# C_2005040EN.01001501.xml

| 17.2.2005 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 40/15 |
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17.2.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 40/15

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Request for an Advisory Opinion from the EFTA Court by Gulating lagmannsrett by decision of that court of 3 May 2004 in the case of Reidar Rasmussen m.fl. v Total E&P Norge AS

(Case E-2/04)

(2005/C 40/08)

A request has been made to the EFTA Court by decision of 3 May 2004 of Gulating lagmannsrett (Gulating Court of Appeal), Bergen, Norway, which was received at the Court Registry on 13 May 2004, for an Advisory Opinion in the case of Reidar Rasmussen m.fl. v Total E&P Norge AS, on the following questions:

| 1. | Is Article 1 of Council Directive 77/187/EEC of 14 February 1977 applicable in a situation where part of an undertaking, provided that it is organised as an independent economic entity, is handed over from one company to another, and where the same or corresponding activities are carried out by the acquiring company and an affiliated company within the same group of companies? Does the fact that some working relationships are directly handed over from the transferor to the acquiring company and others to its affiliated company preclude application of the Directive? |
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1.

Is Article 1 of Council Directive 77/187/EEC of 14 February 1977 applicable in a situation where part of an undertaking, provided that it is organised as an independent economic entity, is handed over from one company to another, and where the same or corresponding activities are carried out by the acquiring company and an affiliated company within the same group of companies? Does the fact that some working relationships are directly handed over from the transferor to the acquiring company and others to its affiliated company preclude application of the Directive?

| 2. | Is application of the Directive pursuant to Article 1 precluded in the event that the maintenance and support functions of the undertaking are handed over while the production function is not, and the employees of all these functions work as a team both before and after the transfer? |
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2.

Is application of the Directive pursuant to Article 1 precluded in the event that the maintenance and support functions of the undertaking are handed over while the production function is not, and the employees of all these functions work as a team both before and after the transfer?

| 3. | Is the Directive applicable pursuant to Article 1 in the event of a handover of maintenance tasks on a fixed offshore installation for gas production where a considerable part, in terms of numbers and qualifications, of the workforce which performed this function with the transferor, is handed over to an acquirer that continues to carry out these maintenance tasks on the same installations under a service contract? Is application of the Directive precluded if the ownership of the tools and instruments which the maintenance staff used before the handover, and which they have continued to use after the handover, is not taken over by the acquirer? |
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3.

Is the Directive applicable pursuant to Article 1 in the event of a handover of maintenance tasks on a fixed offshore installation for gas production where a considerable part, in terms of numbers and qualifications, of the workforce which performed this function with the transferor, is handed over to an acquirer that continues to carry out these maintenance tasks on the same installations under a service contract? Is application of the Directive precluded if the ownership of the tools and instruments which the maintenance staff used before the handover, and which they have continued to use after the handover, is not taken over by the acquirer?

| 4. | Does it follow from Article 3(1) of the Directive that employment relationships are transferred to the transferee simultaneously with and by virtue of the transfer of the undertaking for those employees who have not, prior to the time of transfer, declared that they do not wish to work for the transferee? |
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4.

Does it follow from Article 3(1) of the Directive that employment relationships are transferred to the transferee simultaneously with and by virtue of the transfer of the undertaking for those employees who have not, prior to the time of transfer, declared that they do not wish to work for the transferee?

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