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UKCP has been concerned about European regulations for psychotherapy for a number of years. At the end of the eighties it became clear that there was a risk that the profession would become regulated through the European Commission in Brussels if a sectoral directive were to be put into place. There were fears that such a directive would jeopardise the independence of the profession of psychotherapy as we know it in Britain and that it would regulate it as a specialism of medicine or psychology instead.
In pursuing independence of the psychotherapy profession UKCP became actively involved in the creation of a European Association for Psychotherapy sponsored by the Dutch Psychotherapy Association (NVP) in Amsterdam in 1990. For various reasons this organisation did not live up to its original promise and UKCP withdrew its support and joined the Vienna-based European Association for Psychotherapy in 1993. The EAP is an organisation sponsored by the Austrian Psychotherapy Association and now has members from over 20 European countries. It is based on the Strasbourg Declaration for Psychotherapy which states categorically that psychotherapy is an independent and scientifically based profession. Its aims and objectives are eminently compatible with those of UKCP.
In 1992, after several visits to the Commission, UKCP was invited by the DTI to send an expert to a decisive meeting of the coordinators of the Directive on Higher Degrees and Diplomas, which regulates all professions that do not have a sectoral directive. At this meeting at the European Commission psychotherapy regulation across the European Union was discussed and it was decided that for the time being it would be unsuitable to regulate psychotherapy in any other way than by mutual recognition through the general directive.
It was also agreed that the subject of psychotherapy would be discussed again as soon as regulation would have been achieved in a number of countries and enough information about the professio