Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Social security for migrant workers Equal treatment National legislation providing for the collection of a contribution from undertakings marketing the work of artists and journalists, calculated on the basis of the remuneration paid to the latter Account taken of remuneration paid to artists and journalists subject to the legislation of another Member State Permissible

(EC Treaty, Arts 51, 52 and/or 59 (now, after amendment, Articles 42 EC, 43 EC and/or 49 EC); Council Regulation No 1408/71, Arts 13(1) and (2)(b) and 14a(2))

2. Social security for migrant workers Equal treatment National legislation providing for the collection of a contribution from undertakings marketing the work of artists and journalists, calculated on the basis of the remuneration paid to the latter Account taken of remuneration paid to artists and journalists subject to the legislation of another Member State Permissible

(Council Regulation No 1408/71)

3. Actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations Examination by the Court of the merits Situation to be taken into consideration Failure to comply with a national provision Not permissible Limits Proof of failure to fulfil obligations Burden of proof on Commission

(EC Treaty, Art. 169 (now Article 226 EC))

Summary

1. A Member State which collects a contribution intended to cover part of the funding for the social security scheme for self-employed artists and journalists, paid by the heads of press undertakings and other publishing houses and press agencies, the basis of assessment of which is composed of the remuneration relating to work or services paid to artists or journalists, even where the latter have their habitual residence and work also in another Member State and are not subject to the social security legislation of the State levying the contribution does not fail to fulfil its obligations under Articles 13(1) and (2)(b) and the first sentence of 14a(2) of Regulation No 1408/71 and Articles 51, 52 and/or 59 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Articles 42 EC, 43 EC and/or 49 EC), since such a contribution does not affect the artists and journalists themselves but the undertakings which market their work and the latter are not entitled to pass on the costs arising therefrom to the remuneration they pay artists and journalists. Such a contribution does not infringe the rule that the social security legislation of only one Member State must be applied to workers moving within the Community, laid down in Article 13 of Regulation No 1408/71, and the rule laid down in Article 14a of the same regulation, according to which a person normally self-employed in the territory of two or more Member States is subject to the legislation of the Member State in whose territory he resides if he pursues any part of his activity in the territory of that Member State.

( see paras 26, 28, 32, 40-41, 50 )

2. National rules providing for the collection of a contribution from undertakings marketing the work of artists and journalists, calculated on the basis of the remuneration paid to them, may, indeed depending on the level of personal contributions borne by self-employed artists and journalists under the various legislative systems to which they are subject, lead, in certain cases, to a situation where, for the same remuneration offered by the undertaking using the services of various artists and journalists in a Member State, the final level of remuneration, after the levying of the aforementioned contributions, is less for an artist or journalist falling within the scope of a scheme other than that established by the legislation of that Member State than for an artist or journalist insured under that legislation. However, such a situation is inherent in the mechanism of straightforward co-ordination resulting from Regulation No 1408/71, which leaves the Member States competent to determine their own social security schemes and, in particular, to set the level of the contributions required of workers and economic operators, while providing in certain cases that a worker working in a Member State falls under the social security legislation of another Member State.

( see para. 29 )

3. In proceedings under Article 169 of the Treaty (now Article 226 EC) for failure to fulfil obligations, the question of whether national legislation complies with Community law cannot be determined on the assumption that that legislation is not complied with. Only established conduct on the part of the public authorities showing that that legislation does not in reality constitute the rule applied could provide grounds for departing, in the examination of such an action, from the national provisions in question and examining a practice diverging from them. It is incumbent upon the Commission to prove the existence of the alleged infringement and to place before the Court the information needed to enable it to determine whether there is such an infringement.

( see paras 37-38 )