Language exams in the European Union
The Accreditation Centre for Foreign Language Examinations (OH-NYAK) is frequently asked questions about the certified language exams and their changing position after Hungary’s joining the EU.
We collected the typical questions and asked the most concerned party, the Ministry of Education’s Hungarian Centre for Equivalence and Information to answer them.
The answers are to be read below.
1. Are the Hungarian certified language exams expected to get a unified recognition in the EU?
The European Union does not regulate the recognition of language exams on community level. Consequently,the community law does not provide for it. Each member-state regulates the recognition and evaluation of language certificates attained outside their countries within their competence. Thus, language certificates attained in Hungary may be evaluated differently in each member-state of the European Union.
2. Are certain language certificates issued by one particular examination centre expected to be preferred to some other Hungarian exams? (eg. foreign employers may accept Cambridge exams but not ITK Origo exams)
The community law makes it possible that in the case of foreign, in our case Hungarian employees, the authorities make a condition of recognising diplomas and degrees to the ability of speaking the language of the given country, in case doing certain jobs (eg. teacher) needs language competence.In these cases all language cerificates including the certified language certificates received in Hungary can be regarded suitable to certify language competence. The authorities in action can not prescribe the certificates of certain language centres or certain countries to be accepted.
The majority of people trying to find jobs in the European Economic Region, however, want to do so called non-regulated jobs, where no formal recognition of education is required. Here the employer decides whether the person has the necessary trainig and language competence to occupy the post. It is expected though, that the employer might prefer the language certificates of the international exam systems which are familiar to them.
3. Are the language exams taken in the EU member-states to be expected to be recognised as Hungarian certified language certificates without the nationalisation procedure?
As it is well known, the community law does not regulate the acceptance of language certificates. Thus the language certificates attained in the EU need not to be recognised automatically in Hungary.
4. Are employers of foreign citizenship arriving to Hungary from the European Union expected to be paid language allowance upon their certificates? Are their language certificates to be nationalised?
When an employee working as a public servant is liable to language allowance, the regulation also refers to the citizens of the European Economic Region (and of course to other foreign citizens). (According to the Hungarian law, however, only Hungarian citizens can work as civil servants.)
In the case of public servants the fact that language certificates attained abroad must be nationalised in order to be recognised for paying language allowance is unrelated to nationality.
However, in the case of certificates of secondary education and college/university degrees decree No. 71/1998 (IV.8.) paragraph 13. sections (7) and (8) decree differently.
Holders of the above mentioned documents must be regarded by law as holders of language certificates.
5. Can a Hungarian employee/student lay a complaint at the institutions of the Union if his certified language certificate is not accepted in the EU for certfying his language competence required by the employer/educational institute?
It is only worth applying to the institutions of the European Union for legal aid in the case of infringement. As the community law does not provide for the recognition of language certificates, it is not infringed by the fact that one member-state does not recognise a language certificate attained in another one.
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