24.7.92 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 209/25 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 92/51/EEC of 18 June 1992 on a second general system for the recognition of professional education and training to supplement Directive 89/48/EEC THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, particular Articles 49, 57 (1) and 66 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ", In cooperation with the European Parliament (2), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (), ' a 2 3 ® ® ¢ Whereas, pursuant to Article 8a of the Treaty, the internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers and whereas, pursuant to Article 3 (c) of the Treaty, the abolition, as between Member States, of obstacles to freedom of movement for persons and services constitutes one of the objectives of the Community; wher- eas, for nationals of the Member States, this means in particular the possibility of pursuing a profession, whether in a self-employed or employed capacity, in a Member State other than that in which they acquired their professional qualifications; Whereas, for those professions for the pursuit of which the Community has not laid down the necessary minimum level of qualification, Mem- ber States reserve the option of fixing such a level with a view to guaranteeing the quality of services provided in their territory; whereas, how- ever, they may not, without disregarding their obligations laid down in Articles 5, 48, 52 and 59 of the Treaty, require a national of a Member State to obtain those qualifications which in gen- eral they determine only by reference to those issued under their own national education and training systems, where the person concerned has _ already acquired all or part of those qualifica- tions in another Member State; whereas, as a result, any host Member State in which a profes- sion is regulated is required to take account of qualifications acquired in another Member State and to determine whether those qualifications correspond to the qualifications which the Mem- ber State concerned requires; Whereas Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a general system for the 0OJ No C 263, 16.10.1989, p. 1 and OJ No C 217, 1.9.1990, p. 4. OJ No C 149, 18.6.1990, p. 149, and OJ No C 150, 15.6.1992. OJ No C 75, 26.3.1990, p. 11. @ ) © M @® ® recognition of higher - education diplomas awarded on completion of professional educa- tion and training of at least three years’ duration (4) facilitates compliance with such obligations; whereas, however, it is limited to higher educa- tion; Whereas, in order to facilitate the pursuit of all those professional activities which in a host Member State are dependent on the completion of a certain level of education and training, a second general system should be introduced to complement the first; Whereas the complementary general system must be based on the same principles and contain mutatis mutandis the same rules as the initial general system; Whereas this Directive is not applicable to those regulated professions which are covered by spe- cific Directives principally concerned with intro- ducing mutual recognition of training courses completed before entry into professional life; Whereas neither is it applicable, furthermore, to those activities covered by specific Directives principally intended to introduce recognition of technical skills based on experience acquired in another Member State; whereas certain of those Directives apply solely to the pursuit of activities in a self-employed capacity; whereas, in order to ensure that the pursuit of such activities as an employed person does not fall within the scope of this Directive, whereby the pursuit of the same activity would be subject to different legal recog- nition arrangements depending on whether it was pursued in a self-employed capacity or as an employed person, those Directives should be made applicable to persons pursuing the activi- ties in question as employed persons; Whereas the complementary general system is entirely without prejudice to the application of Article 48 (4) and Article 55 of the Treaty; Whereas this complementary system must cover the levels of education and training not covered by the initial general system, namely that corres- ponding to other post-secondary education and training courses and other equivalent education and training, and that comesponding to (¥) OJNoL19,24.1.1989, p. 16.