The recognition and regulation of the distinct profession of behavior analysts in Europe is not yet well established. As a result, service users have limited access to well-trained behaviour analysts, there is restricted cross-border mobility for professionals, and most importantly, consumer safety is compromised at significant risk and cost (Buescher et al., 2014; Peters-Scheffer et al., 2012)
In the past, European behavior analysts have adhered to the professional standards set in the USA (e.g., BACB, 2019). However, USA-based certifications are not recognized formally in any European jurisdiction. For obvious legal reasons, a profession can only be recognized and regulated within the jurisdiction in which it operates (de los Santos et al., 2025; Keenan et al., 2022). Consequently, behaviour analysts have to achieve professional recognition within their own jurisdictions, policies, and structures (e.g., Kingsdorf & Pančocha, 2020; UK-SBA, 2025) before multilateral mobility agreements can be reached across Europe (European Union, 2012)
Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and the European Council (2013) outlines the approach to recognition of professional qualifications. In a nutshell, the mobility of behaviour analysts would be best served if they would become eligible to hold a European Professional Card.
However, clearly “The functioning of the system of automatic recognition depends on confidence in the training conditions which underpin the qualifications of the professionals” (24). Clearly, then it is vitally important to establish comparable standards and professional recognition for behavior analysts across Europe in order that “the competent authority of the host Member State” can compare a candidate’s training with its national training by taking into account your professional experience and any further training.
Consequently, and according to Article 49a (European Parliament & European Council, 2013), the EABA Board has decided to adopt the EuroBA competences as Common training framework, i.e., a common set of minimum knowledge, skills and competences necessary for the pursuit of a specific profession. This does not replace national training programmes unless a “Member State decides otherwise under national law. For the purpose of access to and pursuit of a profession in Member States which regulate that profession, a Member State shall give evidence of professional qualifications acquired on the basis of such a framework the same effect in its territory as the evidence of formal qualifications which it itself issues, on condition that such framework fulfils the conditions laid down in paragraph 2.” (1.)
The European Association for Behaviour Analysis (EABA) recognizes that achieving professional recognition in each country is a huge undertaking. Therefore, in 2025, the Board of the Directors decided to support professional development of behaviour analysts across Europe and further afield through
- the publication minimum training standards that are mapped against the European Qualification Framework (EQF).
- the recognition of courses that meet these standards.
The first phase of this work is to publish a number of documents that were developed by a team of behaviour analysts and service users (funded by an Erasmus+ grant between 2020-2023). The EuroBA project is producing six Intellectual Outputs (IO):
1. Map the profession of behavior analysts onto the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).
2. Describe progress in the six partner countries based on their National Qualifications Frameworks (NQF) and show how these maps onto the EQF.
3. Produce a glossary of terms that facilitates a common language between behavior analysts.
4. Outline key competences for EuroBA-T (technical entry pre-degree level) and offer a guide for course developers.
5. Outline key competences for EuroBA-M (Masters level) and offer a guide for course developers.
6. Provide an online multimedia entry, pre-degree level, technician course (using Programmed Instruction; Twyman, 2020) that is adapted and translated into partner languages.
The Professional Advisory Group (PAG) was set up to ensure that European and allied countries, who were not partners of the funded EuroBA project, have an input to the Intellectual Outputs that are developed in the EuroBA project. At the time of writing, 16 additional countries were represented on the PAG. These documents provide resources to be used by EABA members who are working on professional recognition in their countries. The competences outlined in IO5 for courses at Masters level will be used to assess courses that apply for EABA recommendation.
References
BACB. (2019). BACB International development & support. In Behavior Analyst Certification Board. https://www.bacb.com/international-development/
Buescher, A. V. S., Cidav, Z., Knapp, M., & Mandell, D. S. (2014). Costs of autism spectrum disorders in the United Kingdom and the United States. JAMA Pediatrics, 168(8), 721. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.210
de los Santos, M., Hernández Eslava, V., Ávila, M., Alarcón Moya, E. C., Scolari, C., Ulloa, G., Jimenez-Gomez, C., Febres Cordero, D., Parejo, V., Chavez-Askins, M., Pezzotti, G., Vergara, D., Urcuyo, B., Argueta, L. R., Arroyave Tefel, J., Morhaim Esquenazi de Sfadia, R., Ríos Arroyo, E. I., Padilla Dalmau, Y. C., Gilbert, M., & Rodríguez, A. (2025). Regulation of behavior analysis in 15 countries of Latin America: Assessing the challenges and opportunities for implementation of the science. Behavior Analysis in Practice. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-024-01004-1
European Parliament, & European Council. (2013). Directive 2013/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 amending Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications and Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System ( ‘the IMI Regulation’ ) Text with EEA relevance. EUR-Lex Access to European Union law. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2013/55/oj
European Union. (2012). Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Official Journal of the European Union, C326/49.
Keenan, M., Dillenburger, K., Konrad, M.-H., Debetencourt, N., Vuksan, R., Kourea, L., Pancocha, K., Kingsdorf, S., Brandtberg, H. J., Ozkan, N., Abdelnour, H., Da Costa-Meranda, M., Schuldt, S., Mellon, R., Herman, A., Tennyson, A., Ayvazo, S., Moderato, P., Attard, N., … Gallagher, S. (2022). Professional development of behavior analysts in Europe: A snapshot for 21 countries, Behavior Analysis in Practice. Behavior Analysis in Practice. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-022-00754-0
Kingsdorf, S., & Pančocha, K. (2020). A survey of the use of applied behaviour analysis for children with autism in the Czech Republic. European Journal of Special Needs Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08856257.2020.1726092
Peters-Scheffer, N., Didden, R., Korzilius, H., & Matson, J. (2012). Cost comparison of early intensive behavioral intervention and treatment as usual for children with autism spectrum disorder in The Netherlands. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33(6), 1763–1772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2012.04.006
UK-SBA. (2025). UK-SBA Certificantion. UK Society for Behaviour Analysis. https://uk-sba.org/ukbacert/