The Council of European Dentists (CED) and the Federation of Dental Regulators (FEDCAR) are collaborating to call on the European Commission, in its future report on the implementation of EU Directive 2005/36/EC, to recognise that there is a need to foster a mutual confidence in the quality of dental education. We make this call as the directive obliges Member States to automatically recognise dental qualifications from other Member States.

We call for additional measures to ensure that the quality of dental education, and especially the clinical component, is comprehensively evaluated in particular in regards of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area. These measures are necessary to enhance mutual confidence and to ensure the proper functioning of the Single Market. We call on the Commission to ensure that these measures include:

  • the possibility for a Member State to remove recognition for the purposes of professional registration from institutions falling seriously short of the standards required to train dental students to practice safely on graduation;
  • the amendment of Directive 2005/36 in order to set up a mandatory system of a public, regular and independent assessment of all institutions providing a qualification in dentistry.

The process of adoption ended on 29 November 2019 in Paris at the FEDCAR meeting. This joint call will be circulated to the EU Commission as well as to national governments. Full text of the position can be accessed here (en français ici).

Further information: ced@cedentists.eu & info@fedcar.eu

About CED
The Council of European Dentists (CED) represents over 340,000 dentists across Europe and is composed of 32 national dental associations from 30 European countries.

About FEDCAR
The European Federation of Dental Competent Authorities and Regulators (FEDCAR) represents 22 European orders and bodies responsible for the regulation, the registration and the supervision of dental practitioners.