Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Social security for migrant workers ° Community rules ° Material scope ° Special schemes for civil servants and persons treated as such ° "Civil servants" ° Definition

(EC Treaty, Art. 48(4); Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 4(4))

2. Social security for migrant workers ° Community rules ° Material scope ° Special schemes for civil servants and persons treated as such ° Definition

(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 4(4))

3. Social security for migrant workers ° Treaty provisions ° National rules making it impossible for migrant workers to have taken into account, for the acquisition of the right to a pension, periods of work which are taken into account for other workers ° Not permissible

(EC Treaty, Arts 48 and 51)

Summary

1. The term "civil servants" in Article 4(4) of Regulation No 1408/71 does not refer only to civil servants covered by the derogation provided for in Article 48(4) of the Treaty, as interpreted by the Court, but to all civil servants employed by a public authority and persons treated as such.

The subject-matter and objectives of the two provisions are different: Article 48(4) of the Treaty provides only that Member States may exclude nationals of other Member States from access to certain posts in the public service and takes account of the legitimate interest which Member States have in reserving to their own nationals a range of posts connected with the exercise of powers conferred by public law and with the protection of general interests, whereas Article 4(4) of Regulation No 1408/71 excludes, in general terms, special schemes for civil servants and persons treated as such from the coordination of social security schemes under that regulation and is intended to take account of the special features of schemes for civil servants in the Member States.

2. In order to be regarded as "special" within the meaning of Article 4(4) of Regulation No 1408/71, it is sufficient ° without there being any need to take other factors into consideration ° that the social security scheme in question is different from the general social security scheme applicable to employed persons in the Member State concerned and that all, or certain categories of, civil servants are directly subject to it, or that it refers to a social security scheme for civil servants already in force in that Member State.

By adopting Article 4(4), the Community legislature intended to exempt social security schemes established by Member States for all or some of the staff of their public authorities from the coordination of the general schemes applicable to other workers.

3. Articles 48 and 51 of the Treaty preclude national legislation which might place Community nationals at a disadvantage when they wish to extend their activities beyond the territory of a single Member State. Accordingly, they must be interpreted as precluding refusal to take into account, for the acquisition of the right to a pension, periods of employment completed by a person subject to a special scheme for civil servants or persons treated as such, in public hospitals in another Member State, where the relevant national legislation allows such periods to be taken into account if they have been completed in comparable establishments within that State. Where such a refusal is not based on any justification which may be taken into consideration, it amounts to discrimination with regard to the aggregation of reckonable periods for the grant of social security benefits accorded in principle by Article 51 against workers who have exercised their right to freedom of movement.