# C_2005182EN.01001201.xml

| 23.7.2005 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 182/12 |
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23.7.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 182/12

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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(First Chamber)

of 26 May 2005

in Case C-478/03: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the House of Lords in Celtec Ltd v John Astley and Others (1)

1

(Directive 77/187/EEC - Article 3(1) - Safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings - Transferor's rights and obligations arising from a contract of employment or from an employment relationship existing on the date of a transfer - Meaning of ‘date of a transfer’)

(2005/C 182/22)

Language of the case: English

In Case C-478/03: reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the House of Lords (United Kingdom), made by decision of 10 November 2003, received at the Court on 17 November 2003, in the proceedings between Celtec Ltd and John Astley and Others — the Court (First Chamber), composed of P. Jann, President, K. Lenaerts (Rapporteur), N. Colneric, E. Juhász and E. Levits, Judges; M. Poiares Maduro, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, gave a judgment on 26 May 2005, in which it ruled:

| 1. | Article 3(1) of Council Directive 77/187/EEC of 14 February 1977 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses must be interpreted as meaning that the date of a transfer within the meaning of that provision is the date on which responsibility as employer for carrying on the business of the unit transferred moves from the transferor to the transferee. That date is a particular point in time which cannot be postponed to another date at the will of the transferor or transferee. |
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1.

Article 3(1) of Council Directive 77/187/EEC of 14 February 1977 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses must be interpreted as meaning that the date of a transfer within the meaning of that provision is the date on which responsibility as employer for carrying on the business of the unit transferred moves from the transferor to the transferee. That date is a particular point in time which cannot be postponed to another date at the will of the transferor or transferee.

| 2. | For the purposes of applying that provision, contracts of employment or employment relationships existing on the date of the transfer within the meaning stated in paragraph 1 of the operative part between the transferor and the workers assigned to the undertaking transferred are deemed to be handed over, on that date, from the transferor to the transferee, regardless of what has been agreed between the parties in that respect. |
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2.

For the purposes of applying that provision, contracts of employment or employment relationships existing on the date of the transfer within the meaning stated in paragraph 1 of the operative part between the transferor and the workers assigned to the undertaking transferred are deemed to be handed over, on that date, from the transferor to the transferee, regardless of what has been agreed between the parties in that respect.

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(1)  OJ C 21of 24.01.2004.

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