I - General Rules:

Article 1 - General requirements

1. All dentists properly registered in the OMD, in the use of all their rights and without any debts to the OMD, may apply for a specialist certification, regardless of their country of birth.

2. The granting of the specialist certification shall depend on the applicant's observance of the conditions described in the previous number at the time the certification is granted.

3. Applicants who do not comply with the requirements described in no. 1 shall be disqualified for examination. Article 2 - Specialist certification and Colleges

When defining a branch of dentistry, the Board of the Portuguese Dental Association shall identify the certification, or degree, associated to it and create the respective Specialty College.

Article 3 - Use of the certification

In addition to the applicable community regulations, the specialist certification may be used only by those who have approved the examination process and are registered in their respective College.

Article 4 - Process for obtaining specialist certification

1. The certification as a specialist shall depend on the analysis of the applicant's qualifications as well as on his/her examination results, in accordance with these regulations.

2. Each civil year there will be only one process for obtaining specialist certifications, with specific dates for curricular assessment and examinations, for which all those concerned may apply.

Article 5 - Applicants responsibility

1. The filing of the application and the initiative in the entire process are the applicant's exclusive responsibility.

2. Applicants may never allege ignorance of any rules in force, whether material or legal.

Article 6 - Minimum qualifications required

Each applicant shall have successfully completed a training program in the specialty for which certification is sought, properly documented in his/her curriculum-vitae, in accordance with that required by the respective Specialty College:

a) theoretical and practical training, carried out in full- or part-time programmes, with a minimum duration of three years;

b)this training will comply with the requirements defined by the corresponding Specialty College;

c)these training programmes, previously accredited by the OMD, shall be carried out by dental schools, health, teaching or research institutions, or else conducted by the OMD itself.

II - Curricular assessment and examinations:

Article 7 - Requirements for certification as specialist

1. The applications for certification shall be submitted to the OMD until the end of September each year, and must enclose:

a) an application letter signed by the applicant, addressed to the Board of the OMD, specifying the specialty for which certification is sought;

b) a document issued by the accounting services of the OMD, certifying that the applicant has no debts to this organisation;

c) ten double-spaced copies of the applicant's curriculum-vitae, duly organised and documented according to the conditions defined by the respective Specialty College;

2. Each application shall be accompanied by the payment of a fee to be determined by the Board.

3. The Board shall verify all the applications, rejecting those that do not comply with that specified in the previous numbers, and forwarding the others to the corresponding College by 31 December, together with six copies of each curriculum-vita, so that the applicant's qualifications may be assessed.

Article 8 - Assessment of the applicant's qualifications

1. The Direction of each Specialty College shall assess the applicants curricula, in order to confirm if they comply with the minimum training requirements, as described in Art. 6.

2. Each College may request applicants to provide further information or clarify possible ambiguities, lest the specialist certification should be denied.

3. After confirmation of the qualifications, the College shall reach a decision by the end of January whether or not to grant the specialist certification. The College shall communicate the results the Board of the OMD, notify the applicants and display the lists in the OMD's head office.

4. The admission of each applicant shall depend on the consensus of, at least, three members of the jury who have not been directly involved in the applicant's post-graduate training.

5. If the conditions described in the previous number cannot be met, the President of the College shall replace those members who are not permitted to vote.

Article 9 - Requirements for specialist examinations

1. All the applicants admitted for specialty certification shall request a specialist examination in the same or following years, as long as they meet the requirements defined in Art 10, regarding the clinical studies to be presented.

2. These requests, addressed to the direction of the College, shall be returned to the OMD's head Office by 15 March, enclosing:

a) a document issued by the accounting services of the OMD, certifying that the applicant has no debts to this organisation;

b) indication of the date of the decision referred in Art. 8, no. 3;

c) list of the clinical studies to be included in the examination, in compliance with Art. 10

3. All disqualified or failed applicants may, at their own discretion and observing the deadlines established in these regulations, renew their applications as defined in the previous numbers.

4. In addition to the request mentioned in the previous numbers, each applicant must pay an examination fee to be determined by the Board.

Article 10 - Requirements regarding clinical studies

1. Clinical studies to be presented in the examination must have been conducted by the applicant during a period of at least two years following the conclusion of the minimum training defined in Article 6.

2. Technical requirements, presentation formalities, complementary documentation and the number of cases to be presented in the examination shall be defined by the Specialty College for a period of three years before they may be redefined.

3. The examination shall conform to the technical requirement in force at the time when the clinical studies presented were initiated.

4. Disregard for any of these requirements shall lead to the applicant's immediate disqualification.

Article 11 - Examinations

1. Qualified applicants for specialist certification shall complete public oral examinations. These tests shall have a maximum duration of two hours and be made up of a free questionnaire on dental theory, followed by the presentation and discussion of the clinical studies.

2. The free questionnaire shall be conducted by each of the three examiners, who shall have a time limit of ten minutes to present the questions. The applicant shall be given the same time limit to elaborate the answers.

3. The topics to be proposed to the applicant shall be entirely determined by examiner. These topics may deal with basic or clinical theory, or with related subject matters; they may be posed as direct questions or as the discussion of specific clinical situations, presented by iconographic, computerised or audio-visual means.

4. Clinical studies shall be presented in groups of two for each ten-minute period, alternated by questions by the examiners.

5. The chairperson of the examining jury has the right to limit the questionnaire, totally or in part, to only one examiner.

6. Each examiner shall evaluate the questionnaire and the clinical studies separately and assign a numerical score from 0 to 20 to each of them. Each examiner's score shall be the average of these two separate scores, and, in order to obtain the applicant's final score, the results of the three examiners shall be averaged, rounded off to one decimal.

7. Once the examination is completed, a minute shall be written, recording each applicant's result expressed through a numerical score from 0 to 20. The applicants results shall be displayed by using the following code: failed (below 9.5), passed (between 9.5 and 14.5) and passed with honours (above 14.5).

Article 12 - Examination rules

In the course of the examination, the following rules shall be observed:

a) The applicant who is not present at the time appointed for the beginning or resumption of his/her examination, shall be automatically disqualified, losing the right to any refund of the fees already paid.

b) The examination may be interrupted upon the decision of the examining jury, taken unofficially or due to the applicant's request, and resumed at the time appointed by the jury.

Article 13 - Examining jury

1. The examining jury for each specialty shall be appointed annually by the Board of Directors, after a proposal put forward by each Specialty College.

2. The jury shall be made up of a chairperson, two members and two spare members:

a)the chairperson of the jury shall be, by prerogative, the chairperson of the Specialty College; b)the members and spare members must belong to the College;

c)the spare members shall replace any other members of the jury only in the event of their impediment or incompatibility;

d)those examiners who have been directly involved in the applicant's post-graduate training shall not be allowed to take part in that applicant's oral examination.

3. In the event of any incompatibility, in accordance with the previous paragraph, a second jury shall be appointed to correct this irregularity.

Article 14 - Competences of the jury

The competences of the examining jury are:

a)To organise the draw to determine the order in which the applicants shall be examined;

b)To control the normal development of the examinations and solve any problem that might arise;

c)Evaluate and score the tests;

Article 15 - Decisions of the jury

1. The decisions of the jury shall be taken by majority and recorded in the minutes. In the case of a tie, the chairperson shall cast the decisive vote.

2. The results of the examinations shall be communicated to the applicants through the display of the scores after the evaluation is completed, and in writing to the Specialty College and to the OMD's Board of Directors.

Article 16 - Date and place of the examinations

1. The examinations shall take place in May and June each year, in the head office of the OMD, except when determined otherwise by the respective Specialty College.

2. By 15 April, the direction of each Specialty College shall determine the examination schedule, the examiners' names and the result of the draw regarding the order of examination of the applicants already enrolled.

Article 17 - Results

The applicants who pass the examination shall be notified in written form by the Board of Directors, who shall grant the respective specialist certification.

III - Final and transitory regulations

Article 18 - Implicit Denial

The administrative silence, after the established time limit, of a body from which a decision is expected, shall be understood as an implicit denial.

Article 19 - Nature of the decisions

The decisions of the various bodies, taken in the ambit of the competences attributed to them by these Regulations, are final and executorial, and may not be appealed to higher instances.

Article 20 - Special Process

1. When a new specialty is acknowledged by the OMD, applicants seeking certification must present documentary proof which, in spite of not complying with the requirements defined in Article 6, must certify a minimum of three years of clinical practice - even if untutored - and of theoretical training in the respective area.

2. In compliance with these regulations, all the competences of the Specialty College also belong to the OMD's Board of Directors, which is entitled to delegate them.

3. The time limits for filing applications, curricular assessment and evaluation of examinations shall be defined by the Board of Directors.

4. Once the curricular assessment is completed, the applicants who qualify for the specialist examination shall sit for a written and an oral examination.

5. The written examination shall have the following characteristics:

a)100 multiple choice questions;

b)a time limit of 150 minutes;

c)25% of the questions must deal with basic sciences applied to the specialty;

d)a numerical score between 0 and 20;

e)10 shall be the minimum passing score, without rounding off;

6. The oral examination shall comply with that defined in Chapter II of these regulations, except for Art. 10, no. 1.

7. Curricular assessment, written test and oral examination are sequentially eliminating - failure in any of them shall mean the applicant's immediate disqualification.

8. The applicant who has successfully completed a post-graduate course in the specialty in which he/she is seeking certification shall be exempted from the written text, provided that this training has been carried out in a national or foreign university or official dental school, at least two years before filing the application and with a minimum duration of 3 years on a part-time basis, or 2 years on a full-time basis.

9. The special process mentioned in this Article must comply with all the other rules defined in these regulations, with the necessary adaptations.

10. Failure to file the application in this special process, its disqualification, shall mean the application of the general rules defined in these Regulations.

Article 21 - Orthodontics

The application of the special process mentioned in the previous article regarding the specialties of orthodontics and oral surgery shall have the following characteristics:

a)applications shall be filed by 30 June 2000;

b)the direction of each Specialty College shall carry out the applicant's curricular assessment and confirm or deny access to the examinations by 31 July 2000, when the respective list must be displayed in the OMD's head office;

c)applicants disqualified on the basis of insufficient documentary proofs may provide the necessary documents within the following 15 days;

d)the examination schedule, the examiners names and the result of the draw regarding the order of examination of the applicants, shall be determined by each Specialty College by 31 August 2000;

e)the examinations shall be administered between 1 October and 30 November 2000.

Article 22 - Oral Surgery

Time schedules regarding oral surgery shall be defined in the internal regulation of the respective Specialty College.