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Zagreb - The Croatian Parliament on Tuesday unanimously adopted the Law on Academic and Professional Titles and Academic Degrees which removes incongruences with European practices in the awarding of titles, notably those acquired upon completion of specialist graduate studies in Croatia.
Alignment with European practices in awarding specialist and academic titles will increase the visibility of Croatian qualifications in other EU member countries and their recognition, as well as facilitate the mobility of students and graduates.
Also, titles awarded upon the completion of study programmes at all institutions of higher education will be standardised.
Under the law, in case a study programme is cancelled or is no longer the same, a certificate on the standardisation of an academic or specialist title is issued free of charge.
The parliament also passed by majority vote the Law on Regulated Professions and Recognition of Foreign Professional Qualifications to prevent unjustified restrictions to the performance of regulated professions.
A profession is considered regulated if the precondition to exercise it is the possession of a certain diploma, passing a special exam such as a state exam and/or registration with a professional body.
In Croatia the database of regulated professions includes, among others, authorised architects, doctors of medicine and dental medicine, pharmacists, graduate physiotherapists, licenced engineers in forestry, conservators, criminologists, etc.
The amended law transposes into national legislation the EU directive that obliges EU member states to carry out a proportionality assessment in advance in order to prevent the introduction of unjustifiably restrictive conditions for working in the profession.