Assistance Centres for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications are established by Article 57-ter of Directive 2005/36/EC. In Italy, the Centre operates under the Department for European Policies as provided for by Legislative Decree no. 206 dated 9 November 2007, Article 6.

The Assistance Centre is entrusted with the following tasks:

• providing citizens and assistance centres in other Member States with any useful information on the recognition of professional qualifications, for the purposes of establishment or the temporary and occasional practice of regulated professions, as well as on the Italian legislation governing such professions and their practice;
• informing citizens, in cooperation with the assistance centre of the State of origin, the competent authorities and the Single Contact Point, about any further requirements under Italian law for the practice of regulated professions following qualification recognition, as well as for the temporary and occasional practice of such professions.

The Assistance Centre also provides information in English.

For information on the recognition of qualifications obtained in another State, for all purposes, including access to public competitions and scoring in public competitions' rankings, please contact the Ministry of Education, or, in case of post-secondary school qualifications, the Ministry of University and Research.

For information on the recognition in another country of qualifications obtained in Italy, please contact the ENIC\NARIC network.

Requests made to the Italian assistance Centre are to be submitted exclusively by email to the following address: centroassistenzaqualifiche@politicheeuropee.it

The request is accompanied by the Modulo di richiesta informazioni (Information Request Form) duly completed in all its fields. In the Form, the applicant must specify whether he or she intends to apply for recognition for the right of establishment or receive information for the temporary and occasional practice of his/her profession.

The Assistance Centre usually provides a reply within 30 working days from receipt of the request form. If a request is particularly complex and requires further investigation, the Centre may need a longer timelapse and, in this case, is due to inform the applicant of the new deadline within 15 days from receipt of the form. 

Assistance Centres for the recognition of professional qualifications from other Member States are listed on the European Commission's website.