EU Commission Adopts A New Common Training Test For Ski Instructors

On the day the United Kingdom continued to blunder though handling brexit, the EU Commission adopted a new common training test for ski instructors (CTT) to facilitate the recognition of their professional qualifications.

The Regulation aims at increasing legal clarity, predictability and transparency
with respect to the recognition of ski instructor qualifications after the introduction of a Memorandum of Understanding (the "Memorandum") in 2012. The Memorandum was a pilot project for professionals having passed the Eurotest and the Eurosecurity test. Currently, 11 Member States are signatories to the Memorandum. Due to its limited scope and its status as an agreement outside of Union law the Memorandum will not be prolonged further but will  instead be effectively replaced by the Regulation once adopted to ensure full compliance with European Union law. The provisions agreed in the Memorandum have been taken into account as basis for this Regulation.

This forms part of the Commission's constant efforts to exploit the full potential of the Single Market and deepen integration in areas like services and other key areas of the EU economy, as reaffirmed in our November 2018 assessment of the Single Market.

Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said: "Ski instructors, as other professionals and service providers, should be able to benefit from the Single Market. The new test adopted today will help to improve the mobility of ski instructors within the Single Market and allow them to further contribute to this important sector of our tourist economy." 

Ski instructors currently already benefit from the principle of mutual recognition of their qualifications. The new CTT will offer an additional instrument to facilitate their access to ski instruction activities in other Member Stateswhile ensuring they have the high level of skills and knowledge of safety and environmental issues needed. The new CTT is voluntary in nature and does not harmonise different national rules.

It does not alter the responsibility of the Member State that receives professionals from other EU countries to check their qualifications or fitness to practice and, in cases of justified doubt, contacting the Member State that issued the diploma. The CTT is the first successful creation of a common training test, which has been introduced as a novel instrument by the revised Professional Qualifications Directive. The European Parliament and Council now have two months to scrutinise the Commission Delegated Regulation, after which the act will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. The Delegated Act is available here.