Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2001:185
Date: 2001-03-27
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
Social policy — Men and women — Equal pay — Pension funds entrusted with 
providing benefits under an occupational pension scheme — Obligation to ensure equal 
treatment between men and women — Scope 
(EC Treaty, Art. 119 (Arts 117 to 120 of the EC Treaty have been replaced by Arts 136 
EC to 143 EC» 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-379/99 
Article 119 of the Treaty (Articles 117 to 
120 of the Treaty have been replaced by 
Articles 136 EC to 143 EC) must be 
interpreted to the effect that bodies such 
as German pension funds ('Pensionskas­
sen') entrusted with providing benefits 
under an occupational pension scheme are 
required to ensure equal treatment between 
men and women, even if the employees 
discriminated against on the basis of sex 
have, as against those directly liable, 
namely their employers in their capacity 
as parties to their employment contracts, a 
protected right in the event of insolvency 
that excludes all discrimination. 
The circumstance that, as an insuring body, 
a German pension fund is subject to 
insurance law and therefore to the entirely 
separate principle of equal treatment 
applicable under that law and that the 
increase in the volume of its insurance 
obligations as a consequence of the appli­
cation of Article 119 of the Treaty may give 
rise to measures designed to cover that 
increase, which might include an increase 
in contributions for all affiliated employ­
ees, is an issue which must be resolved by 
national law. In any event, the existence of 
such a problem does not affect the obliga­
tion for German pension funds to comply 
with the principle of equal pay laid down in 
Article 119 and neither the legal indepen­
dence that they enjoy nor indeed their 
status as insuring bodies are of any impor­
tance in that r espect. 
(see paras 25, 33 and operative part) 
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