Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1 Freedom of movement for persons - Workers - Community provisions - Conditions of applicability - Exercise of the right to freedom of movement

(EC Treaty, Art. 48; Council Regulation No 1612/68, Art. 7)

2 Social security for migrant workers - Powers of the Member States to plan their social security systems - Limits - Compliance with Community law - Treaty rules on freedom of movement for workers

3 Freedom of movement for persons - Workers - Equal treatment - Higher social security contributions payable by workers who have transferred residence in the course of a year from one Member State to another - Whether permissible - Justification - None

(EC Treaty, Art. 48)

4 Freedom of movement for persons - Workers - Equal treatment - Workers who have transferred residence from one Member State to another - Social security contributions - Calculation

5 Freedom of movement for persons - Workers - Equal treatment - National legislation requiring higher social security contributions from workers who have transferred residence in the course of a year from one Member State to another - Incompatible with Community law - Effects

(EC Treaty, Art. 48)

Summary

1 Article 48 of the Treaty and Article 7 of Regulation No 1612/68 may be relied on by a worker against the Member State of which he is a national where he has resided and been employed in another Member State.

Any Community national who, irrespective of his place of residence and his nationality, has exercised the right to freedom of movement for workers and who has been employed in another Member State falls within the scope of the aforesaid provisions.

2 The fact that national rules concern the financing of social security does not exclude the application of Treaty rules, including those relating to freedom of movement for workers.

While, in the absence of harmonisation at Community level, it is for the legislation of each Member State to determine the conditions governing the right or duty to be insured with a social security scheme, Member States must nevertheless comply with Community law when exercising that power.

3 Article 48 of the Treaty precludes a Member State from levying, on a worker who has transferred his residence in the course of a year from one Member State to another in order to take up employment there, higher social security contributions than those which would be payable, in similar circumstances, by a worker who has continued to reside throughout the year in the Member State in question, without the first worker also being entitled to additional social benefits. Such a system for levying social contributions could deter a national of a Member State from leaving the Member State in which he resides in order to pursue an activity as an employed person, for the purposes of the Treaty, in the territory of another Member State and accordingly constitutes an obstacle to freedom of movement for workers.

Such an obstacle may not be justified either by the fact that it stems from legislation whose objective is to simplify and coordinate the levying of income tax and social security contributions, or by difficulties of a technical nature preventing other methods of collection, or by the fact that, in certain circumstances, other advantages relating to income tax may offset, or indeed outweigh, the disadvantage as to social contributions.

4 When assessing whether the burden of social security contributions borne by a worker who has transferred his residence from one Member State to another in order to take up employment there is heavier than that borne by a worker who has continued to reside in the same Member State, all income relevant under national law for determining the amount of contributions, including, as the case may be, income arising from real property, must be taken into account.

5 Where national legislation requiring higher social security contributions to be paid by workers who transfer their residence in the course of a year from one Member State to another in order to take up employment there than those which would be payable, in similar circumstances, by workers who have continued to reside throughout the year in the Member State in question, without the former also being entitled to additional social benefits, is incompatible with Article 48 of the Treaty, a worker who transfers his residence from one Member State to another for that purpose is entitled to have his social security contributions set at the same level as that of the contributions which would be payable by a worker who has continued to reside in the same Member State.