Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1 Social security for migrant workers - Invalidity allowance - Conditions for the grant of benefits - Legislation of a Member State prescribing a reference period for determining the minimum insurance requirement - Obligation to extend the reference period by periods of unemployment spent under the legislation of another Member State - None - Legislation of the other Member State allowing, unlike that of the first Member State, an extension where periods of unemployment have been spent on national territory

(EC Treaty, Arts 48 to 51; Council Regulations Nos 1408/71, Art. 9a, and 574/72, Art. 15(1)(f)(ii))

2 Social security for migrant workers - Equal treatment - Legislation of a Member State taking into account, for the acquisition of entitlement to invalidity allowance, only periods of insurance against unemployment completed on national territory - Legislation having the effect of placing workers having worked in several Member States at a disadvantage - Not permitted - Legislation of a Member State not taking into account, for the purpose of calculating the minimum insurance requirement, periods of insurance against unemployment completed under the legislation of another Member State, over and above those taken into account under its own legislation - Permissible

(EC Treaty, Arts 48 to 51)

Summary

3 Articles 48 to 51 of the Treaty, Article 9a of Regulation No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, and Article 15(1)(f)(ii) of Regulation No 574/72 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 must be interpreted as not requiring a Member State to extend the reference period laid down by its legislation for determining the minimum insurance requirement for the grant of an invalidity benefit, by a period equivalent to periods of unemployment spent by the person concerned under the legislation of another Member State which, unlike that of the first Member State, allows such an extension where the periods of unemployment are spent on national territory.

4 Articles 48 to 51 of the Treaty preclude national legislation which takes into account for the purposes of acquisition of entitlement to invalidity allowance only such periods of insurance against unemployment that were completed on national territory, to the exclusion of similar periods completed in the territory of other Member States. Such a requirement, which establishes a difference in treatment between workers who have not exercised their right to freedom of movement and migrant workers, to the detriment of the latter, must, in the absence of objective justification, be held to be discriminatory and thus in breach of the fundamental rules of the Treaty which are designed to ensure freedom of movement for workers.

However, Articles 48 to 51 of the Treaty do not preclude the legislation of a Member State from refusing to take into account, for the purposes of calculating whether the minimum insurance requirement attaching to the grant of an invalidity benefit is satisfied, periods of insurance against unemployment completed during a given period preceding the contingency insured against under the legislation of another Member State, over and above those which are taken into account by the legislation of the first Member State during that same period.