CELEX: C1999/071/01
Language: en
Date: 1999-03-13 00:00:00
Title: JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fifth Chamber) of 10 December 1998 in Joined Cases C-127/96, C-229/96 and C-74/97 (references for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Murcia, the Arbeitsgericht Frankfurt am Main and the Juzgado de lo Social No 1 de Pontevedra): Francisco Hernández Vidal SA v Prudencia Gómez Pérez, María Gómez Pérez, Contratas y Limpiezas SL (C-127/96), Friedrich Santner v Hoechst AG (C-229/96) and Mercedes Gómez Montaña v Claro Sol SA, Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles (Renfe) (C-74/97) (Safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings)

13.3.1999            EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                     C 71/1
                                                                 I
                                                           (Information)
                                             COURT OF JUSTICE
                                                       COURT OF JUSTICE
              JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                  (C-74/97) Ð on the interpretation of Council Directive
                      (Fifth Chamber)                                77/187/EEC of 14 February 1977 on the approximation of
                                                                     the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding
                   of 10 December 1998                               of employees' rights in the event of transfers of
                                                                     undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses (OJ L 61,
in Joined Cases C-127/96, C-229/96 and C-74/97
                                                                     5.3.1977, p. 26) Ð the Court (Fifth Chamber), composed
(references for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal
                                                                     of: J.-P. Puissochet (Rapporteur), President of Chamber,
Superior de Justicia de Murcia, the Arbeitsgericht Frank-
                                                                     P. Jann, J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, C. Gulmann and
furt am Main and the Juzgado de lo Social No 1 de
                                                                     D. A. O. Edward, Judges; G. Cosmas, Advocate General;
Pontevedra): Francisco HernaÂndez Vidal SA v Prudencia
                                                                     H. von Holstein, Administrator, for the Registrar, has
Gómez PeÂrez, María Gómez PeÂrez, Contratas y Limpiezas
                                                                     given a judgment on, in which it has ruled:
SL (C-127/96), Friedrich Santner v Hoechst AG
(C-229/96) and Mercedes Gómez MontanÄa v Claro Sol
SA, Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles EspanÄoles (Renfe)                 Article 1(1) of Council Directive 77/187/EEC of
                         (C-74/97) (1)                               14 February 1977 on the approximation of the laws of the
(Safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers         Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees'
                      of undertakings)                               rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses
                                                                     or parts of businesses is to be interpreted as meaning that
                       (1999/C 71/01)                                the directive applies to a situation in which an
                                                                     undertaking which used to entrust the cleaning of its
        (Language of the case: Spanish and German)                   premises to another undertaking decides to terminate the
                                                                     contract which it had with that other undertaking and in
                                                                     future to carry out that cleaning work itself, provided that
 (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be        the operation is accompanied by the transfer of an
         published in the European Court Reports)                    economic entity between the two undertakings. The term
                                                                     economic entity refers to an organised grouping of persons
                                                                     and assets enabling an economic activity which pursues a
In Joined Cases C-127/96, C-229/96 and C-74/97:                      specific objective to be exercised. The mere fact that the
references to the Court under Article 177 of the EC Treaty           maintenance work carried out first by the cleaning firm
from the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Murcia (Spain)             and then by the undertaking owning the premises is
(C-127/96), by the Arbeitsgericht Frankfurt am Main                  similar does not justify the conclusion that a transfer of
(Germany) (C-229/96) and by the Juzgado de lo Social                 such an entity has occurred.
No 1 de Pontevedra (Spain) (C-74/97) for a preliminary
ruling in the proceedings pending before those courts in
                                                                     (1) OJ C 180, 22.6.1996.
the cases of Francisco HernaÂndez Vidal SA v Prudencia                   OJ C 269, 14.9.1996.
Gómez PeÂrez, María Gómez PeÂrez, Contratas y Limpiezas                  OJ C 131, 26.4.1997.
SL (C-127/96), Friedrich Santner v Hoechst AG
(C-229/96) and Mercedes Gómez MontanÄa v Claro Sol
SA, Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles EspanÄoles (Renfe)