1.1.

Mrs Saelens, née Vlaeminck, a widow, worked in Belgium from 1926 to 1929 and from 1950 to 197C and in France from 1931 to 1936. Her late husband worked in Belgium from 1926 to 1929 and from 1940 to 1942 and as a frontier worker in France from 1930 to 1939. By a decision of 9 August 1971 she was granted a retirement pension by the Belgian Institution. That pension was acquired on the basis of the fraction ( 1 )1/40 per calendar year and so the period of eligible service was calculated at 25/40 by virtue of the 23 years of employment in Belgium. In addition, in 1971 she was granted a French retirement pension, on the basis of the period of employment in France, by the Caisse Régionale d'Assurance Maladie du Nord de la France [Regional Sickness Insurance Fund of Northern France, hereinafter referred to as “the French Institution”]. At the same time the Belgian Institution granted her a survivor's pension. As in the case of the Belgian retirement pension the grant of that benefit was based on Royal Decree No 50 on retirement and survivor's pensions for employed persons (Belgisch Staatsblad of 27 October 1967). It appears from the information supplied by the Belgian Institution that that survivor's pension was granted not merely in respect of the period of years worked by her husband in Belgium but also in respect of the period spent as a frontier worker in France (1930 to 1939). Instead of 7/17 the period of eligible service was fixed at 17/17 on the basis of Article 18 (6) of the abovementioned Royal Decree. That paragraph provides as follows: “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the foregoing paragraphs and in the case of the activities specified in the fifth paragraph of Article 10 (seasonal or frontier work in an adjacent country) the widow of an employed person may receive a survivor's pension equal to the difference between the survivor's pension which she would receive if that activity had been performed in Belgium and the pension which is received in respect of the same activitv under the legislation of the country of employment. That pension shall represent a minimum pension. However, tor the purposes of Article 50 of Regulation No 1408/71 of the Council of the European Communities on the application of social security schemes to employed persons and their families moving within the Community, no account shall be taken of the foreign pension in determining that minimum pension.” As is clear from that provision, the absence of any right to a survivor's pension in France was the ground upon which the Belgian Institution took into account the years of frontier work in that country pursuant to Article 18 (6) of the Royal Decree. However, the Royal Decree of 21 December 1967 contains a provision against the overlapping of benefits, which reads as follows: “A survivor's pension granted pursuant to Royal Decree No 50 may only overlap with one or more retirement pensions or any other equivalent benefits granted under Belgian or foreign legislation or under a pension scheme for officials of a body established under international law up to an amount equal to 110 % of the amount of the survivor's pension granted to the widow multiplied by the fraction, inverted and if necessary reduced to unity, used to calculate the retirement pension which forms the basis for calculating the survivor's pension.” The survivor's pension granted, which was calculated as from 1 September 1971 at BFR 359910, thus results in a cumulative limit of BFR 65901 (BFR 59910 x 17/17 x 110 %). After deduction of the total of the Belgian and French retirement pensions, amounting to BFR 45437. the resulting amount to be paid bv way of survivor's pension was BFR 20464.