What the European Commission Announced

In September 2026, the European Commission adopted the Fair Labour Mobility package, a legislative bundle designed to reduce the administrative friction workers face when moving between EU Member States. The package was formally published on 16 September 2026 and includes five legislative proposals alongside a Commission communication on fair labour mobility.

For the fitness and wellness sector, the most directly relevant element is the proposed Skills Portability Act, which would require EU Member States to issue qualifications in a standardised digital format and make them accessible through the EU Digital Identity Wallet. An online comparison tool linking national qualification databases is also proposed, giving employers, workers and public authorities a common reference point when assessing credentials obtained in another country.

How the Recognition Framework Would Change

The package also proposes amendments to the existing EU framework governing recognition of professional qualifications. Under the revised approach, procedures for regulated professions would become faster and more clearly defined. Critically, the proposal would allow automatic recognition to be extended to additional occupations through common training frameworks — a mechanism that has historically applied to a narrow set of professions such as doctors, nurses and architects.

The Commission's first proposed common training framework under this mechanism concerns physiotherapists. Personal trainers, exercise instructors and wellness practitioners are not included at this stage. However, the mechanism itself is relevant to adjacent exercise, rehabilitation and wellness occupations, because it establishes the legal pathway through which those professions could eventually be added to the EU's automatic recognition list if common standards are agreed.

What This Does Not Yet Do

The announcement does not create an EU-wide licence for fitness professionals, and it does not guarantee that a qualification earned in one Member State can immediately be used in every other. The Commission's own materials describe implementation of digital qualifications and streamlined recognition as a phased process spanning several years.

Under the current system — which remains in force while these proposals move through the legislative process — formal recognition is generally required only where the destination country regulates access to the occupation. In countries where personal training or exercise instruction is not a regulated profession, qualifications tend to be assessed informally by employers or clients rather than through a statutory procedure. That asymmetry across the 27 Member States has not yet been resolved by this package.

Implications for Training Schools and Accreditation Bodies

Training providers and accreditation bodies operating across borders should treat this announcement as a signal to begin preparing, not as an operational change requiring immediate compliance. Specifically:

• Digital credential readiness: Schools that issue qualifications should assess how their current certification formats align with emerging EU digital standards. The Skills Portability Act, if adopted, will require interoperable digital credentials — providers issuing paper-based or non-standardised certificates will face a transition burden.

• Curriculum benchmarking: If physiotherapy is the first occupation to receive a common training framework, adjacent exercise and rehabilitation programmes should monitor whether fitness or wellness occupations are proposed for inclusion in subsequent phases. Programmes already aligned with European competence benchmarks will be better positioned if automatic recognition is extended.

• Advising mobile professionals: Until the legislation is adopted and any occupation-specific frameworks approved, fitness professionals relocating within the EU should continue to verify the regulatory status of their occupation in the destination country before assuming their home qualification is sufficient for practice.

What Employers Should Note

Fitness facilities hiring from other EU Member States should not assume the new package has simplified the process yet. The proposal's digital comparison tool, once operational, may streamline initial assessments of foreign qualifications, but the underlying regulatory patchwork — where some countries require formal recognition for fitness roles and others do not — remains unchanged for now.

Employers in countries where personal training is a regulated profession should continue applying existing national procedures for recognising qualifications from other Member States. The Commission's timeline for phased implementation means material changes to those procedures are unlikely before the late 2020s at the earliest.

Timeline and Next Steps

The Fair Labour Mobility package is currently a legislative proposal. It must pass through the European Parliament and the Council of the EU before becoming law. No adoption date has been confirmed. The Commission has indicated that digital qualification infrastructure and easier recognition procedures would be introduced progressively, making this a medium-term structural shift rather than an immediate regulatory change.

ESWA will track the legislative progress of the Skills Portability Act and any occupation-specific developments relevant to fitness and wellness qualifications as they emerge.