Recognition of Foreign Education for Laboratory Directors in Mandatory Health Insurance

Facts

The case concerns the question of whether the education and professional experience of a German physician who worked as a laboratory director in Germany is equivalent to the Swiss training requirement for laboratory directors (FAMH postgraduate training) and whether he can therefore be granted admission as the director of a laboratory at the expense of mandatory health insurance in Switzerland. The Federal Department of the Interior had denied this, as the time and content requirements of the FAMH postgraduate training had not been met.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court states that in examining the equivalence of foreign education, not only the formal criteria but also the actual technical knowledge and practical experience acquired must be taken into account. Although the transitional provisions of the FAMH postgraduate training regulations provide for the recognition of practical experience only to a limited extent, this must be interpreted in the light of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons with the EU in such a way that it is not less favourable for persons from the EU area than for Swiss nationals.

Therefore, in the present case, it must be examined whether the many years of activity of the complainant as a laboratory director in Germany correspond in content to the requirements of the FAMH postgraduate training and can thus…