Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2012:456
Date: 2012-07-12
Language of the case: Dutch
Subject matter: Free movement of workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber), 16 April 2013 1. Freedom of movement for persons — Workers — Provisions of the Treaty — Whether may be relied upon by employers (Art. 45 TFEU) 2. Freedom of movement for persons — Workers — Legislation of a federated entity of a Member State requiring that the official language of that entity be used to draft cross-border employment contracts — Unlawful — Whether justified by reasons in the public interest — Promotion of an official language and social protection of employees — Disproportionate nature of that legislation (Art. 45 TFEU) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 18) 2. Article 45 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a federated entity of a Member State all employers whose established place of business is located in that entity’s territory to draft cross-border employment contracts exclusively in the official language of that federated entity, failing which the contracts are to be declared null and void by the national courts of their own motion. Such legislation cannot be regarded as proportionate since it goes beyond what is strictly necessary to attain legitimate objectives such as, first, to promote and encourage the use of one of the official languages of the Member State concerned, next, to ensure the protection of employees by enabling them to examine employment documents in their own language and to enjoy the effective protection of the workers’ representative bodies and administrative and judicial bodies called upon to recognise those documents, and, finally, the objective to ensure the efficacy of the checks and supervision of the employment inspectorate. (see paras 24, 33, 34, operative part)