Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1996:462
Date: 1996-12-03
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 Judgmen t 
Freedom of movement for persons — Workers — Equal treatment — Determination of entitle­
ment to social security benefits — Production of certificates of civil status — Competent Member 
State required to recognise the probative value of certificates issued by the authorities of another 
Member State — Exception — Existence of concrete evidence undermining the accuracy of the 
certificates in question 
(EC Treaty, Art. 48) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-336/94 
Although the administrative and judicial 
authorities of a Member State are not 
required under Community law to treat as 
equivalent certificates of civil status drawn 
up by the competent authorities of their own 
State and those issued by the competent 
authorities of another Member State, the fact 
remains that exercise of the rights arising 
from freedom of movement for workers is 
not possible without production of docu­
ments relative to personal status, which are 
generally issued by the worker's State of ori­
gin. It follows that, in proceedings for deter­
mining the entitlements to social security 
benefits of a migrant worker who is a Com­
munity national, the competent social secu­
rity institutions and the courts of a Member 
State must accept certificates and analogous 
documents relative to personal status issued 
by the competent authorities of the other 
Member States, unless their accuracy is seri­
ously undermined by concrete evidence 
relating to the individual case in question. 
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