Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2001:584
Date: 2001-10-25
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social security for migrant workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Sweden

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Social security for migrant workers — Unemployment — Unemployed person travel­
ling to another Member State — Retention of the right to benefit — Interpretation on 
the basis of the rules of national law of the first Member State 
(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 69(1)(a)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-215/00 
2. Social security for migrant workers — Unemployment — Unemployed person travel­
ling to another Member State — Retention of the right to benefit — Conditions — 
Availability to the employment services of the competent State 
(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 69(1) (a)) 
1. Article 69 of Regulation No 1408/71, 
as amended and updated by Regulation 
No 118/97, enables an unemployed 
worker to be exempt for a specific 
period, for the purpose of seeking 
employment in another Member State, 
from the obligation imposed by the 
various national laws to make himself 
available to the employment services of 
the competent State without thereby 
losing his entitlement to unemployment 
benefits as against that State. That 
provision is not simply a measure to 
coordinate national laws on social 
security. It establishes an independent 
body of rules in favour of workers 
claiming the benefit thereof which 
constitute an exception to national 
legal rules and which must be inter­
preted uniformly in all the Member 
States irrespective of the rules laid 
down in national law regarding the 
continuance and loss of entitlement to 
benefits. It follows that the conditions 
set out in Article 69(1) of Regulation 
No 1408/71 must be construed as 
being exhaustive and that the compet­
ent authorities of the Member States 
are not entitled to impose additional 
conditions. It is, however, necessary to 
refer to national law, whether of the 
Member State which the unemployed 
person has left or of that to which he 
moves, in order to determine whether 
certain of the conditions imposed by 
that provision have been satisfied. 
Uniform application of that provision 
in all the Member States, making it 
possible for it to achieve its aim of 
helping to ensure the free movement of 
worke r s in a c c o r d a n c e wi th 
Article 42 EC, does not require that 
the detailed arrangements for regis­
tration of a worker as a person seeking 
employment and the question of the 
conditions under which he may be 
regarded as having remained available 
to the employment services of the 
competent State be regulated in a 
uniform manner in all Member States. 
The question as to the conditions under 
which a person may be regarded as 
having remained available to the 
employment services of the competent 
State wi th in the meaning of 
Article 69(1)(a) must be examined on 
the basis of the rules of national law of 
that State. 
(see paras 17-19, 25, 27, operative part 1) 
2. Article 69(1)(a) of Regulat ion 
No 1408/71, as amended and updated 
by Regulation No 118/97, must be 
construed as meaning that, in order to 
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RYDERGÅRD 
retain entitlement to unemployment 
benefits as provided for therein, a 
person seeking work must have 
remained available to the employment 
services of the competent State for a 
total of at least four weeks after the 
commencement of unemployment, 
regardless of whether that period was 
continuous or not. 
(see para. 32, operative part 2) 
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