Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2003:332
Date: 2003-06-10
Language of the case: English
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

SUMMARY — CASE C-117/01 
Summary of the Judgment 
Social policy — Men and women — Equal pay — National law preventing transsexuals 
who have undergone surgical gender reassignment from marrying — Not permissible — 
Right of their partners to nominate them as the beneficiary of a survivor's pension — To 
be determined by the national court 
(Art. 141 EC) 
Article 141 EC, in principle, precludes 
legislation which, in breach of the Euro­
pean Convention for the Protection of 
Human Rights and Fundamental Free­
doms, prevents a heterosexual couple, 
where the sexual identity of one of the 
partners is the result of gender reassign­
ment surgery, from fulfilling the marriage 
requirement which must be met for one of 
them to be able to benefit from part of the 
pay of the other. Since it is for the Member 
States to determine the conditions under 
which legal recognition is given to the 
change of gender of a person who has 
undergone surgical gender reassignment, it 
is for the national court to determine 
whether the partner of such a transsexual 
can rely on Article 141 EC in order to gain 
recognition of the right to nominate his or 
her transsexual partner as the beneficiary of 
a survivor's pension. 
(see paras 33-36, operative part) 
I -542