S.L. 451.3 Art. 15Access contingent to specific professional qualifications.

(1) If access to or pursuit of a regulated profession in Malta is contingent upon possession of specific professional qualifications, the relative designated authority shall permit applicants to access and pursue that profession, under the same conditions as apply to its nationals, if they possess an attestation of competence or evidence of formal qualifications referred to in regulation 13, required by another Member State in order to gain access to and pursue that profession on its territory:

Provided that the attestations of competence or evidence of formal qualifications must satisfy the condition of having been issued by a competent authority in a Member State, designated in accordance with the laws, regulations or administrative provisions of that Member State.

(2) Access to, and pursuit of, a profession as described in sub-regulation (1) shall also be granted to applicants who have pursued the profession in question on a full-time basis for one year or for an equivalent overall duration on a part-time basis during the previous ten years in another Member State which does not regulate that profession, and who possess one or more attestations of competence or evidence of formal qualifications issued by another Member State which does not regulate the profession. Attestations of competence and evidence of formal qualifications shall satisfy the following conditions:

(a) they shall have been issued by the competent authority in a Member State, designated in accordance with the legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions of that Member State;

(b) they shall attest that the holder has been prepared for the pursuit of the profession in question.

(3) The one year of professional experience referred to in sub-regulation (2) may not, however, be required if the evidence of formal qualifications which the applicant possesses certifies regulated education and training.

(4) Designated authorities shall accept the level attested under regulation 13 by the home Member State, as well as the certificate by which the home Member State certifies that regulated education and training or vocational training with a special structure referred to in regulation 13(c)(ii) is equivalent to the level provided for in regulation 13(c)(i).

(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulations (1) and

(2) and regulation 16, a designated authority may refuse access to, and pursuit of, the profession to holders of an attestation of competence classified under regulation 13( ) where the a professional qualification required to exercise the profession in Malta is classified under regulation 13(e).