International authority and national regulation

The paper presents an analysis of relations between international authority and national systems for the public regulation of professionals. It emphasizes the value of the cross-national comparative study of the organization of professions, and stresses the political role of the professions as diplomatic negotiations affect their domains. At issue is the equivalence of registration requirements. The E.E.C. objective of aiding migration through harmonization of registration requirements encounters opposition from national interests associated with professions and their regulation. Their reconciliation is a precondition for implementation of the European interest of a freer labor market for professionals. The paper demonstrates how the various national professional associations, international liaison committees linking such groups, national regulatory agencies, other departments of national governments, and the units of the Community's own structure, help to shape or block realization of this objective. It concludes with a discussion of the conditions for development of international public policy concerning the professions.