Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1999:229
Date: 1999-05-04
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social security for migrant workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
Social security for migrant workers — Benefits payable under the legislation of one 
Member State in respect of injury sustained in the territory of another — Right of action of 
the institution responsible for benefits as against the liable third party — Rights of the 
victim — To be determined in accordance with the law of the Member State where the 
injury was sustained — Subrogation of the institution responsible for benefits and the 
extent of the rights subrogated — To be determined in accordance with the law of the 
State of the institution responsible for benefits — Limits 
(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 93(1)(a)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-397/96 
On a proper construction of Arti­
cle 93(1)(a) of Regulation No 1408/71 on 
the application of social security schemes to 
employed persons, to self-employed per­
sons and to members of their families 
moving within the Community, as amended 
and updated by Regulation No 2001/83, 
where an injury has been sustained in the 
territory of a Member State and has given 
rise to the payment of social security 
benefits to the victim, or those entitled 
under him, by a social security institution 
(within the meaning of that regulation) of 
another Member State, the rights of the 
victim, or of persons entitled under him, 
against the person who caused the injury 
and to which that institution may be 
subrogated, and the requirements which 
must be satisfied to enable an action in 
damages to be brought before the courts of 
the Member State where the injury was 
sustained, are to be determined in accor­
dance with the law of that State, including 
any applicable rules of private international 
law. 
On a proper construction of the above 
provision, the subrogation of a social 
security institution to the rights of the 
victim, or those entitled under him, and 
the extent of the rights to which that 
institution is subrogated, are to be deter­
mined in accordance with the law of the 
Member State to which the institution 
belongs, provided always that the exercise 
of the right to subrogation provided for by 
that law cannot exceed the rights, under the 
law of the Member State where the injury 
was sustained, of the victim, or those 
entitled under him, against the person 
responsible for causing the injury. 
It is for the court hearing an action to 
identify and apply the relevant provisions 
of the legislation of the Member State to 
which the institution responsible for bene­
fits belongs, even if those provisions 
exclude or limit the subrogation of such 
an institution to the rights of the recipient 
of the benefits against the person who 
caused the injury, or exclude or limit the 
exercise of those rights by the institution so 
subrogated. 
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