Brussels rewrites EU lists of medical, veterinary and architecture diplomas

The European Commission has rewritten the EU’s official lists of professional qualifications for doctors, nurses, dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives, pharmacists and architects, correcting an entry that should never have been added five years ago. Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/1814, adopted in Brussels on 24 July 2026, amends and corrects Annex V to Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, and was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 9 November 2026.

The decision rests on Article 21a(4) of the 2005 directive, the provision that empowers the Commission to update the annexes listing the diplomas, certificates and titles that benefit from automatic recognition. Annex V contains, by Member State, the evidence of formal qualifications of doctors of medicine, nurses responsible for general care, dental practitioners, veterinary surgeons, midwives, pharmacists and architects, together with the body awarding each qualification and its reference date. Several EU countries notified the Commission of new legislative, regulatory and administrative provisions on the issuing of those qualifications; the Commission assessed the notifications and concluded that they complied with Articles 24, 25, 28, 31, 34, 35, 38, 40, 41, 44 and 46 of the directive.

The text was notified under document C(2026) 5051, carries EEA relevance, and runs to 119 pages in the Official Journal. It is signed for the Commission by Roxana MÎNZATU, Executive Vice-President.

Eleven points replaced in full

For reasons of clarity and legal certainty, the Commission replaced the whole of the affected points rather than tinkering with individual rows:

• 5.1.1, basic medical training
• 5.1.2, specialised doctors
• 5.1.3, titles of training courses in specialised medicine
• 5.1.4, general practitioners
• 5.2.2, nurses responsible for general care
• 5.3.2 and 5.3.3, dental practitioners
• 5.4.2, veterinary surgeons
• 5.5.2, midwives
• 5.6.2, pharmacists
• 5.7.1, architects recognised pursuant to Article 46

Article 1 of the decision refers to the annexed replacement tables; Article 2 addresses the decision to the Member States. No transitional deadline is set, since the annex enters into force as the operative list of recognised qualifications.

The Biochimica correction

The corrective part of the operation targets Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2021/2183 of 25 August 2021, which, following a notification from Italy, had added Biochimica as the title of a training course in specialised medicine at point 5.1.3 of Annex V. In the light of the explanations subsequently provided by the Italian authorities, the Commission accepts that the title should not have been inserted into the directive, and the entry is deleted.

The deletion sits inside the redrawn microbiology and biological chemistry table, where the Italian entry now carries the note “Deleted”. Italy’s separate title Biochimica clinica remains listed under biological chemistry, with its own historical reference date. Italy is also recorded as having confirmed that the two denominations “Università degli studi di (name of the town)” and “Università di (name of the town)” are equivalent terms identifying the same university.

Renamed institutions and new titles

The annexed tables also absorb administrative reorganisations that had left the directive out of date:

• Germany adds Pflegefachfrau/Pflegefachmann and the health and paediatric nursing qualifications awarded by Hochschulen, applicable as of 1 January 2022.
• Ireland’s nursing regulator appears as Bórd Altranais agus Cnáimhseachais na hÉireann (The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland) from 2 October 2012.
• In Portugal, the architecture school formerly listed as ESG/Escola Superior Gallaecia is now UPT – Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique, as of 2021.
• An Irish architectural qualification carries the new denomination South East Technological University as of 1 May 2022.
• United Kingdom qualifications are systematically flagged as issued before 1 January 2021.

Because the annex works profession by profession and country by country, a single mislisted title or an outdated institution name can block an individual’s file at a national regulator. The rewritten points give recognition authorities a single, consolidated reference for doctors, nurses, dentists, veterinarians, midwives, pharmacists and architects, and they remove an Italian specialisation that had been recognised automatically for four years without legal basis. For professionals holding these diplomas, the decision preserves the automatic recognition regime and, with it, the right to practise across borders without an individual equivalence assessment.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, no. 2026/1814, 9 November 2026, p. 1 (official reference: CELEX 32026D1814).