Recognition of Diplomas - Lawyers

I. Information on Community law

1. If you wish to practise permanently as a lawyer in another Member State under the professional title used in that State and with the same rights and obligations as a lawyer trained there, before you can register you must have your qualifications recognized in compliance with Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a general system for the recognition of higher-education diplomas (Official Journal No L 19 of 24 January 1989). For this purpose, you must satisfy the following conditions:
   
   
   1. you must be a national of a Member State;
   2. you must be fully qualified to practise as a lawyer in the Member State of origin or the Member State from which you have come. As a general rule, depending on the arrangements in force in the country where you underwent training, you should therefore hold a university degree in law and have completed practical training and passed a professional examination (before or after training); the set of qualifications awarded on completion of professional education and training are regarded as a diploma within the meaning of Council Directive 89/48/EEC;
   3. this diploma must have been issued by a competent authority of a Member State if training was received mainly in the Community. Diplomas issued by non-member countries must be recognized if they
      have already been recognized by a Member State, on condition that the same Member State certifies that the holder has acquired at least
      three years' professional experience there;
   4. your training must comprise, as a minimum, higher education lasting at least three years (usually at a university) or be recognized as alternative training by the Member State where it was received.
   
   Even if you satisfy all these conditions, the host Member State is entitled, in principle, to make recognition subject to an aptitude test in those subjects which are required under its own legislation and not covered by your training in order to assess your professional skills and ability to adapt to your new working environment (Article 1(g), the second indent of Article 4(b) and the ninth recital to the Directive).
   
   According to the case-law of the European Court of Justice, however, the onus is on the national authorities to determine whether skills acquired in the course of either education or practical experience can serve to establish that the individual concerned does possess all the requisite skills (Case C-340/89 Vlassopoulou [1991] ECR I-2357, paragraph 20).
   
   Your application must be examined as rapidly as possible and a reasoned decision must be given no later than four months after you have submitted all the necessary documents. You may appeal before a court or tribunal against this decision or against any failure to hand down a decision. If, in the host Member State, lawyers are required to produce certain other documents, such as declarations of good character and good repute and evidence that they have not previously been declared bankrupt, the authorities in that State must, under certain conditions, accept documents issued in the Member State of origin.
   
   
2. The recognition of periods of training as such, e.g. university studies or professional traineeships, in order to enable individuals to continue their training in another Member State is not governed by Directive 89/48/EEC. The rules on such "academic" recognition are to be found in the legislation of the Member States and in agreements between national authorities, universities or bar associations.
   
   
3. The conditions governing the provision of services by lawyers established in another Member State, without prior recognition of their qualifications, are set out in Council Directive 77/249/EEC of 22 March 1977 to facilitate the effective exercise by lawyers of freedom to provide services (OJ No L 78 of 26 March 1977).

II. The situation in France

1. The conditions applicable to the aptitude test are fixed by
   Section 99 of Decree No 91-1197 on the organization of the profession of avocat and the Order of 7 January 1993 laying down detailed rules on the aptitude test. Applications for recognition must be sent, by registered letter with advice of delivery, to the president of the National Bar Associations Council (CNB). The CNB considers whether the applicant fulfils the conditions and decides whether the applicant must take the test and, if so, the subjects to be tested.
   
   You must append to the application documents establishing your identity, nationality and place of residence, documentation (certificates attesting to your training) establishing that you satisfy the conditions for recognition, together with particulars of your post-secondary education. Those documents must be the originals (or certified copies) and be accompanied by a translation into French by a translator on the list kept by the competent French Appeal Court. You must also specify in your application the Regional Professional Training Centre (CRFP) where you will take any test that is required.
   
   If the CNB decides that you must take the test, which it usually does in the case of applicants who obtained their qualification in countries other than Belgium or Luxembourg, within four months it must fix the subjects to be tested. The CNB chooses a maximum of four subjects, depending on your training, from the following seven:
   
   
   1. civil law;
   2. criminal law;
   3. administrative law;
   4. commercial law;
   5. social law;
   6. Community and European law;
   7. the rules governing the profession.
   
   
   An appeal against the CNB's decision lies to the Paris Appeal Court. The CRFP you have specified then holds the test, consisting of oral examinations lasting about 20 minutes, for which you have about 30 minutes to prepare. However, if the CNB determines that examinations in four subjects are needed, one must be a four-hour written examination. The test will be held within three months of the date of the CNB's decision.
   
   You can obtain more information from the following address:
   
   Conseil National des Barreaux, 
   161, Boulevard Péreire, F-75017 Paris.
   
   You can attend the lectures at CRFPs as an unregistered student. A list of the subjects covered in previous years is obtainable from CRFPs.
   
   
2. The provisions transposing Directive 77/249/EEC are embodied in Sections 200-204 of Decree No 91-11971 of 27 November 1991 on the organization of the profession of avocat. In civil cases before a Regional Court in which professional representation is compulsory, a lawyer providing his services in another Member State can do so only after arranging an address for service at the chambers of a local avocat. In cases before an Appeal Court, a lawyer providing his services in another Member State must act in conjunction with an avoué or avocat.
   
   

III. Useful addresses in France

• Conseil national des barreaux
  23 rue de la Paix
  F-75002 PARIS
  Tel: 01 53 30 85 60
  Fax: 01 53 30 85 61
• Contact point (Directive 89/48/EEC): 
  Yves Vallat, 
  Ministère de l'éducation nationale, de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche,
  Rue Dutot 61-65, F - 75 015 Paris
  Tel: +33.1.40.65.66.19
• Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Community, 
  rue Washington 40, B-1050 Brussels
  Tel: +32 2 640 42 74/ 640 09 31

Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2006
Reproduction is authorised.