No abstract

BACKGROUND The United Kingdom originally joined the early incarnation of the EU (the European Community or Common Market) in 1973. 2 This was confirmed by popular consent in the referendum of 1975. 3 At the time, the organisation consisted only of Western European countries. Greece joined in 1981, followed by Portugal and Spain in 1986. The 1990s saw the addition of Austria, Sweden and Finland. Finally, many of the countries of Eastern Europe joined in two batches-2004 (8 countries) and 2007 (Bulgaria and Romania). The last country to join was Croatia in 2013. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK The EU directive (PQD) 2005/36 EC 4 (recently incorporated into UK law 5) on the recognition of professional qualifications for dentists, allows dentists to freely work in other member states subject to approval by the local competent authority; in the case of the UK, that is the GDC. The term EEA (European Economic Area) includes the countries of Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein who have similar rights of access but are not EU members. The terms EU and EEA are used interchangeably here.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract