CELEX: C2002/109/04
Language: en
Date: 2002-05-04 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) 5 February 2002 in Case C-277/99 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof): Doris Kaske v Landesgeschäftsstelle des Arbeitsmarktservice Wien (Social security for migrant workers — Unemployment insurance — Replacing social security conventions concluded between Member States with Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 — Preservation of advantages enjoyed previously as a result of a combination of domestic law and the law of the relevant convention — Free movement of workers)

4.5.2002                 EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                             C 109/3
      —     by incompletely transposing Council Directive                  hereinafter ‘Rönfeldt’) to unemployment benefit and, secondly,
            89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a general system              the interpretation of Articles 48 and 51 of the EC Treaty (now,
            for the recognition of higher-education diplomas awarded       after amendment, Articles 39 EC and 42 EC), the Court (Sixth
            on completion of professional education and training of        Chamber), composed of: F. Macken, President of the Chamber,
            at least three years’ duration, inasmuch as no rules have      N. Colneric, J.-P. Puissochet (Rapporteur), R. Schintgen and
            been laid down to regulate the conduct of the aptitude test    V. Skouris, Judges; J. Mischo, Advocate General; R. Grass,
            for lawyers from other Member States,                          Registrar, has given a judgment on 5 February 2002, in which
                                                                           it has ruled:
      the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under
      Articles 52 and 59 of the Treaty and Directive 89/48;
2.    Dismisses the remainder of the application;
                                                                           1.    The principles laid down by the Court in Rönfeldt (Case
3.    Orders the Italian Republic and the Commission of the                      C-277/89) permitting non-application of the provisions of
      European Communities to bear their own costs.                              Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June
                                                                                 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed
(1) OJ C 188 of 3.7.1999.                                                        persons and their families moving within the Community, to
                                                                                 allow for continued application of a bilateral convention which
                                                                                 that regulation would otherwise have replaced to a worker who
                                                                                 is a national of a Member State also apply where the worker
                                                                                 exercised the right to freedom of movement before the regulation
                                                                                 entered into force and before the EC Treaty became applicable
                                                                                 in his Member State of origin.
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                          (Sixth Chamber)
                                                                           2.    If periods of insurance or employment that entitle a worker who
                                                                                 is a national of a Member State to the unemployment benefit
                          5 February 2002                                        claimed by him began to run before the entry into force of
                                                                                 Regulation No 1408/71, his situation must be assessed in the
in Case C-277/99 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from                        light of the provisions of the bilateral convention for the entire
the Verwaltungsgerichtshof): Doris Kaske v Landesge-                             period during which he was exercising his right to freedom of
        schäftsstelle des Arbeitsmarktservice Wien (1)                           movement, and taking into account all the periods of insurance
                                                                                 or employment completed by him regardless of whether those
(Social security for migrant workers — Unemployment                              periods preceded or succeeded the entry into force of the Treaty
insurance — Replacing social security conventions concluded                      and of Regulation No 1408/71 in his Member State of origin.
between Member States with Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71                           If, however, after having exhausted all his rights under the
— Preservation of advantages enjoyed previously as a result                      convention, he exercises his right to freedom of movement anew,
of a combination of domestic law and the law of the relevant                     and if he completes further periods of insurance or employment
           convention — Free movement of workers)                                entirely after the entry into force of Regulation No 1408/71,
                                                                                 his new situation is governed by that regulation.
                           (2002/C 109/04)
                    (Language of the case: German)                         3.    National law may contain more favourable rules than Com-
                                                                                 munity law provided that they comply with the principles of
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published           Community law. A rule in a Member State which, for the
                    in the European Court Reports)                               purposes of the criteria for entitlement to unemployment benefit,
                                                                                 favours workers who spent 15 years in that Member State
                                                                                 before their last employment abroad is incompatible with
                                                                                 Article 48 of the Treaty.
In Case C-277/99: Reference to the Court under Article 234
EC by the Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Austria) for a preliminary
ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between
Doris Kaske and Landesgeschäftsstelle des Arbeitsmarktservice
Wien, on the possible application of a convention relating
to unemployment insurance concluded between the Federal                    (1) OJ C 281 of 2.10.1999.
Republic of Germany and the Republic of Austria on unem-
ployment benefit, in place of Articles 3, 6, 67 and 71 of
Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971
on the application of social security schemes to employed
persons and their families moving within the Community (OJ,
English Special Edition 1971 (II), p. 416), by extending the
decision in Rönfeldt (Case C-227/89 [1991] ECR I-323,