Section Menu

Mutual Recognition and Technical Harmonisation

The principle of mutual recognition

The principle of Mutual Recognition is one of the cornerstones of the Single Market. It was developed by the European Commission on the basis of the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) "Cassis de Dijon" judgement (Case 120/78 Rewe-Zentrale v Bundesmonopolvwerwaltung fur Branntwein [1979 ] ECR 649), which was given in connection with the application of what is now Article 28 of the EC Treaty (formerly Article 30), which relates to the free movement of goods within the internal market.

The free movement of goods

Under the principle of mutual recognition, no Member State has the right to forbid the sale on its territory of any product, which has been lawfully produced and marketed in another Member State, even if that product has been produced according to different technical or quality standards from those applied to its own products. This means that any product imported from a Member State should, in principle, be allowed entry into another Member State’s territory if it has been lawfully produced i.e. if it is in conformity with the regulations and with the production processes of the exporting country, and marketed within that country. Member States may only act against this principle in very limited circumstances, which involve "overriding requirements of general public importance" for example public health, protection of consumers or the environment. Any measures taken by Member States must also be both necessary and proportionate.

Mutual recognition v harmonisation

The principle of mutual recognition means that not all sectors need to be harmonised, or harmonisation may be restricted to the "essential requirements". This ensures the free movement of goods within the single market while at the same time allowing diversity of products and services to be maintained.

Mutual recognition and free movement of goods are reinforced by two specific instruments Directive 98/34/EC and Decision 3052/95/EC. Directive 98/34/EC seeks to prevent the creation of new technical barriers to trade by laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations. For further details and information about how to discover what other Member States are proposing contact the DTI's Technical Standards and Regulations Directive. Decision 3052/95/EC obliges national authorities to notify the Commission, who in turn notifies other Member States, when they take action which impedes or prohibits marketing of products which have been lawfully produced or marketed in another Member State. This aims to ensure the transparency of individual decisions on the application of the mutual recognition principle through a straightforward information exchange procedure. For more information about this procedure contact the DTI's Technical Standards and Regulations Directive.

Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications

Those regulated professions not covered by the sectoral directives or directive 99/42/EC fall under the General System for Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications, which is operated by Directive 89/48/EEC (known as the First Diplomas Directive) and Directive 92/51/EEC (known as the Second Diplomas Directive).

The General System is founded on the presumption that an individual qualified in one Member State to exercise a specific profession should be regarded in principle as qualified to exercise that same profession in another Member State without having to requalify from scratch. It rejects the principle of relying on harmonised training across all Member States, and thus requires mutual trust in the validity of professional or vocational training anywhere in the EU or EEA. The consequence for the migrant is that his or her qualification should benefit from recognition in any Member State, with the proviso that where substantial differences are identified between the education, training and experience of the migrant and the requirements of the host Member State the migrant may be asked to compensate for these differences in accordance with mechanisms laid down in the directives.

Workers, Establishment and Services

Following its judgement on free movement of goods, the ECJ has also developed similar ‘mutual recognition’ case law to apply to the free movement of workers, freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services.

Trade barriers-exercising Single Market Rights

There are a number of options open to businesses when, in the course of marketing their products in another Member State, they consider that they have encountered trade barriers related to national regulations. This problem solving network seeks to enable businesses to exercise their Single Market rights and various options exist including:

making a confidential complaint directly to the European Commission, who may, where appropriate, take legal action against the Member State concerned (known as infraction proceedings). Guidance on how to contact the Commission can be found on their Website.

Taking action through the national courts

making a complaint to the Co-ordination centre, which can facilitate problem solving through various routes for example through bilateral discussion with its counterparts in the other Member State or through it’s extensive network of contacts across Whitehall. The UK’s Co-ordination Centre is known as the "Action Single Market unit".

Contact:

Celia Kissoon
Tel: 020 7215 2800
Fax: 020 7215 2234
Email: celia.kissoon@dti.gsi.gov.uk