68 "RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT The holders of non-homologated certificates who aspire to such professions or who wish to acquire a legally recognised or academic degree, must take a full examination before a body called "the Central Board". 35. The homologation of a certificate depends on compliance not only with the technical and academic requirements laid down by law but also with those which concern the educational linguistic system. The Act of 12th May 1910 provided that, in order to be able to sit the examination of candidat en philosophie et lettres, candidat notaire, candidat en sciences naturelles, candidat en sciences physiques et mathématiques, holders of certificates which were not admissible for homologation for linguistic reasons had to take before the Central Board an additional examination relating to whichever of the two national languages had not been the language of their schooling at intermediate level. The position was similar in the draft stage of the Act of 15th July 1932; the explanatory memorandum of the Bill emphasised that those who aspired to a "profession for which a legally recognised degree was required should furnish proof of their knowledge of the language of the region in which they would be called upon to practise" The Belgian Parliament, however, modified this draft which became the Act of 15th July 1932 on the conferring of academic degrees. 36. The Act of 15th July 1932 repealed that of 12th May 1910 (Section 4). Its main provisions were as follows: "Section 1 No one may be declared eligible to take the examination for the degree of candidat en philosophie et lettres, candidat en sciences or candidat en sciences naturelles et médicales unless he possesses a certificate of secondary schooling, issued in accordance with Sections 5 to 8 of the Act of 10th April 1890/3rd July 1891 on the conferring of academic degrees, certifying: A. If such certificate has been issued by an educational establishment situated in the Flemish region or in the Walloon region: 1. That the courses followed by the person concerned were made in the language of the region; 2. That the person concerned has, in each year of his schooling, been taught a second modern language, as referred to in Section 10 of the Act on the Language of Instruction in Primary and Secondary Schooling, for at least four hours a week. B. If the certificate has been issued by an educational establishment situated in a commune forming part of the Brussels urban complex or in a bilingual commune on the language boundary: 1. That the courses followed by the person concerned were so organised as to ensure that his maternal or usual language – either French or Flemish - was accorded pre-eminence as the language of instruction;