Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2009:554
Date: 2009-09-17
Language of the case: Dutch
Court formation: First Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Association Agreement;External relations;Free movement of workers
Concepts: The various agreements concluded by the Community
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment 1. International agreements – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Freedom of movement for persons – Workers – Standstill rule in Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 of the Association Council – Conditions under which applicable (Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Arts 6(1) and 13) 2. International agreements – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Freedom of movement for persons – Workers – Standstill rule in Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 of the Association Council – Scope (Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, Art. 13) 1. Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council, which provides that the contracting parties may not introduce new restrictions on the freedom of movement for workers, is not subject to the condition that the Turkish national concerned should satisfy the requirements of Article 6(1) of that decision. Further, the scope of Article 13 is not restricted to Turkish migrants who are in paid employment. Those two provisions of Decision No 1/80 cover different situations, since Article 6 governs the conditions in which actual employment permits the gradual integration of the person concerned in the host Member State, while Article 13 concerns the national measures relating to access to employment, while including within its scope family members whose admission into the territory of a Member State does not depend on actual employment. Article 13 is not intended to protect Turkish nationals already integrated into a Member State’s labour force, but is intended to apply precisely to Turkish nationals who do not yet qualify for the rights in relation to employment and, accordingly, residence under Article 6(1) of Decision No 1/80. On the other hand, it is a requirement of Article 13 that the Turkish national should be legally resident or employed in the host Member State, which means that the Turkish worker or member of his family must have complied with the rules of the host Member State as to entry, residence and, where appropriate, employment, with the result that he is lawfully present in the territory of that State. Accordingly that article is of no assistance to a Turkish national whose position is not lawful. (see paras 50-51, 53) 2. Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council must be interpreted as precluding the introduction, from the entry into force of that decision in the Member State concerned, of national legislation which makes the granting of a residence permit or an extension of the period of validity thereof conditional on payment of administrative charges, where the amount of those charges payable by Turkish nationals is disproportionate as compared with the amount required from Community nationals. The standstill clause enacted in Article 13 prohibits generally the introduction of any new measure having the object or effect of making the exercise by a Turkish national in its territory of the freedom of movement for workers subject to more restrictive conditions than those which applied at the time when Decision No 1/80 entered into force with regard to the Member State concerned. More specifically, that article prohibits the introduction, as from the date of entry into force of the legal act of which that provision forms part in the host Member State, of any new restrictions on the exercise of freedom of movement for workers, including those relating to the substantive and/or procedural conditions governing the first admission to the territory of the Member State concerned of Turkish nationals intending to make use of that economic freedom. In this connection, while the adoption of new rules which apply in the same way both to Turkish nationals and to Community nationals is not inconsistent with any of the standstill clauses laid down in the fields covered by the EEC-Turkey Association, for the Republic of Turkey may not receive more favourable treatment than that which Member States grant to one another pursuant to the EC Treaty, nevertheless such rules must not amount to creating a restriction within the meaning of Article 13 of Decision No 1/80. Read in conjunction with Article 59 of the Additional Protocol to the EEC-Turkey Association Agreement, Article 13 implies that although a Turkish national to whom those provisions apply must certainly not be placed in a position more advantageous than that of Community nationals, he cannot on the other hand be subjected to new obligations which are disproportionate as compared with those established for Community nationals. Accordingly, national legislation constitutes a restriction prohibited by Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 to the extent that, before an application for the grant of a residence permit or extension thereof can be considered, the legislation requires payment, by Turkish nationals to whom Article 13 applies, of administrative charges of an amount which is significantly higher than that demanded in similar circumstances from Community nationals and where no relevant argument capable of justifying such a significant difference has been advanced. (see paras 63-65, 67, 71-75, operative part)