What freelance professions are there? (Andreas Hawlik) In Austria, there are liberal professions that are organised in self-governing chambers, those that are united in professional associations and liberal professions without representation of interests. In addition to civil engineers, 8 other professional groups also have their own chambers: Pharmacists, doctors, dentists and veterinarians, as well as notaries, lawyers, patent attorneys and chartered accountants. The chambers of these liberal professions are organised in an association, the Federal Conference of the Austrian Liberal Professions, in order to coordinate their common interests. At European level, the "European Council of the Liberal Professions" (CEPLIS) represents the interests of the above-mentioned chambers, which have a total of around 84,000 members in Austria. Doctors are the largest liberal professional group in Austria with approx. 39,700 members, patent attorneys are the smallest with only approx. 80 members, and the Federal Chamber of Civil Engineers has approx. 7,500 members, which puts it between pharmacists (approx. 6,520) and lawyers (approx. 8,870). As employers, these professional groups employ around 170,000 people. While the professional groups mentioned above are obligatory members of their respective chambers, membership of a professional association is voluntary. Professional organisations include, for example Psychologists, psychotherapists, physiotherapists, interpreters, writers designers and many more. In addition, there are also freelancers in small professional groups without a representative organisation.