Towards Europeanisation Through the Proportionality Test? The Impact of Free Movement Law on Medical Professional Discipline

Van Leeuwen, Barend

Abstract

Medical doctors can exercise their free movement rights to escape the control of professional regulation at the national level. This “darker side” of free movement of doctors has received a lot of attention. This article will show that the free movement provisions play an increasingly important role in medical disciplinary cases. The application of free movement law can make a positive contribution to the protection of patient safety. However, disciplinary tribunals are unfamiliar with the structure of arguments based on the free movement provisions. While the case law on free movement of patients has encouraged a process of internationalisation of medical standards, free movement of doctors has not yet led to a similar process of Europeanisation of medical professional rules. Nevertheless, the proportionality test requires that disciplinary tribunals engage in a process of comparison between their own rules and the rules in other Member States.

Citation

Van Leeuwen, B. (2020). Towards Europeanisation Through the Proportionality Test? The Impact of Free Movement Law on Medical Professional Discipline. European Law Journal: Review of European Law in Context, 26(1-2), 61-82. https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12362

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 1, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jul 17, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Deposit Date: Jun 1, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 17, 2022
• Journal: European Law Journal
• Print ISSN: 1351-5993
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-0386
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 61-82
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12362
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1263396