Please, Do short brief (intro, body, conclu) (just few notes), comprising the most important takeaways from this text. Thank you very much. I am not intending by any means to submit a tutor's work as my own, I simply want to draw inspiration. Please

by y. Consel de Forhiding Avocat A lu Cour de Bar Council Before the Court of Justice of the European the PP.C.: Mertens so Wimars, co Touttalt J.J M. Here JA Afra 1977When a nations of one member-State d ate in andforone member state desirous of exercising the profession of ich has been recognised as an equivalent qualification by the university ry the Advocate's professional qualifying examinations, the act of ablishment constitutes even in the absence of the directives provided for in cle 57 (1) and (2) of the EEC Treaty , a restriction within the meaning of ready to ensure that the national rules on admission to the profession of although itdoesdemand sip maties ity into account, it impedes mainly or exclusively nationals of the other member-States, Opinion of the Advocate General (M. Henri Mayras) As i stated nearly three years ago in the dexters case. [FNS]social and Economic Community. involves the development of legal relations between each of those States for persons assisting the adminstration of justice such as advocates, irrespective of their nationality. In other words, any obstacle to the criterion of nationality must be effectively at FN5 [19741 2 C.M.L.R. 305, [1974] E.C.R. 631. On that occasion I registered my surprise at finding that the equality of treatment an four years after the end of the transitional period, in my opinion contrary to visions of Article 52 of the Treaty of Rome. March 1977, but that directive concerns only freedom to provide services ure of the Community institutions, and in particular the Council, to adopt to paralyse the effective implementation of Article 52. The Court followed me on this essential point. it based itself on Article ? of the imbit of the Treaty and without prejudice to any special provisions d. The Court inferred from this principle that Article 52 provides for its This finding led the court to decide: sphere of the right of establishment. of the transitional period, Article , Article 52 imposes obligation to attain a precise result; of a programme of progressive measures in the form of the directives provided for both by Article 54 and by Article 57 of the Treaty, since the only purpose of ofessions referred to in each of the member-States; hat consequently, since the end of the transitional period Article 52 is a directly sphere in question of the directives to which I have just alluded lating to the mutual recognition of diplomas as well as the co-ordination of ovisions laid down by law, regulation of administrative action in member-States institute a useful complement to the practical attainment of equality of articular case, referred to in Article 57 (3), of the medical herefor, except in the However, I was able to reach such a definite opinion owing to the particular facts Conseil d'Etat of Belgium for a preliminary ruling raised, in its pure form. the problem of equality of treatment applied to the profession of advocate, in the is known, Mr. Reyners, a Dutch citizen who had been brought up in Belgium, se the problem of the recognition of a foreign diploma as being equivalent to his case, the Thieffry case, on the contrary, basically centres upon the effects of ws of the University of Louvain is equivalent to the French national diploma of eginning of this opinion, by telling the Court inat i have already reached the firm mand of the Paris Bar Council that the person concerned should possess the dom of establishment, a disguised restriction on, or at least a legal obstacle fession of advocate in France . I hope that I can convince your towerto before besirig ar reminder ofine precise case before the Court, consider if necessary clearly to state the facts behind the question svomited to petition of details which have already been set out by the parties in the written procedure and at the hearing of the oral arguments. loma of Doctor of Laws of the University of Lowvain, and stage gy me he worked in collaboration with Mr. Van Reephingen, the President of the ar Council, on the reform of the Belgian Judicial Code. chambers gewad in Paris, where for some years he has assisted in the urthermore, he also teaches comparative law, international law and French has also written several articles so written several articles, published in particular by the Jurisclasseurs a contracts and contractual liability comparatively in French, English en practising the profession of advocate and he has demonstrated such qualities therein that William Garcin has recently offered him a p. subject to his becoming a member of the Paris Bar. of being admitted to that Bar, in 1974 Mr. Thieffry requested om the University of Paris 1 that his Belgian diploma is equivalent to amine the procedure and effects thereof later on. Then he prepared fession of advocate), the exams for which he sat and passed in 1975. paris (Paris Bar Council) of his application for membership s an 'avocat stagiaire' (pupil). grounds which cal for carerin application by a decision of 9 March of Simon Gueulette--who represented the Conseil de 'Ordre at the e Treaty, but, basing itself on the Act of 31 December 1971 on the reform ach diploma of a licentiate's or doctor's degree in law which is tion 11 of the said Act had ' not been repealed by the Treaty, and pplication for membership had to be rejected. being, I shall merely observe that this ground of rejection is mistaken the directives provided for by Articles 54 and 57-are such as to repeal and paragraph of Section 11 of the Act in question. forceable against Community nationals lession of advocate in France They cannot randal because at all events the obligation to possess a French diploma remains applicable to nationals of States which are not Members of the Community. of legal diplomas or rather for the automatic recognition of validity of certain reign diplomas in France. Paris, the court having jurisdiction over the decisions of the Consell de 'Ordre, ree Chambers of 387 that court, the competent formation, sitting in Court for a pre no stay the proceedings and to refer the following question to national of one member-State desirous e in another member-State has obtained a diploma in his country of has been recognised as an equivalent qualification by the university untry the Advocate's professional qualifying examinations-.which he has does the act of demanding the national diploma prescribed by the law of tive of the won the treaty of Rome, an obstacle to the attainment in that way, the question is clear. It carefully avoids the mistaken eil de l'Ordre and it situates the debate in the proper legal area. Let me add doubt as to the admissibility of the request for a preliminary ruling jurisdiction of this Court to decide the issue, part, I will set out the reasons for which it seems to me that, even in the nice of any Community directive relating to the mutual recognition of legal g a national legal diploma of the country of establishment is, taking into he conditions peculiar to France in the sphere of the educa it of the objective of the Community provisions in question. ain the nature of the French system of admission in 31 December 1971, which moreover reiterates previous legislation on most art from verification by the Conseils de l'Ordre of the 'good character of the ) Possession of French nationality. subject to any international agreements. nforceable against a national of another member-State of the Community; I had not come back to it stated, this is patently a question of possessing diplomas awarded by the French (3) Apart from certain exemptions laid down by regulation which are not in has won here, possession of the Certificat d'Aptitude a la Profession d'Avocat. candidates for the profession of advocate, was established in 1941, and today is regulated by Degree Trade offat July 19if, It is prepared and the certificate Neither the possession of the licentiate's degree in law nor, a fortion, of the doctor's degree is required for the purposes of the preparation of the Certifica centiate's degree may enrol for that preparation and sit the examination, However, it goes winout saying that even if those stude vidence of move the Certificat ave obtained the licentiate's degree in law in order to apply with any effect for that is involved in the teaching given for the Certificat d'Aptitude in the institutes both essence a practical professional education, based not only on classes, but bove all on practical work and exercises concerning: The role of the advocate, the organisation of the profession well as the procedures in use before the various courts, and the means of enforcement of judoment enforcement of judgments. This preparation is provided both by teachers of law and by judges and members of the Bar, "patently, although the Certifica Consequently. although the Certificat d'Aptitude is a university diploma in that the aww aware that advocates, as a profession parti is necessary to be reparation, both in the classes, and even more as regards the practical As for the examination. it involves, first. written qualifying tests and. secondly. The written tests cover both the candidates' general education and their technic legal knowledge regarding civil, commercial, penal or strative procedure. e organisation of the courts and civil procedure; pecial penal law; tax law and accountancy, ind finally, the role of the advocate, the practice of the profession and 389 In addition, a 15-minute dissertation, which may take the form of a a discussion with the board of examiners, also 15 minutes in lengthants of the funct candidate to be assessed in the light of the duties and d of examiners is tripartite: its chairman is a teacher of law, and it is cates in equal numbers. the syllabus, the manner of preparation and the manner of examination at d' Aptitude a la Profession d'Avocat, which make it the strictly . This is important both generally and unnecessary ase. By obtaining the Certificat d'Aptitude, Mr. Thieffry has proved tain a licentiate's degree in law in France Wagesgames ledge required for admission to a French Bar. grition of the equivalence of his diploma of perme ate with an equivalence can have not only in French law and in the internal he implementation of Article 52 of the Treaty of Rome. Grisdiction of the university authorities, over whom the Conseils de e no control. blomal the universityin this case may or partyequivalence of a ng whether the diploma submitted appears on an equivalence list Prawn up. It carer y examines the subjectis Blacled, year by year pose of drawing up what is referred to as a 'transcrit d'etudes! cript of studies). Thus the university carries out exhaustive and objective ted by the person concerned and having regard to the results achieved by rtainty that the applicant must be regarded as offering guarantees concerning level of his general legal knowledge equal to those which are required of the 390 But then there arises the question, which is really the fundamental question It is provided in the Decree of 15 February 1921, a rather old item of legislation of a European Community and the implementation within the Community sectionof Theof the purposes of the doctorate, recognition of equivalence to the may be granted , either by an individual measure (which is the case in this instancej. or by virtue of decisions of principle. ated by the Deans and submitted to the faculty to work which the applica tates that he is presenting himself as didate for the doctorate, for confer any right to the licentiate's diploma; it is valid only for pegree in e of enrolling for a doctorate in the faculties of law. ledged that on the basis of this ne. Such recognition is intended exclusively to enable the holder of sue his legal studies in France up to the level of the doctorate. r exposition of the organisation of the French system regarding ng to him, a distinction must be drawn between three situations: ended by certain French-speaking States in Africa, which are former as is determined by ministerial orders. Automatic validity means that themselves constitute legal evidence of qualifications for the purpose of ntry into the profession of advocate. ber 1924, which is still in force and which recognises the equivalence of awarded in so foreign countries, but only for the purpose of gaining a y, the effect of a recognition of equivalence granted by means of an ision by the university, after verfication of the knowledge acquired the legal opportunity of entering the next stage of higher studies in law , y of preparing the French doctors degree; only if he obtains the to the Bar, always subject, however, to his obtaining the Certificat la Profession d'Advocat, and of course to the verification of his good Thisthey had folowed that coume that is to see if he had a s for rate and had finally obtained the degree of Doctor of Laws, whilst at, as he did, the Consell de l'Ordre would have raised no objection to his emic or university effect, in that it onfers a right only to the pursuit of higher legal studies, and not directly to entry nto those professions for which the possession of a national diploma is a legal However, there is internal legislation in certain States under which the roviso that foreign diplomas which have been recognised as equivalent are valid for entry into regulated professions ory if they have been acquired by nationals. olders of the diploma as their status as nationals of the country of As the Commission stated in its reply to one of the questions asked by the Court, ties while the French Government reciprocally alows hogan reover. certain agreements concluded within the framework of the Franco- matic equivalence between, for example, the French 'Doctorat d'Etat' and the diploma of 'Dacteur Ingenieur and it's German counterparts between me Frenc agreements have not yet been approved by the governmental authorities of each In Belgium, the Act of 19 March 1971, supplemented by a Royal Order of 20 July same time deals with the entry of foreigners into certain regulated professions 392 In that case, if the law degrees are recognised as equivalent by the anditional upon possession of a diploma. is extended to foreign nationals, either However, that piece of legislation is not applicable as regards entry into certain rofessions such as that of advocate. artificates acquired abroad have no legal validity inside the country, except as Entry into the regulated professions remains subject to possession of a national In the Netherlands. under the university education system (Act of 22 December recognised, in so far as those qualifications appear on a list drawn up by the of the professions to which possession of those alifications gives entry is free. There is at present between Belgium and the Netherlands mutualregionFine the Netherlands Higher Education Actauthorises, for the purposes of obtaining concerned notesatfor onedin exemption from examinations if the person the Minister of Education. That provision applies, inter alia, to the Belgian degree of Doctor of Laws there, since the distinction between the civil effect and the academic effect of ognition of equivalence is in a way meaningless, at least as regards ent ntry depend completely on the governing bodies of the professions the that the university diplomas of the continental member-States are in pri he teaching of common law and the teaching of continental private law, distinction between the civil effect and the academic effect of the recognition typeence of diplomas. refore, although it is clear that under the French Decree of 15 February 1921 reign diploma in question is to alow enrolment for the doctorate and je consequently purely academic. that restriction, which was formerly valid against based to be compatible, in the present state of Co and s present state of Community law, with the s of Articles 52 and 57 of the Treaty. means of directives of the Council, for the purpose not of establishing freedom of entry easier and thus of promoting the exercise of the right of establishment y the self-employed. edom of establishment for advocates in the Community cannot have the onsequence of frustrating the attainment of the night or establishment and by cases where the competent authority in the country of establishment has ver to recognise a foreign diploma as being equivalent, even if strictly for purposes, to a national diploma. legitimate concern of a member- State such as France to e's degree in law could be justified, not by a condition pertain ality of those candidates, but by the intention of restricting membership tional universities and evidenced by the possession of the French ion of each of the member-States contains provisions restricting the those provisions may be the protection of public policy, but in many his-and even mere administrative practices overone enter in occupations, in particular the professions, and the pursuit thereof. most cases, those rules apply without distinction to nationals and foreigners. ibility of the person applying for admission. ants concerning the profession arefore these are legal provisions which are not discminatory in theory, but a national than for a foreigner to satisfy the requirements imposed, such as, example. the obtaining of a national diploma. al provisions which relate to the taking up by foreigners of activities as e be carefuly distinguished from those relating to restrictions, on try into force of the rules of the Treaty of Rome*394 relating to dominated in each country by considerations of a political, related to requirements as to qualifications and university certificat that the system applying to nationals of member-States is very ell acquainted, it is necessary for restrictions applied to the night of" ding to the award of national diplomas to be considered autonomously, e comparison to be drawn is fairly simple when it concerns the practice of the profession of advocate since despite the existence practice of the profession of advocate, since, despite the existence his of legal education have particular features peculiar to each State or egal system, so that it is not easy for the national authorities of the Avocate to nationals of other member-States who have not he syllabus taught in the national universities ree in law, and the more specific and fern al knowledge which ates acquire in France by preparing the Certificat d'Aptitude for the although in theory an advocate undergoing his pence or titute of legal studies can plead before any French court other than the Etat and the Cour de Cassation, he cannot be said to have acquired d acquire that experience in the chambers of an experienced of their diploma which enables them to be dge at least equal to