling the request, will be conducted electronically. Each applicant will have a custom folder in the system where all of the relevant documents will be stored.

The above-named sector system relates primarily to physicians, pharmacists, dentists, midwives, nurses, caregivers responsible for general care, veterinarians, i.e. those professions that have a skill requirement for the persons who perform them. A so-called warning mechanism should be implemented for such medical professions, and for the teaching profession, through which information will be provided about a prohibition or restriction of activity, wherein the competent authorities of EU Member States will be informed by the relevant ministry within three days of when such a record is made.

Another new feature is the thorough verification of knowledge of the Czech language for activities where it may have an impact on the quality of doing the profession. This concerns mainly health professions and occupations where there is work with children. Insufficient knowledge of the Czech language can then constitute grounds for suspension of the relevant activity until such time as the language skill is sufficiently improved.