WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1417/99 by Nelly MAES Freedom of movement and freedom to practice medicine; supernumerary doctors working on the black in Belgium; unfair competition; infringement of directives 93/16/EEC, 82/76/EEC and Article 12 of the Treaty
C 27 E/58 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 29. 1. 2000 (2000/C 27 E/069) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1417/99 by Nelly Maes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission (1 September 1999) Subject: Freedom of movement and freedom to practice medicine; supernumerary doctors working on the infringement of directives 93/16/EEC, 82/76/EEC and black in Belgium; unfair competition; Article 12 of the Treaty Directives 82/76/EEC (1) and 93/16/EEC (2), which both cover the freedom of movement of doc tors and recognition of their diplomas, certificates and formal qualifications, are blatantly being infringed by the Belgian state with important consequences at the personal level, and also for the state. The information at my disposal (provided by the personnel department of a Brussels teaching hospital) show that in the three teaching hospitals in Brussels alone more than 200 trainee specialists (in French: MACS ü MØdecins Assistents Candidats SpØcialistesí) are working under an illegal contractor of employ- ment as supernumerary doctors (mØdecins surnumeraires), even though they are bound by the same terms of employment without the appropriate remuneration pursuant to Annex I of directive 93/16/EEC. The ásupernumerary doctorísí contract is equivalent to that of the pseudo-selfemployed, which is a well- known feature of the catering trade. This is without doubt discriminatory with regard to the trainee specialists in question, but it also represents a loss of income amounting to millions of euros for the Belgian federal and regional authorities as a result of pseudo-selfemployed persons working on the black who, moreover, are in unfair competition with the hospitals not taking part in this practice. Is the Commission aware of this discrimination for which there are no objective grounds and which is therefore arbitrary? Does the Commission believe that this practice is an infringement of directives 82/76/ EEC and 93/16/EEC? Has the Commission any information on other Member States, or can it conduct an inquiry into such infringements in the Member States? If so, which Member States are involved? Can the Commission state whether it has already taken action to put an end to this form of malpractice which is an infringement of Article 12 of the Treaty of Amsterdam (formerly Article 6)? Is the Commission prepared to take any other action in the immediate future to ensure that these directives are applied and that they constitute more than a moral obligation? (1) OJ L 43, 15. 2. 1982, p. 21. (2) OJ L 165, 7. 7. 1993, p. 1. Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (15 September 1999) With regard to the right of trainee specialist doctors to receive appropriate remuneration, it should be noted that some categories of doctors who undergo specialist medical training do not benefit from the provisions of Council Directive 93/16/EEC of 5 April 1993 to facilitate the free movement of doctors and the mutual recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications. In fact, the field of application of this Directive is restricted to Community nationals and the obligation to provide appropriate remuneration for periods of training undertaken by specialist doctors only arises for medical specialities which are common to all the Member States or to two or more of them, as mentioned in Articles 5 and 7 of Directive 93/16/EEC. Under these conditions, different types of status may co-exist without this contravening Community law. As regards the other points in the question, the Commission considers that these do not fall within its field of competence, but are the responsibility of the Member Statesí authorities, including the courts and judicial authorities