Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2011:346
Date: 2011-05-26
Language of the case: Dutch
Court formation: First Chamber
Subject matter: Association Agreement;External relations;Social security for migrant workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment 1. International agreements – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Social security for migrant workers (Decision No 3/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Art. 6(1)(1)) 2. International agreements – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Social security for migrant workers (Decision No 3/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Art. 6(1)(1)) 3. International agreements – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Social security for migrant workers (Additional Protocol to the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement, Art. 59; Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 10a(1); Decision No 3/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Art. 6(1)(1)) 4. International agreements – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality – Effect in the field of social security (EEC-Turkey Association Agreement, Art. 9; Decision No 3/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Arts 3(1) and 6(1)(1)) 1. The first subparagraph of Article 6(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 Communities to Turkish workers and members of their families must be interpreted as having direct effect, so that Turkish nationals to whom that provision applies are entitled to rely on those provisions directly before the Member States’ courts in order to have rules of national law which are contrary to it disapplied. That rule lays down a precise obligation of result, namely the prohibition of any restriction on the export of rights acquired by the Turkish nationals concerned under the legislation of a Member State. Such an obligation can, accordingly, be relied on by an individual before a national court as a basis for requesting it to disapply the discriminatory provisions of the legislation of a Member State without further implementing measures being required. (see paras 69, 74, operative part 1) 2. The first subparagraph of Article 6(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 Communities to Turkish workers and members of their families must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State which withdraws the award of a benefit such as the supplement to invalidity benefit, made under the national legislation, from former Turkish migrant workers when they have returned to Turkey after losing their right to remain in the host Member State because they became incapacitated in that Member State. (see para. 96, operative part 2) 3. The finding that Turkish nationals are entitled to rely upon the first subparagraph of Article 6(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 Communities to Turkish workers and members of their families to require the supplementary benefit under the national legislation of a Member State to continue to be paid to them in Turkey is not called into question by the fact that, as regards a social benefit such as the supplementary benefit, the system currently laid down in Regulation No 1408/71 differs from that instituted in that decision, nor by the fact that, on that basis, the Member State in question withdrew the award of supplementary benefit from European Union nationals when the recipients are no longer resident in the territory of that Member State. Such a situation cannot be regarded as incompatible with the requirements of Article 59 of the Additional Protocol annexed to the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement, pursuant to which Turkish nationals must not be placed in a more favourable position than that of European Union nationals. The situation of former Turkish migrant workers, who returned to Turkey after having lost their right to remain in the host Member State because they became incapacitated in that Member State, cannot, for the purposes of applying Article 59 of the Additional Protocol, usefully be compared to that of a European Union national inasmuch as the latter, who are entitled to move around and reside in the territory of the Member States and retain their right of residence in the Member State which awarded the benefit in question, firstly, can choose to leave the territory of that State and, for that reason, lose that benefit and, secondly, have the right to return at any time to the Member State concerned. (see paras 82-83, 87-88, 95) 4. 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 Communities to Turkish workers and members of their families constitutes the implementation and the concrete expression, in the particular field of social security, of the general principle of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality laid down in Article 9 of the Association Agreement. As is apparent from its very wording, Article 3(1) of Decision No 3/80 applies subject to the special provisions of this Decision. The first subparagraph of Article 6(1) of that decision constitutes such a special provision. Consequently, Article 9 of the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement does not apply to a situation which falls within the field of application of the first subparagraph of Article 6(1) of the decision. (see paras 98-101, operative part 3)