Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2002:620
Date: 2002-10-24
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social security for migrant workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

SUMMARY — CASE C-156/01 
Summary of the Judgment 
1. Social security for migrant workers — Sickness insurance — Pensioners and members 
of their family residing in a Member State other than the State liable for payment of the 
pension — Medical costs incurred in the Member State liable for payment of the 
pension — Assumption of responsibility by the Member State of residence — 
Conditions 
(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 22(l)(c)(i), and Art. 28; Council Regulation 
No 574/72, Art. 29) 
2. Social security for migrant workers — Sickness insurance — Pensioners and members 
of their family residing in a Member State other than the State liable for payment of the 
pension — Institution competent to issue the prior authorisation necessary to go to 
another Member State in order to receive appropriate treatment there — Institution of 
the place of residence 
(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 22(l)(c)(i) and Art. 28) 
1. Article 22(l)(c)(i) of Regulation 
No 1408/71, as amended and updated 
by Regulation No 2001/83, governs the 
entitlement to benefits in kind of pen­
sioners and members of their family 
who, while residing in one Member 
State, apply to the competent institu­
tion for authorisation to go to the 
territory of another Member State in 
order to receive medical treatment 
there which is appropriate to their 
condition. That provision must be 
interpreted as also applying to socially 
insured persons in the above category 
who reside in a Member State other 
than the one which is liable for pay­
ment of that pension, and who benefit 
on that basis, following their regis­
tration with the institution of the place 
of residence, from the system laid 
down by Article 28 of that regulation, 
where those socially insured persons 
wish to go to the Member State liable 
for payment of the pension in order to 
receive medical treatment there. 
Once a pensioner and the members of 
his family have subscribed to the sys­
tem established by Article 28 of Regu­
lation No 1408/71 by registering with 
the institution of the place of residence 
as Article 29 of Regulation No 574/72 
requires, then, as the wording itself of 
Article 28 makes clear, that pensioner 
enjoys, for himself and his family, a 
right to benefits in kind provided as if 
the person concerned held a pension 
under the legislation of the Member 
State on whose territory he resides and 
were entitled to benefits in kind by 
virtue of that legislation. It follows that 
that institution and the Member State 
of residence become, for those socially 
insured persons, by reason of this legal 
fiction and the assimilation resulting 
therefrom, the competent institution 
and the competent State as regards 
the granting of those benefits. There is 
therefore nothing to prevent those 
socially insured persons who thus 
benefit from the system provided for 
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VAN DER DUIN AND ANOZ ZORGVERZEKERINGEN 
in Article 28 of Regulation No 1408/71 
from being made subject to 
Article 22(l)(c)(i) of that regulation, 
since those persons satisfy, as that 
latter provision requires, the conditions 
imposed by the legislation of the com­
petent State, namely the Member State 
of their residence, for entitlement to 
benefits. Their movement to another 
Member State for the purposes of 
receiving benefits in kind guaranteed 
by that provision falls within the 
provisions of the latter, including 
where the movement in question is to 
the Member State liable for payment of 
the pension. 
(see paras 36, 40, 47-49, 51, 
operative part 1) 
2. The institution competent to issue the 
prior authorisation necessary in order 
to go to another Member State to 
receive appropriate medical treatment 
there, mentioned in Article 22(l)(c)(i) 
of Regulation No 1408/71 as amended 
and u p d a t e d by R e g u l a t i o n 
No 2001/83, where the application 
for authorisation concerns a pensioner 
or members of his family who reside in 
a Member State other than the one 
which is liable for payment of that 
pension and who benefit, on that basis, 
following their registration with the 
institution of the place of residence, 
from the system provided for in 
Article 28 of that regulation is the 
institution of the place of residence of 
the persons concerned. 
(see para. 56, 
operative part 2) 
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