EU Commission aims to simplify recognition

The EU Commission’s package includes a communication on fair labour mobility and a total of five legislative proposals. Three of these set out new rules for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications:

• An amending Directive on professional qualifications
• A Directive on qualifications of third-country nationals
• A Regulation on digital and comparable qualifications: Skills Portability Act

The most mportant new regulations at a glance

• The European Professional Card is to be replaced by a digital platform. Through this platform, applications and supporting documents are, in principle, to be submitted digitally, with an automated preliminary check performed to ensure they are complete. 
• The time limits for notification regarding the completeness of an application, as well as for the recognition notice, are to be significantly shortened..
• The documents to be submitted should be limited to those expressly required and should be accepted in any official EU language.
• A general recognition system for the professional qualifications of third-country nationals is to be established, closely modeled on the system set out in the existing EU Recog­ni­tion Di­rec­tive.
• Member States should also establish appropriate procedures for professional qualifications that EU citizens have acquired in third countries.
• The principle of automatic recognition is to be extended—under certain conditions—to selected professional qualifications from third countries.
• In the future, standardized digital proof of qualifications is intended to provide reliable, comparable, and verifiable information about the qualifications and skills of employees within the Union.

Two further regulations concern the introduction of a European Social Security Pass and the strengthening of the European Labour Authority.

The European Commission estimates that, once fully implemented, the package will yield benefits of approximately 6 billion euros by 2040—achieved through faster recognition of professional qualifications, real-time verification of social security records, various cost savings for businesses, employees, and public authorities, and the prevention of fraud.

Futher information

Press release of the European Commission Sep 15, 2026