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The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (SACL) referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with a request for a preliminary ruling in an administrative case in which a person did not obtain formal evidence of pharmacist qualifications due to them having been obtained in several Member States of the European Union.

On the 8th of July 2021, CJEU ruled that Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications (Directive) must be interpreted as not being applicable to a situation where a person applying for recognition of his or her professional qualifications has not obtained formal evidence of qualifications making him or her qualified, in the home Member State, to pursue a regulated profession there.

However, CJEU recognized that in a situation where a person fails to obtain formal evidence of qualifications, within the meaning of point 5.6.2 of Annex V to Directive 2005/36, but has acquired professional skills relating to that profession both in the home Member State and in the host Member State, the competent authorities of the latter are required, when they receive an application for recognition of professional qualifications, to assess those skills and compare them with those required in the host Member State for the purposes of gaining access to the profession of pharmacist. If those skills correspond to those required by the national provisions of the host Member State, it must recognise them. If that comparative examination reveals that those skills correspond only partially, the host Member State is entitled to require the person concerned to show that he or she has acquired the knowledge and qualifications which are lacking. It is for the competent national authorities to assess, if necessary, whether the knowledge acquired in the host Member State, inter alia by way of practical experience, is sufficient in order to prove possession of the knowledge which is lacking. If that comparative examination reveals substantial differences between the education and training undertaken by the applicant and the education and training required in the host Member State, the competent authorities may set compensation measures to make up for those differences.

Case ID C-166/20.

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