The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1993

N E W S

Liberal profession of Europe must define their role

Addressing a meeting of the Inter- Professional Group, held in the Law Society, on 28 October, 1993, Dr Susanne Tiemann , Chairman of the EU Economic and Social Committee and President of SEPLIS, said that it was up to the liberal professions of Europe to define their role, otherwise the EU Commission might do so without their participation. Dr Tiemann said the EU may soon move to codify a definition of the liberal professions, and there should be strong input from within the professions, in order to protect their codes of ethics. Dr Tiemann was speaking as President of SEPLIS (The European Secretariat of the Liberal Intellectual and Social Professions), on which the Irish professions are represented by the Inter- Professional Group. "Recent polls revealed that SEPLIS represents some 4 million liberal professionals in the EC, who generate 10% of its GNP and employ 10 million people," she said, "and yet there are proposals to the Commission which make no distinction between liberal professionals and service industries as regards consumer protection and competition". Dr Tiemann argued that it was an essential if there was to be a free Europe that there was respect for the liberal professions and that their unique characteristics were recognised and valued. The role played by liberal professions was essential in guaranteeing the freedom of Europe's citizens and protecting the freedom of individual determination. She described the essential character- istics of liberal professions. First of all, they were highly individualistic and thus hard to govern, but this was a good thing since too many people were too easy to govern. Professionals were highly qualified and responsible for their acts. They were independent and had professional autonomy. They were bound only by the welfare of their patient or client; orders from the State or third parties were not material. They

L-r: Michael V. O'Mahony. then Senior Vice-President of the Law Society: Dr. Susanne Tiemann, Chairman of the EC Economic Committee and President of SEP LIS; John Fish, then Chairman of EC & International Affairs Committee, Law Society, and Noel Ryan, Director General, Law Society.

followed codes of professional ethics. They were an integral part of a liberal social order, for example, in the Eastern European States there had been no democracy and thus no professions because there was no place for professions. She said Europe was not only about achieving a single market; if j Europe was to be a real community and one with which people could identify, it would have to be a European society with more freedom, democracy and transparency. The liberal professions were essential in guaranteeing these qualities and therefore the liberal professions had an important role to play in developing Europe. Dr Tiemann warned that the main threat at European Union Commission level concerned the possible resurrection of a j proposed EU directive on liability for j providers of services, as a counterpart to the existing directive on product liability. These moves would ignore the protection and quality assurance offered to consumers through systems of professional qualification, specialisation and continuing in-service education, which are now as much a part of the ethos of the liberal professions as are ! |

the traditional codes of ethics which define the duties of professionals to their clients. She said that, as yet, European policy makers were not convinced of the distinction between liberal professions and commercial enterprises. It was the main goal of SEPLIS to bring to the fore the importance of the independence of liberal professions and much work needed to be done to make policy makers in the EU Commission aware of these important distinctions. Instead of merely reacting to this threat, said Dr Tiemann, the professions should take a positive attitude to their role in the future Europe. They play a substan- tial role in the Economic and Social Committee, which is the consultative assembly of the EU, representing various categories of citizens in their professional and social capacities and advising the EU Council of Ministers on Commission proposals. The Committee is described by Commission President Jacques Delors as "guarantor both of economic and social democracy and of transparency in the construction of Europe," Dr Tiemann stated. • Barbara Cahalane

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