2.1.1 Required qualification or equivalent knowledge

To qualify for registration and enrolment, candidates must normally possess a university-level scientific or technical qualification, i.e. a bachelor's degree or equivalent academic degree awarded at the end of a full-time course of a minimum of three years, with at least 80% of the course hours taken to obtain this degree having been devoted to scientific and/or technical subjects (Art. 11(1)(a) REE, R. 11 IPREE, also R. 12 IPREE). The qualifying subjects include biology, biochemistry, chemistry, construction technology, electricity, electronics, information technology, mathematics, mechanics, medicine, pharmacology and physics (R. 13 IPREE). The EQE provisions do not distinguish between applied and pure mathematics; nor does it matter if the subject is taught as part of a specialised or an interdisciplinary course (D 5/18).

There is no legal requirement as to the minimum number of course hours required; to establish if a candidate's degree qualifies, the legislator chose the number of years (a "minimum" benchmark easier to establish than the number of hours) and the percentage of courses devoted to technical and/or scientific subjects (D 13/14). The board in D 9/14 emphasised that the 80% is always to be calculated from the required course hours for the particular degree under scrutiny (which in the case in hand required four years of study). Furthermore, as many educational establishments issue certificates indicating the awarded credits, but not necessarily the course hours, it considered that a calculation based on credits may be suitable for the purposes of R. 11(2) IPREE but that, in the case of any discrepancy between the calculations based on course hours and those based on credits, the former is authoritative. In D 3/18, D 5/18 and D 3/20 the calculation was based on course credits awarded under the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). See also D 4/18 and D 2/19 (both non-ECTS cases).

Otherwise, under Art. 11(1)(a) REE and R. 14 IPREE, equivalent knowledge may be demonstrated on the basis of at least ten years' experience in the activities defined in Art. 11(2)(a) REE (as to which see the next section). The board applied R. 14 IPREE in D 9/13 and D 9/14, concluding in each case that neither alternative of Art. 11(1)(a) REE was fulfilled. In cases D 7/14 and D 8/14, however, the appellants had started their practical training before the amended REE entered into force on 1.1.2009. The DBA held that, on the basis of good faith and equal treatment, the REE 1994 with its IPREE and relevant Instructions should be applied in accordance with the Examination Secretariat's practice before 1.1.2009 (see e.g. D 1/12). Taking into account in particular D 5/08 regarding the 1994 Instructions, the board was satisfied in both cases that the appellant was suitably qualified under the 1994 provisions. Other decisions on the qualifications required under the REE 1994 are D 15/04, D 17/04, D 18/04, D 8/04 and D 10/08.

See also D 3/20, according to which the Secretariat was correct in admitting the appellant to the EQE only under Art. 11(2)(a) REE and R. 11(3) IPREE, R. 14 IPREE and in finding that the requirements of Art. 11(1)(a) REE and R. 11(1), (2) IPREE were not fulfilled.