New law simplifies recognition of EU qualifications

Prague, Feb 6 (CTK) - President Vaclav Klaus has signed laws simplifying the state acknowledgement of people's professional qualifications and of qualifications of experts from EU states, his spokesman Radim Ochvat told CTK yesterday.

The former law enables professional qualification to be achieved by people with a corresponding knowledge and experience after a certain period of working in the given area though they did not study the relevant branch at school.

It also enables the Labour Office's retraining courses to be completed by 16-year-old boys and girls who left secondary school studies.

Under the present law, valid until the new law takes effect, they had to wait until the age of 18.

The other law simplifies the acknowledgement of the professional qualification of experts from other EU countries who come for a short work stay in the Czech Republic.

It facilitates the situation for workforce from border regions by lifting a portion of paperwork for occasional work.

For example, an Austrian surgeon coming to complete a surgery in the neighbouring Czech Republic would only have to report his/her presence to the relevant body, which is the Czech Doctors' Chamber (CLK).