CELEX: C1996/064/02
Language: en
Date: 1996-03-02 00:00:00
Title: JUDGMENT OF THE COURT of 14 December 1995 in Case C-317/93 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Sozialgericht Hannover): Inge Nolte v. Landesversicherungsanstalt Hannover (Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security - Article 4 (1) of Directive 79/7/EEC - Exclusion of minor employment from compulsory invalidity and old-age insurance)

2 . 3 . 96            EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 64/ 1
                                                                  I
                                                           (Information)
                                              COURT OF JUSTICE
                                                        COURT OF JUSTICE
               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                 Community law when the latter provision has not been
                     of 14 December 1995                             invoked by the litigant within a certain period.
in Case C-3 12/93 (reference for a preliminary ruling from           (') OJ No C 189 , 13 . 7 . 1993 .
the Cour d'Appel, Brussels ): Peterbroeck, Van Campenhout
                 & Cie SCS v. Belgian State (')
(Power ofa national court to consider ofits own motion the
question whether national law is compatible with
                        Community law)
                                                                                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                          ( 96/C 64/01 )
                                                                                        of 14 December 1995
                                                                     in Case C-3 17/93 (reference for a preliminary ruling
                (Language of the case: French)                       from the Sozialgericht Hannover): Inge Nolte v.
                                                                               Landesversicherungsanstalt Hannover ( 1 )
                                                                     (Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be         security — Article 4 (1) ofDirective 79/7/EEC — Exclusion
          published in the European Court Reports)                   of minor employment from compulsory invalidity and
                                                                                            old-age insurance)
                                                                                                ( 96/C 64/02 )
In Case C-3 12/93 : reference to the Court under Article 177
of the EC Treaty from the Cour d'Appel, Brussels for a                             (Language of the case: German)
preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that
court between Peterbroeck, Van Campenhout & Cie SCS                  (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
and Belgian State — on the interpretation of Community                       published in the European Court Reports)
law concerning the power of a national court to consider of
its own motion the question whether national law is                  In Case C-3 17/93 : reference to the Court under Article 177
compatible with Community law — the Court, composed                  of the EC Treaty from the Sozialgericht ( Social Court )
of: G. C. Rodriguez Iglesias, President, C. N. Kakouris, D.          Hannover, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings
A. O. Edward, J. -P. Puissochet and G. Hirsch ( Presidents           pending before that court between Inge Nolte and
of Chambers ), G. F. Mancini ( Rapporteur ), F. A.                   Landesversicherungsanstalt Hannover — on the
Schockweiler, J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, P. J. G. Kapteyn,           interpretation of Article 4 ( 1 ) of Council Directive 79/7/EEC
C. Gulmann, J. L. Murray, P. Jann and H. Ragnemalm,                  of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of
Judges; F. G. Jacobs, Advocate-General; R. Grass, Registrar,         the principle of equal treatment for men and women in
and H. A. Rühl , Principal Administrator, has given a                matters of social security ( OJ No L 6 , 1979 , p. 24 ) — the
judgment on 14 December 1995 , in which it rules :                   Court, composed of: G. C. Rodriguez Iglesias, President,
                                                                     C. N. Kakouris ( Rapporteur ), D. A. O. Edward and G.
                                                                     Hirsch ( Presidents of Chambers ), F. A. Schockweiler, J. C.
Community law precludes application of a domestic                    Moitinho de Almeida, P. J. G. Kapteyn, J. L. Murray, P.
procedural rule whose effect, in procedural circumstances            Jann, H. Ragnemalm and L. Sevón, Judges; P. Leger,
such as those in question in the main proceedings, is to             Advocate-General, D. Louterman-Hubeau, Principal
prevent the national court, seised of a matter falling within        Administrator, for the Registrar, gave a judgment on
its jurisdiction, from considering of its own motion whether          14 December 1995 , the operative part of which is as
a measure of domestic law is compatible with a provision of          follows :
 ---pagebreak--- No C 64/2             EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                         2 . 3 . 96
Article 4 (1 ) of Council Directive 79/7/EEC of 19 December                 national market for products from other Member States
1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of                  or does not impede such access more than it impedes
equal treatment for men and women in matters of social                      access for domestic products within the distribution
security must be interpreted as not precluding national                     network, does not fall within the scope of Article 30 of
provisions under which employment regularly consisting of                   the EC Treaty;
fewer than 15 hours ' work a week and regularly attracting
remuneration of up to one-seventh of the average monthly              3 . Articles 5, 90 and 86 of the EC Treaty do not preclude
salary is excluded from the statutory old-age insurance                     national legislation, such as that in force in Italy, from
scheme, even where they affect considerably more women                      reserving the retail sale of manufactured tobacco
than men, since the national legislature was reasonably                     products to distributors who have been authorized by
entitled to consider that the legislation in question was                   the State;
necessary in order to achieve a social policy aim unrelated to
any discrimination on grounds of sex.                                 4 . Article 30 of the EC Treaty does not preclude national
                                                                            legislation, such as that in force in Italy, from penalizing
(!) OJ No C 205 , 29 . 7 . 1993 .                                           as a smuggling offence the unlawful possession by a
                                                                            consumer of manufactured tobacco products from
                                                                            other Member States on which excise duty in accord
                                                                            with Community law has not been paid, where the retail
                                                                            sale of those products is, like the retail sale of identical
                                                                            domestic products, reserved to distributors authorized
                                                                            by the State.
               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                     of 14 December 1995                              ( 1 ) OJ No C 256 , 21 . 9 . 1993 .
in Case C-387/93 (reference for a preliminary ruling made
by the Pretura Circondariale di Genova): criminal
     proceedings against Giorgio Domingo Banchero ( 1 )
(Articles 5, 30, 37, 85, 86, 90, 92 and 95 of the EC
                                                                                      JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                               Treaty)
                                                                                              14 December 1995
                           ( 96/C 64/03 )
                                                                      in Case C-444/93 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
                                                                      the Sozialgericht Speyer): Ursula Megner and Hildegard
                 (Language of the case: Italian)                      Scheffel v. Innungskrankenkasse Vorderpfalz, now
                                                                                 Innungskrankenkasse Rheinhessen-Pfalz ( 1 )
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be          (Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social
         published in the European Court Reports)                     security — Article 4(1) ofDirective 79/7/EEC — Minor and
                                                                      short-term employment — Exclusion from compulsory
                                                                      old-age insurance and sickness insurance and from the
In Case C-387/93 : reference to the Court under Article 177
                                                                      obligation to pay unemployment insurance contributions)
of the EC Treaty by the Pretura Circondariale di Genova
                                                                                                    96/C 64/04
( District Magistrate's Court, Genoa ) ( Italy ), for a
preliminary ruling in the criminal proceedings before that
court against Giorgio Domingo Banchero — on the                                        (Language of the case: German)
interpretation of Articles 5 , 30, 37, 85 , 86 , 90, 92 and 95 of
the EC Treaty — the Court, composed of: G. C. Rodriguez                (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
Iglesias, President, D. A. O. Edward, J. -P. Puissochet                          published in the European Court Reports)
( Rapporteur) and G. Hirsch ( Presidents of Chambers ), G. F.
Mancini, F. A. Schockweiler, J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, P.            In Case C-444/93 : reference to the Court under Article 177
J. G. Kapteyn, C. Gulmann, J. L. Murray, for the Registrar,           of the EC Treaty from the Sozialgericht ( Social Court )
has given a judgment on 14 December 1995 , the operative              Speyer ( Germany ) for a preliminary ruling in the
part of which is as follows :                                         proceedings pending before that court between Ursula
                                                                      Megner and Hildegard Scheffel and Innungskrankenkasse
 1 . Article 37 ofthe EC Treaty has no relevance with regard          Vorderpfalz, now Innungskrankenkasse Rheinhessen-Pfalz,
     to national legislation, such as that in force in Italy,          supported by Landesversicherungsanstalt Rheinland-Pfalz,
                                                                       Bundesanstalt fur Arbeit and Firma G. F. Hehl & Co . — on
     which reserves the retail sale of manufactured tobacco
     products to distributors authorized by the State,                 the interpretation of Article 4 ( 1 ) of Council Directive
     provided that the State does not intervene in the                 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive
     procurement choices of retailers;                                 implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men
                                                                       and women in matters of social security ( OJ No L 6 , 1979 ,
                                                                       p. 24 ) — the Court, composed of: G. C. Rodriguez Iglesias,
 2 . national legislation, such as that in force in Italy, which       President, C. N. Kakouris ( Rapporteur ), D. A. O. Edward
     reserves the retail sale of manufactured tobacco                  and G. Hirsch ( Presidents of Chambers ), F. A. Schockweiler,
     products, irrespective of their origin, to authorized             J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, P. J. G. Kapteyn, J. L. Murray, P.
     distributors but does not thereby bar access to the               Jann, H. Ragnemalm and L. Sevón, Judges; P. Leger,