A month ago, the General Council of Dentists filed an administrative appeal against Royal Decree 366/2024, by which the powers of homologation of university degrees, including that of dentist, were transferred to the Basque Country. In the appeal, admitted for processing by the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court, the Collegiate Organization requested the adoption of precautionary measures, consisting of the immediate suspension of the contested RD.

Now, the Supreme Court considers it appropriate to adopt the precautionary measure requested by the General Council of Dentists - and by several Health Councils that had also appealed -, so that RD 366/2024 is suspended until the appeals filed are resolved. Thus, the effectiveness of the transfer of powers for the homologation of university degrees, which came into force on July 1, is provisionally suspended.

It should be remembered that the powers for the homologation of qualifications, as established in the Constitution and in Royal Decree 889/2022, of October 18, belong to the State, with the mandatory participation of the General Councils, through the issuance of reports on requests for homologation of foreign qualifications. Therefore, in addition to the possible lack of regional competence, the transfer of these powers to the Basque Country would imply a breach of this express recognition to the General Councils.

Despite this, the Council of Ministers approved the transfer of these powers on April 9, a decision whose origin is framed in the agreement signed between the PSOE and EAJ-PNV on November 10, 2023, for the formation of the new Government and which included the commitment to transfer to the Basque Country "the means to homologate and declare the equivalence of academic degrees obtained within the framework of foreign higher education systems."

Dr. Óscar Castro Reino, president of the General Council of Dentists, welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court, “since providing the Basque Country with these powers would have two important consequences. On the one hand, the principle of equity would be jeopardized, since each autonomous community would impose its own requirements for accessing homologation; and on the other, there would be a contagion effect in other regions that would also request to have these powers in the event of a shortage of health professionals.”