Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1997:114
Date: 1997-03-06
Language of the case: French
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Judgment
Social policy — Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security — Directive
79/7 — Derogation allowed in respect of determining the statutory pensionable age — Scope —
Limited to forms of discrimination necessarily and objectively linked to the difference in pension­
able age — Different method of calculating retirement pensions — Permissible
(Council Directive 79/7, Art. 7(1)(a))
I - 6173
SUMMARY — CASE C-154/96
Article 7(1 )(a) of Directive 79/7 on the pro­
gressive implementation of the principle of
equal treatment for men and women in mat­
ters of social security must be interpreted as
meaning that, if national legislation has main­
tained a different pensionable age for male
and female workers, the Member State con­
cerned is entitled to calculate the amount of
pension differently depending on the work­
er's sex.
The specification of the age for award of a
retirement pension effectively determines the
length of the period during which persons
can contribute to the pension scheme. If a
difference in pensionable age has been main­
tained, a question of fact which it is for the
national court to decide, a form of discrimi­
nation in the method of calculating pensions
is necessarily and objectively linked to that
difference and thus comes under the deroga­
tion permitted by Article 7(1 )(a).
I-6174