Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2001:113
Date: 2001-02-22
Language of the case: French
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Procedure: Appeal - unfounded;Appeal - inadmissible;Staff cases

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Officials — Remuneration — Family allowances — Household allowance — Con­
ditions for granting — Marriage — Definition — Registered partnership — Exclu­
ded 
(Staff Regulations, Annex VII, Art. 1(2) (a)) 
2. Officials — Remuneration — Family allowances — Household allowance — Con­
ditions for granting — Discrimination on the grounds of sex — Infringement of the 
principle of equal pay between men and women — None 
(EC Treaty, Art. 119 (Arts. 117 to 120 of the EC Treaty have been replaced by Arts. 
136 EC to 143 EC); Staff Regulations, Annex VII, Art.1(2)(a)) 
I-4319 
SUMMARY — JOINED CASES C-122/99 P AND C-125/99 P 
3. Officials — Equal treatment — Registered partnership and marriage — Defini­
tion — Situations not comparable 
4. Community law — Principles — Fundamental rights — Respect for family life — 
Refusal to grant a household allowance to an official — Decision capable of 
constituting an interference in private and family life within the meaning of Article 8 
of the European Convention on Human Rights — Not so capable 
(European Convention on Human Rights, Art. 8; Staff Regulations, Annex VII, 
Art. 1(2) (a)) 
1. The intention of the Community legis­
lature was to grant entitlement to the 
household allowance under Arti­
cle 1(2)(a) of Annex VII to the Staff 
Regulations only to married couples. 
Only the legislature can, where appro­
priate, adopt measures to alter that 
situation, for example by amending 
provisions of the Staff Regulations. 
The fact that, in a limited number of 
Member States, a registered partner­
ship is assimilated, although incomple­
tely, to marriage cannot have the 
consequence that, by mere interpreta­
tion, persons whose legal status is 
distinct from that of marriage can be 
covered by the term 'married official' 
as used in the Staff Regulations. 
According to the definition generally 
accepted by the Member States, the 
term 'marriage' means a union between 
two persons of the opposite sex. Since 
1989 an increasing number of Member 
States have introduced, alongside mar­
riage, statutory arrangements granting 
legal recognition to various forms of 
union between partners of the same sex 
or of the opposite sex and conferring 
on such unions certain effects which, 
both between the partners and as 
regards third parties, are the same as 
or comparable to those of marriage. It 
is clear, however, that apart from their 
great diversity, such arrangements for 
registering relationships between cou­
ples not previously recognised in law 
are regarded in the Member States 
concerned as being distinct from mar­
riage. In such cirumstances the Com­
munity judicature cannot interpret the 
Staff Regulations in such a way that 
legal situations distinct from marriage 
are treated in the same way as mar­
riage. 
(see paras 34-39) 
2. Article 1(2)(a) of Annex VII to the 
Staff Regulations, which restricts the 
household allowance to married offi­
cials, cannot therefore be regarded as 
I - 4320 
D AND SWEDEN V COUNCIL 
being discriminatory on grounds of the 
sex of the person concerned, or, there­
fore, as being in breach of Article 119 
of the Treaty (Articles 117 to 120 of 
the EC Treaty have been replaced by 
Articles 136 to 143 EC). 
It is irrelevant for the purposes of 
granting the household allowance whe­
ther the official is a man or a woman. 
(see para. 46) 
3. The principle of equal treatment can 
apply only to persons in comparable 
situations. In assessing whether the 
situation of an official who has regis­
tered a partnership between persons of 
the same sex is comparable to that of a 
married official, the Community judi­
cature cannot disregard the views pre­
vailing within the Community as a 
whole. 
Since the existing situation in the 
Member States of the Community as 
regards recognition of partnerships 
between persons of the same sex or of 
the opposite sex reflects a great diver­
sity of laws and the absence of any 
general assimilation of marriage and 
other forms of statutory union, the 
situation of an official who has regis­
tered a partnership in Sweden cannot 
be held to be comparable, for the 
purposes of applying the Staff Regula­
tions, to that of a married official. 
(see paras 48-51) 
4. The refusal by the Community admin­
istration to grant a household allow­
ance to one of its officials does not 
affect the situation of the official in 
question as regards his civil status and, 
since it only concerns the relationship 
between the official and his employer, 
does not of itself give rise to the 
transmission of any personal informa­
tion to persons outside the Community 
administration. Such a decision is not 
therefore capable of constituting inter­
ference in private and family life within 
the meaning of Article 8 of the Eur­
opean Convention for the Protection of 
Human Rights and Fundamental Free­
doms. 
(see paras 59-60) 
I - 4321