European Specialist Medical Qualifications Order 1995
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1995/3208 |
| Year | 1995 |
1995 No. 3208
MEDICAL PROFESSION
The European Specialist Medical Qualifications Order 1995
Made 13th December 1995
Laid before Parliament 22th December 1995
At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 13th day of December 1995
Present,
The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council
Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred on Her by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19721and of all other powers enabling Her in that behalf, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:—
PART I
GENERAL
Citation and commencement
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the European Specialist Medical Qualifications Order 1995.
(2) This Order shall come into force on 12th January 1996, except for article 11 and Schedule 5, which shall come into force on 1st January 1997.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In this Order, “the Directive” means Council Directive 93/16/EECof 5 April 1993 to facilitate the free movement of doctors and the mutual recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications2—
(a)
(a) as adapted by paragraph 4(b), (c) and (d) of Annex VII to the EEAEEA Agreement (where the specialist medical qualifications awarded in certain EEAEEA States3and the names given to specialties in those States are set out); and
(b)
(b) as amended by the Act concerning the conditions of accession and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the Union is founded4, and by the Decision of the Council of the European Union of 1st January 1995 adjusting the instruments concerning the accession of new Member States to the European Union5.
(2) In this Order—
“CCSTCCST” means Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training6;
“EEAEEA” means European Economic Area;
“EEAEEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 19927as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 19938;
“EEAEEA State” means a State which is a contracting party to the EEAEEA Agreement;
“GMCGMC” means General Medical Council9;
“registered dentist” has the same meaning as in the Dentists Act 198410;
“registered medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner registered under the Medical Act 198311with full or with limited (but not with provisional) registration; and
“STASTA” means Specialist Training Authority of the medical Royal Colleges12.
(3) In this Order—
(a)
(a) any reference to a consultant in the National Health Service is to a consultant other than a locum consultant (but including an honorary consultant) employed for the purposes of providing any service as part of the health service continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service Act 197713, section 1(1) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 197814or article 4 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 197215;
(b)
(b) any reference to a fee shall be construed in accordance with article 5; and
(c)
(c) any reference to a “medical” specialty includes a surgical specialty, and includes in particular the specialties listed in Schedule 2.
PART II
THE COMPETENT AUTHORITIES
The Competent Authorities
3.—(1) In relation to specialist medical qualifications, there shall be two competent authorities in the United Kingdom for the purposes of Title II (mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications in medicine) and Title III (coordination of provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in respect of activities of doctors) of the Directive.
(2) The competent authority for the purposes of the recognition and registration of specialist medical qualifications is the GMCGMC.
(3) Subject to paragraph (6), the competent authority for the purposes of specialist medical training and the issue of CCSTs and certain other certificates is the body specified in Part II of Schedule 1 (being a body constituted as set out in Part I of that Schedule), which shall be known as the Specialist Training Authority of the medical Royal Colleges.
(4) Accordingly, in relation to specialist medical qualifications, in addition to the functions conferred upon them elsewhere in this Order—
(a)
(a) the GMCGMC shall as respects the United Kingdom perform the functions of the host member State referred to in article 22 of the Directive (which concerns requiring confirmation of authenticity of foreign diplomas and confirmation that a person has fulfilled the Directive’s training requirements);
(b)
(b) the STASTA shall as respects the United Kingdom have the functions of a competent authority referred to in the following articles of the Directive—
(i) article 8(2) (issue of certificates relating to training in the United Kingdom in certain specialties),
(ii) article 8(3) (requirement to verify content and duration of foreign specialist training and to communicate what additional training is required in the United Kingdom),
(iii) article 9(2) (issue of certificates there mentioned to specialists whose qualifications were awarded in the United Kingdom or who have practised their specialty in the United Kingdom),
(iv) article 9(5) (issue of certificates of fulfilment of Directive training requirements in respect of qualifications which do not conform with the designations set out in the Directive), and
(v) article 22 (function of confirming authenticity of CCSTs and of confirming that a person has fulfilled the Directive’s training requirements); and
(c)
(c) the STASTA shall as respects the United Kingdom perform the functions of a member State referred to in the following articles of the Directive—
(i) article 8(1) (requirement to fulfil domestic requirements for specialist training in certain specialties), and
(ii) article 8(2) (requirement to take into account training already undertaken abroad).
(5) The GMCGMC and the STASTA are hereby designated as respects the United Kingdom for the purposes set out in this article in accordance with article 42 of the Directive (which requires member States to designate the authorities competent to issue or receive the diplomas, documents and other information referred to in the Directive).
(6) The functions of the STASTA under or by virtue of this Order are without prejudice to the functions of the GMCGMC or of any of its statutory committees under the Medical Act 198316.
Power of direction
4.—(1) The Secretary of State may give directions to the GMCGMC and to the STASTA in connection with their functions under or by virtue of this Order, and it is the duty of the body to whom the directions are given to comply with them.
(2) Directions given under paragraph (1) may be as to matters of administration only.
Fees
5.—(1) Subject to the following paragraphs, the GMCGMC and the STASTA may each charge such reasonable fees as it determines to cover the cost of providing services in the course of the performance of any of its functions under or by virtue of this Order.
(2) The GMCGMC and the STASTA may each set those fees at levels such that (taken together) the fees also cover the cost of such of its overheads as are reasonably attributable to the performance of all of its functions under or by virtue of this Order; but the fees must not include any element of profit.
(3) The fee charged by the GMCGMC or the STASTA for any particular service must not include more than a reasonable proportion of the total cost of its overheads referred to in paragraph (2).
(4) This article does not prevent the GMCGMC, where it has power to do so, from setting any other fee which it has power to charge at a level designed to include costs referred to in this article; but any costs recovered that way cannot also be recovered by way of fees under this article.
PART III
SPECIALIST MEDICAL TRAINING
Certificates of completion of specialist training
6.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2), (3) and (4), the STASTA shall award a CCSTCCST to any person who applies to the STASTA for that purpose (and pays any fee determined by the STASTA) if the STASTA is satisfied that he has satisfactorily completed specialist medical training, in the specialty stated in his application, approved by the STASTA pursuant to article 7.
(2) A CCSTCCST may be awarded only to a registered medical practitioner; and a CCSTCCST in oral and maxillo-facial surgery may be awarded only to a person who is also a registered dentist.
(3) A period of training common to specialist medical training in more than one specialty counts towards completion of the training required for each of them.
(4) The STASTA may award a CCSTCCST in a specialty listed in Schedule 2 only.
(5) A CCSTCCST shall state—
(a)
(a) the date on which it was awarded;
(b)
(b) the specialty in which it was awarded;
(c)
(c) the name of its holder; and
(d)
(d) his primary medical qualifications and where those qualifications were awarded;
and where more than one year of the training to which the CCSTCCST attests took place outside the EEAEEA, the CCSTCCST shall make clear that this was so, and shall state the length (in aggregate) of such training.
Minimum requirements of specialist medical training
7.—(1) The STASTA shall not approve specialist medical training intended to lead to the award of a CCSTCCST unless it complies with the requirements of this article; and the STASTA may withdraw any such approval if it is satisfied that the training no longer complies with those requirements.
(2) The training must constitute an entire course of training in the specialty in question and must, subject to paragraph (3)—
(a)
(a) comprise theoretical and practical instruction;
(b)
(b) be full-time training;
(c)
(c) be supervised by the STASTA;
(d)
(d) comply with the requirements of point 1 of...
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