Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1999:488
Date: 1999-10-07
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Association Agreement;External relations;Social security for migrant workers;Free movement of workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
International agreements — EEC-Turkey Association Agreement — Social security for 
migrant workers — Determination of the date of birth of the person concerned — 
National rules allowing changes after the declaration made by the person concerned to a 
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SUMMARY —JOINED CASES C-102/98 AND C-211/98 
social security authority only on production of a document issued before that declaration 
was made — Discrimination on grounds of nationality — None 
(Decision No 3/80 of the EEC/Turkey Association Council, Art. 3(1)) 
Article 3(1) of Decision No 3/80 of the 
EEC-Turkey Association Council on the 
application of the social security schemes of 
the Member States of the European Com­
munities to Turkish workers and members 
of their families, under which Turkish 
nationals who reside in the territory of 
one of the Member States and to whom 
that Decision applies are to enjoy in the 
Member State in which they reside the 
same social security benefits under the 
legislation of that Member State as the 
nationals of that State, must be interpreted 
as not precluding a Member State from 
applying to Turkish workers legislation 
which, for the purposes of awarding a 
retirement pension and determining the 
social security number allocated for that 
purpose, takes as the conclusive date of 
birth the one given in the first declaration 
made by the person concerned to a social 
security authority in that Member State and 
allows another date of birth to be taken 
into account only if a document is pro­
duced the original of which was issued 
before that declaration was made. 
Such legislation, which applies irrespective 
of the nationality of the workers concerned 
and accords to the documents to be pro­
duced in order to set aside the date of birth 
indicated in the first declaration made to a 
social security authority the same probative 
value regardless of their provenance or 
origin, does not place Turkish nationals in 
a different legal situation from that of 
nationals of the Member State in which 
they reside. Nor does it involve any differ­
ence of treatment such as to constitute 
indirect discrimination on grounds of 
nationality, since it is not permissible, on 
the basis of the principle of non-discrimi­
nation on grounds of nationality embodied 
in Article 3(1) of the Decision, to require a 
Member State which lays down rules 
regarding the determination of dates of 
birth for the purpose of establishing a social 
security number and of awarding a retire­
ment pension to take account of particular 
circumstances which derive from the Turk­
ish legislation on civil status and of the 
detailed arrangements for its application in 
practice. 
(see paras 36, 40-41, 44, 51-52, 55 and 
operative part) 
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