NATIONALS OF MEMBER STATES WITH REGARD TO ALL STATUTORY OR CONTRACTUAL PROVISIONS DETERMINING THEIR POSITION AND IN PARTICULAR THEIR FINANCIAL RIGHTS .
THE SEPARATION ALLOWANCE, IN SO FAR AS IT CONSTITUTES COMPENSATION FOR THE INCONVENIENCES SUFFERED BY A WORKER WHO IS SEPARATED FROM HIS HOME, REPRESENTS SUPPLEMENTARY REMUNERATION AND IS THUS ONE OF THE 'CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORK' WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE REGULATION .
IN THIS RESPECT IT IS OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE WHETHER THE ALLOWANCE IS PAID BY REASON OF A STATUTORY OR CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION OR MERELY AT THE OPTION OF THE STATE IN ITS CAPACITY AS EMPLOYER .
AS SOON AS THE STATE AVAILS ITSELF OF THIS OPTION ON BEHALF OF ITS OWN NATIONALS IT IS OBLIGED TO EXTEND THE ADVANTAGE TO WORKERS WHO ARE NATIONALS OF OTHER MEMBER STATES IN THE SAME SITUATION .
9 IT IS THEREFORE APPROPRIATE TO REPLY THAT ARTICLE 7 ( 1 ) AND ( 4 ) OF REGULATION NO 1612/68 IS TO BE INTERPRETED AS MEANING THAT A SEPARATION ALLOWANCE, PAID IN ADDITION TO WAGES, FALLS WITHIN THE CONCEPT OF 'CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT AND WORK' WITHOUT ITS BEING NECESSARY TO DEFINE WHETHER THE PAYMENT IS MADE BY VIRTUE OF AN OPTION OR OF AN OBLIGATION, EITHER STATUTORY OR CONTRACTUAL .
ON THE THIRD QUESTION
10 THE THIRD QUESTION ASKS WHETHER ARTICLE 7 ( 1 ) AND ( 4 ) OF REGULATION NO 1612/68 IS TO BE INTERPRETED AS CONTAINING A PROHIBITION NOT ONLY AGAINST TREATING A WORKER DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE HE IS A NATIONAL OF ANOTHER MEMBER STATE OF THE EEC, BUT ALSO AGAINST TREATING HIM DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE HE IS RESIDENT IN ANOTHER MEMBER STATE .
11 THE RULES REGARDING EQUALITY OF TREATMENT, BOTH IN THE TREATY AND IN ARTICLE 7 OF REGULATION NO 1612/68, FORBID NOT ONLY OVERT DISCRIMINATION BY REASON OF NATIONALITY BUT ALSO ALL COVERT FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION WHICH, BY THE APPLICATION OF OTHER CRITERIA OF DIFFERENTIATION, LEAD IN FACT TO THE SAME RESULT .
THIS INTERPRETATION, WHICH IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE THE EFFECTIVE WORKING OF ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE COMMUNITY, IS EXPLICITLY RECOGNIZED BY THE FIFTH RECITAL OF THE PREAMBLE TO REGULATION NO 1612/68 WHICH REQUIRES THAT EQUALITY OF TREATMENT OF WORKERS SHALL BE ENSURED 'IN FACT AND IN LAW '.
IT MAY THEREFORE BE THAT CRITERIA SUCH AS PLACE OF ORIGIN OR RESIDENCE OF A WORKER MAY, ACCORDING TO CIRCUMSTANCES, BE TANTAMOUNT, AS REGARDS THEIR PRACTICAL EFFECT, TO DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF NATIONALITY, SUCH AS IS PROHIBITED BY THE TREATY AND THE REGULATION .
12 HOWEVER, THIS WOULD NOT BE THE CASE WITH A SEPARATION ALLOWANCE THE CONDITIONS OF ALLOTMENT AND RULES FOR THE PAYMENT OF WHICH TOOK ACCOUNT OF OBJECTIVE DIFFERENCES WHICH THE SITUATION OF WORKERS MAY INVOLVE ACCORDING TO WHETHER THEIR RESIDENCE, AT THE TIME THEIR TAKING UP A GIVEN POST, IS WITHIN THE TERRITORY OF THE STATE IN QUESTION OR ABROAD .
IN THIS RESPECT THE FACT THAT, FOR WORKERS WHOSE HOME IS WITHIN THE TERRITORY OF THE STATE CONCERNED,