Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:1999:523
Date: 1999-10-26
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Full Court
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy
Concepts: Equality for men and women
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment 
Social policy — Men and women — Working conditions and access to employment — 
Equal treatment — Derogation on grounds of public security — Subject to the rules of 
Community law — Option available under Article 2(2) of Directive 76/207 — Scope — 
Exclusion of women from the British Royal Marines — Permissible — Criteria 
(Council Directive 76/207, Art. 2(2)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-273/97 
Although it is for the Member States, which 
have to adopt appropriate measures to 
ensure their internal and external security, 
to take decisions on the organisation of 
their armed forces, it does not follow that 
such decisions must fall entirely outside the 
scope of Community law. To recognise that 
there is inherent in the Treaty a general 
exception covering all measures taken for 
reasons of public security, above and 
beyond the specific cases contemplated in 
certain provisions, might impair the bind­
ing nature of Community law and its 
uniform application. Decisions taken by 
Member States, concerning access to 
employment, vocational training and work­
ing conditions in the armed forces, for the 
purpose of ensuring combat effectiveness 
do not fall altogether outside the scope of 
Community law. 
If, when adopting such measures, the 
competent national authorities exercise 
the option available under Article 2(2) of 
Directive 76/207, they enjoy a certain 
measure of discretion which, in the case 
of combat units such as the British Royal 
Marines, entitles them, without abusing the 
principle of proportionality, to come to the 
view that the specific conditions for deploy­
ment of such units — in particular the rule 
of interoperability to which they are sub­
ject — justify their composition remaining 
exclusively male. Accordingly, the exclu­
sion of women from service in such special 
combat units may be justified under the 
above provision by reason of the nature of 
the activities in question and the context in 
which they are carried out. 
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