17

Dismissing the Commission’s arguments to the contrary, the Tribunal added the following: ‘56 For the sake of completeness, the Tribunal observes that the Commission’s contention that an agreement of the “geregistreerd partnerschap” type under the law of the Netherlands is required would lead to unequal treatment. Since many countries do not recognise forms of union comparable to that of “geregistreerd partnerschap”, in the case of unmarried couples who, particularly by reason of their place of residence or nationality, are more closely connected to those countries, to require a “registered” partnership of that type, as the Commission does, would be to deprive partners of officials permanently of the right to be covered by the JSIS outside of marriage. On the other hand, were the Commission to accept partnerships concluded in the form of cohabitation agreements for those couples, its refusal to recognise “simple” cohabitation agreements for couples who have very close links, in the sense mentioned above, with countries recognising forms of union other than marriage or “registered” partnership, would mean that those couples were unequally treated; in other words, extending the entitlement to be covered by the JSIS to a partner would be refused, whereas it would be recognised for couples with connecting factors to countries which do not recognise “registered” partnerships. Such inequalities would be even more difficult to justify in view of the existence of partnerships which, although not “registered” in the sense used by the Commission, nevertheless resemble marriage more closely than “geregistreerd partnerschap” under the law of the Netherlands. Moreover, although, according to case-law, by prohibiting every Member State from applying its law differently on the ground of nationality, Articles 12 EC, 39 EC, 43 EC and 49 EC are concerned with any disparities in treatment which may arise between one Member State and another because of divergences existing between the laws of the different Member States, only if the latter affect all persons subject to them in accordance with objective criteria and without regard to their nationality (see, to that effect, Case 1/78 Kenny [1978] ECR 1489, paragraph 18; Joined Cases C-251/90 and C-252/90 Wood and Cowie [1992] ECR I-2873, paragraph 19; Joined Cases 185/78 to 204/78 Van Dam en Zonen and Others [1979] ECR 2345, paragraph 10; and Case C-177/94 Perfili [1996] ECR 161, paragraph 17), the inequalities of the type referred to in this paragraph do not come within that case-law; first, and contrary to the premisses on which the case-law in question is based, the inequalities of treatment referred to in this paragraph originate in the nationality of the persons concerned and in their place of residence, second, in the cases giving rise to the case-law cited above, the question of inequality of treatment arises in respect of the rules of free movement, whilst the present case concerns the principle of equality of treatment as a principle of the law of the Community civil service. 57 In view of the foregoing, the Tribunal must uphold the applicant’s pleas in law based on infringement of Article 72 of the Staff Regulations, Article 1(2)(c)(i) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations and Article 12 of the Joint Rules and annul the contested decision, without there being any need to rule on the other pleas in law, which, moreover, as the Commission rightly contends, were raised in a disordered way in the application, and in some cases gave no detail. 58 The Tribunal’s interpretation of Article 72 of the Staff Regulations, read in combination with Article 1(2)(c)(i) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations and Article 12 of the Joint Rules could, in certain cases, lead those services called on to decide whether the right to be covered by the JSIS should be extended to the unmarried partner of an official to carry out investigations and reviews, despite the fact that, by adopting Regulation No 723/2004, the Community legislature sought to simplify the administrative management of the institutions. However, that objective is largely met by the new rules on expenses and allowances, which are the only areas to which Regulation No 723/2004, in recital 26 in the preamble thereto, refers on the subject of simplification, areas, moreover, not only distinct from that of extending the right to be covered by the JSIS, but also less sensitive than the latter from the social perspective. Moreover, the goal of simplification must, in any event, be reconciled with overriding principles of law and the rules of the Staff Regulations; the restrictions which may arise for the authorities from the interpretation upheld in the present case are merely the consequence of the application by the Tribunal of those principles and rules in order to determine the exact meaning of the term “unmarried partner” in Article 72 of the Staff Regulations.’