Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1998:318
Date: 1998-06-25
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Freedom to provide services
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Freedom to provide services — Restrictions — Whether undertakings in the construc­
tion sector supplying a service may be required to pay minimum remuneration fixed by 
collective agreement applicable in the host Member State — Conditions 
(EC Treaty, Art. 59 (now, after amendment, Art. 49 EC) and Art. 60 (now Art. 50 
EQ) 
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SUMMARY — JOINED CASES C-369/96 AND C-376/96 
2. Freedom to provide services — Restrictions — Whether undertakings in the construc­
tion sector supplying a service may be required to pay employers' contributions at the 
same time as comparable contributions in the place of establishment — Not 
permissible 
(EC Treaty, Art. 59 (now, after amendment, Art. 49 EC) and Art. 60 (now Art. 50 
EC)) 
3. Freedom to provide services — Restrictions — Whether undertakings in the construc­
tion sector supplying a service may be required to draw up social or labour documents 
at the same time as comparable documents held in the place of establishment — Not 
permissible 
(EC Treaty, Art. 59 (now, after amendment, Art. 49 EC) and Art. 60 (now Art. 50 
EC)) 
4. Freedom to provide services — Restrictions — Whether undertakings in the construc­
tion sector supplying a service may be required to keep social and labour documents 
available in the territory of the host Member State — Conditions 
(EC Treaty, Art. 59 (now, after amendment, Art. 49 EC) and Art. 60 (now Art. 50 
EC)) 
5. Freedom to provide services — Restrictions — Whether undertakings in the construc­
tion sector supplying a service may be required to retain, after termination of activities 
in the host Member State, social documents at the address within that Member State of 
a natural person — Not permissible 
(EC Treaty, Art. 59 (now, after amendment, Art. 49 EC) and Art. 60 (now Art. 50 
EC)) 
1. Articles 59 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, Article 49 EC) and 60 of 
the Treaty (now Article 50 EC) do not 
preclude a Member State from requir­
ing an undertaking established in 
another Member State, operating in 
the construction sector and temporarily 
carrying out work in the first State, to 
pay the workers deployed by it the 
minimum remuneration fixed by the 
collective labour agreement applicable 
in the first Member State, provided 
that the provisions in question are 
sufficiently precise and accessible, and 
that they do not render it impossible or 
excessively difficult in practice for such 
an employer to determine the obliga­
tions with which he is required to 
comply. 
2. Articles 59 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, Article 49 EC) and 60 of 
the Treaty (now Article 50 EC) pre­
clude a Member State from requir­
ing — even by way of public-order 
legislation — an undertaking estab­
lished in another Member State, oper­
ating in the construction sector and 
temporarily carrying out work in the 
first State, to pay, in respect of each 
worker deployed, employers' contribu­
tions to schemes such as the 'timbres-
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ARBLADE AND OTHERS 
intempéries' and 'timbres-fidélité' 
schemes, and to issue to each of such 
workers an individual record, where 
the undertaking in question is already 
subject, in the Member State in which 
it is established, to obligations which 
are essentially comparable, as regards 
their objective of safeguarding the 
interests of workers, and which relate 
to the same workers and the same 
periods of activity. 
3. Articles 59 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, Article 49 EC) and 60 of 
the Treaty (now Article 50 EC) pre­
clude a Member State from requir­
ing — even by way of public-order 
legislation — an undertaking estab­
lished in another Member State, oper­
ating in the construction sector and 
temporarily carrying out work in the 
first State, to draw up social or labour 
documents such as labour rules, a 
special staff register and an individual 
account for each worker in the form 
prescribed by the rules of the first State, 
where the social protection of workers 
which may justify those requirements is 
already safeguarded by the production 
of social and labour documents kept by 
the undertaking in question in accor­
dance with the rules applying in the 
Member State in which it is estab­
lished. 
That is the position where, as regards 
the keeping of social and labour docu­
ments, the undertaking is already sub­
ject, in the Member State in which it is 
established, to obligations which are 
comparable, as regards their objective 
of safeguarding the interests of work­
ers, to those imposed by the legislation 
of the host Member State, and which 
relate to the same workers and the 
same periods of activity. 
4. Articles 59 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, Article 49 EC) and 60 of 
the Treaty (now Article 50 EC) do not 
preclude a Member State from requir­
ing an undertaking established in 
another Member State, operating in 
the construction sector and temporarily 
carrying out work in the first State, to 
keep social and labour documents 
available, throughout the period of 
activity within the territory of the first 
Member State, on site or in an acces­
sible and clearly identified place within 
the territory of that State, where such a 
measure is necessary in order to enable 
it effectively to monitor compliance 
with legislation of that State which is 
justified by the need to safeguard the 
social protection of workers. 
5. Articles 59 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, Article 49 EC) and 60 of 
the Treaty (now Article 50 EC) pre­
clude a Member State from requir­
ing — even by way of public-order 
legislation — an undertaking estab­
lished in another Member State, oper­
ating in the construction sector and 
temporarily carrying out work in the 
first State, to retain, for a period of five 
years after the undertaking in question 
has ceased to employ workers in the 
first Member State, social documents 
such as a staff register and individual 
accounts, at the address within that 
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SUMMARY — JOINED CASES C-369/96 AND C-376/96 
Member State of a natural person who 
holds those documents as an agent or 
servant. Such requirements cannot be 
justified, since the monitoring of com­
pliance with rules concerning the social 
protection of workers in the construc­
tion industry can be achieved by less 
restrictive measures. 
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