6.12.2008

Official Journal of the European Union

C 313/2

(Case C-274/05)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Directive 89/48/EEC - Workers - Recognition of diplomas)

(2008/C 313/02)

Language of the case: Greek

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by: G. Zavvos and H. Støvlbæk, Agents)

Defendant: Hellenic Republic (represented by: E. Skandalou, Agent)

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Infringement of Articles 1, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 10 of Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a general system for the recognition of higher-education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years' duration (OJ 1989 L 19, p. 16) — Recognition of professional qualifications acquired in another Member State for the purposes of employment in the public sector and registration in the Tekhniko Epimelitirio Elladas

Operative part of the judgment

1.The Hellenic Republic,

—by failing to recognise the diplomas awarded by the competent authorities of another Member State following education and training provided within the framework of an agreement pursuant to which education and training provided by a private body in Greece is homologated by those authorities;

—by providing for the application of compensatory measures in more cases than those allowed by Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a general system for the recognition of higher education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years' duration, as amended by Directive 2001/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2001;

—by entrusting to the Council Responsible for Recognising Professional Equivalence of Higher Education Qualifications the power to assess whether ‘the educational establishment in which the applicant completed his education and training belongs to the higher education sector’ and whether ‘the applicant has the necessary professional experience, in a case where the duration of the education and training falls short by at least one year of that required in Greece in order to pursue that profession’, and

—by not allowing, in the public sector, the reclassification in a higher grade of persons recruited at a level lower than that to which they would have been entitled if their diplomas had been recognised in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 89/48, as amended by Directive 2001/19,

has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 1, 3, 4, 8 and 10 of Directive 89/48 as amended by Directive 2001/19.

2.The action is dismissed as to the remainder.

3.The Hellenic Republic shall pay two thirds of the costs of the Commission of the European Communities and bear its own costs.

4.The Commission of the European Communities shall bear one third of its own costs.

(<span class="super">1</span>) OJ C 129, 9.6.2007.