# C_2004118EN.01002401.xml

| 30.4.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 118/24 |
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30.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 118/24

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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Fifth Chamber)

of 29 April 2004

in Case C-224/02 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Korkein oikeus): Heikki Antero Pusa v Osuuspankkien Keskinäinen Vakuutusyhtiö (1)

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(Citizenship of the Union - Article 18 EC - Right to move freely and to reside in the Member States - Attachment of remuneration - Detailed rules)

(2004/C 118/41)

Language of the case: Finnish

In Case C-224/02: reference to the Court under Article 234 EC by the Korkein oikeus (Finland) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between Heikki Antero Pusa and Osuuspankkien Keskinäinen Vakuutusyhtiö on the interpretation of Article 18 EC — the Court (Fifth Chamber), composed of: P. Jann, acting as President of the Fifth Chamber,  C.W.A. Timmermans, A. Rosas, A. La Pergola (Rapporteur) and S. von Bahr, Judges; F.G. Jacobs, Advocate General; H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 29 April 2004, in which it has ruled:

| 1. | Community law in principle precludes legislation of a Member State under which the attachable part of a pension paid at regular intervals in that State to a debtor is calculated by deducting from that pension the income tax prepayment levied in that State, while the tax which the holder of such a pension must pay on it subsequently in the Member State where he resides is not taken into account at all for the purposes of calculating the attachable portion of that pension; |
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1.

Community law in principle precludes legislation of a Member State under which the attachable part of a pension paid at regular intervals in that State to a debtor is calculated by deducting from that pension the income tax prepayment levied in that State, while the tax which the holder of such a pension must pay on it subsequently in the Member State where he resides is not taken into account at all for the purposes of calculating the attachable portion of that pension;

| 2. | On the other hand, Community law does not preclude such national legislation if it provides for tax to be taken into account, where taking the tax into account is made subject to the condition that the debtor prove that he has in fact paid or is required to pay within a given period a specified amount as income tax in the Member State where he resides. However, that is only the case to the extent that, first, the right of the debtor concerned to have tax taken into account is clear from that legislation; secondly, the detailed rules for taking tax into account are such as to guarantee to the interested party the right to obtain an annual adjustment of the attachable portion of his pension to the same extent as if such a tax had been deducted at source in the Member State which enacted that legislation; and, thirdly, those detailed rules do not have the effect of making it impossible or excessively difficult to exercise that right. |
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2.

On the other hand, Community law does not preclude such national legislation if it provides for tax to be taken into account, where taking the tax into account is made subject to the condition that the debtor prove that he has in fact paid or is required to pay within a given period a specified amount as income tax in the Member State where he resides. However, that is only the case to the extent that, first, the right of the debtor concerned to have tax taken into account is clear from that legislation; secondly, the detailed rules for taking tax into account are such as to guarantee to the interested party the right to obtain an annual adjustment of the attachable portion of his pension to the same extent as if such a tax had been deducted at source in the Member State which enacted that legislation; and, thirdly, those detailed rules do not have the effect of making it impossible or excessively difficult to exercise that right.

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(1)  OJ C 202, 24.8.2002.

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