CELEX: 51987PC0494
Language: en
Date: 1987-10-23
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE COMPLETING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL TREATMENT FOR MEN AND WOMEN IN STATUTORY AND OCCUPATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEMES

No C 309/10                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                   19.11.87
3. Article 8 is replaced by the following:                             2.     Where recourse is had to the procedure defined
                                                                       in this paragraph, the following provisions shall apply:
    'Article 8
    1.    Where recourse is had to the procedure defined               The representative of the Commission shall     submit to
   in this paragraph, the following provisions shall apply:            the Committee a draft of the measures to        be taken.
                                                                       The Committee shall deliver its opinion on       the draft
   The representative of the Commission shall submit to
                                                                       within a time limit which the chairman may      lay down
   the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken.
                                                                       according to the urgency of the matter, if      necessary
   The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft                by taking a vote.
   within a time limit which the chairman may lay down
   according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion                 The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in
   shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article             addition, each Member State shall have the right to
    148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which                ask to have its position recorded in the minutes.
   the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from
   the Commission. The votes of the representatives of                 The Commission shall take the utmost account of the
   the Member States within the Committee shall be                     opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform
   weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The                 the Committee of the manner in which its opinion has
   chairman shall not vote.                                            been taken into account.'
   The Commission shall adopt measures which shall
   apply immediately. However, if these measures are               4. The second paragraph of Article 14 is deleted.
   not in accordance with the opinion of the Committee,
   they shall be communicated by the Commission to the
   Council forthwith. In that event the Commission may                                           Article 2
   defer application of the measures which it has decided          This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
   for a period of not more that one month from the                following its publication in the Official Journal of the
   date of such communication.                                     European Communities.
   The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take
   a different decision within the period referred to in           This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
   the previous subparagraph.                                      directly applicable in all Member States.
               Proposal for a Council Directive completing the implementation of the principle of equal
                     treatment for men and women in statutory and occupational social security schemes
                                                      COM(87) 494 final
                              (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 27 October 1987)
                                                         (87/C 309/11)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           matters of social security (') states that the Directive does
                                                                   not apply to the provisions concerning survivors' benefits
                                                                   or to those concerning family benefits; whereas Article 7
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              (1) specifies that the Directive is without prejudice to the
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 100 and             right of Member States to exclude from its scope a
235 thereof,                                                       number of specified provisions;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                 Whereas Article 4 of Council Directive 86/378/EEC of
                                                                   24 July 1986 on the implementation of the principle of
                                                                   equal treatment for men and women in occupational
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                  social security schemes (2) limits the number of risks
liament,                                                            covered in respect of self-employed persons; whereas
                                                                   Article 9 of that Directive provides that Member States
                                                                    may defer its application as regards determination of
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                   pensionable age and survivors' pensions;
Social Committee,
Whereas Article 3 (2) of Council Directive 79/7/EEC of
 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of              (l) O J N o L 6 , 10. 1. 1979, p. 24.
the principle of equal treatment for men and women in               O OJ No L 225, 12. 8. 1986, p. 40.
 ---pagebreak--- 19. 11.87                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 309/11
Whereas on 24 July 1986 the Council adopted a                      HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
resolution on the promotion of equal opportunities for
women (') wherein it in particular gives its support to the
main lines of the Commission                Communication                                       Article 1
concerning a new medium-term programme promoting
                                                                   1.      The aim of this Directive is to complete, in the
equal opportunities for women 1986 to 1990 (2); whereas
                                                                   areas specified in Article 3, the implementation of the
this programme in particular envisages the proposal of a
                                                                   principle of equal treatment for men and women in
new legal instrument to supplement existing provisions in
                                                                   matters of social security as defined in Article 4 of
areas not covered by current legislation with a view to
                                                                   Directive 79/7/EEC and Article 5 (1) of Directive
the gradual individualization of entitlements;
                                                                   86/378/EEC, hereinafter referred to as 'the principle of
                                                                   equal treatment'.
Whereas by its Resolution of 22 December 1986 (3) on
an action programme on employment growth the
Council reiterated at paragraph II (2) (f) its wish to             2.      This Directive shall be without prejudice to the
bring about an increase in the equality of access to, and          provisions relating to the protection of women by reason
of opportunity within, the labour market for women,                of maternity.
especially through implementation of the Community
medium-term programme 1986 to 1990;
                                                                                                Article 2
Whereas Article 9 (a) and (b) of Directive 86/378/EEC
                                                                   This Directive shall apply to:
envisages the adoption of a subsequent Directive to
terminate the derogations authorized therein;
                                                                   (a) the working population (including self-employed
Whereas it is appropriate to implement the principle of                 persons, workers whose activity is interrupted by
equal treatment in areas where application of Directives                 illness,    maternity,      accident    or    involuntary
79/7/EEC and 86/378/EEC is or may be excluded or                         unemployment and persons seeking employment);
deferred, in order to achieve total elimination of discrimi-
nation on grounds of sex in respect of social security;            (b) retired workers;
whereas arrangements for this purpose should be laid
down;
                                                                   (c) disabled workers;
Whereas implementation of the principle of equal
treatment as regards social security should not prejudice          (d) members of the family, survivors and other persons
the provisions relating to the protection of women by                    dependent on those referred to under (a), (b) and
reason of maternity;                                                     (c), these categories of persons to be defined by the
                                                                         Member States' national legislation.
Whereas equal treatment of male and female workers
 constitutes one of the Community's                objectives,
 necessitating in particular the achievement of equality as                                      Article 3
 regards the conditions of coverage by statutory and                Under the conditions laid down by this Directive, the
 occupational social security schemes whilst maintaining            principle of equal treatment shall be extended to:
 the improvement of such conditions;
 Whereas it is appropriate to select from the means                 (a) the provisions of statutory schemes             concerning
 available to achieve this aim those which particularly                  survivors' benefits and family benefits;
 tend to promote the individualization of entitlements;
                                                                    (b) the corresponding provisions of occupational
 Whereas achievement of this aim should be accompanied                   schemes (including those concerning the family
 by transitional measures designed to protect certain cate-              benefits of occupational schemes for self-employed
 gories of holders of existing entitlements;                             workers);
 Whereas there are broad overlapping areas in statutory             (c) the areas in which implementation of the principle of
 and      occupational     schemes;    whereas      Directives            equal treatment may be excluded or deferred
 79/7/EEC and 86/378/EEC take account of this;                            pursuant to:
 whereas as a consequence it is appropriate to take simul-
                                                                           (i) Article 7 (1) (a) to (d) of Directive 79/7/EEC,
 taneous action in respect of both these areas by means of
 a single legislative act,                                                     or
                                                                          (ii) Article 9 (a) of Directive 86/378/EEC;
  (') OJ No C 203, 12. 8. 1986, p. 2.                                (d) the provisions concerning social assistance, where
  (2) European Community Bulletin Supplement 3/86.                        they are intended to supplement the benefits referred
  (') OJ No C 340, 31. 12. 1986, p. 2.                                    to under (a) or (c) (i) or to replace them.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 309/12                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  19.11.87
                   I. Survivors' benefits                           3.    Unless there is statutory provision for parents to
                                                                    share entitlement, benefits shall be paid without dis-
             SURVIVING SPOUSE'S BENEFITS
                                                                    crimination to one or other parent.
                           Article 4
                                                                    Accordingly:
The principle of equal treatment means, as regards
surviving spouse's benefits, that there shall be no discrimi-       — where parents are living together, benefits shall be
nation on grounds of sex and to this end:                               paid to the mother only if the parents have not
(a) either the recognition on the same terms for                        exercised their option of specifying which of them
    widowers of entitlement to the pensions and other                   shall receive the benefits,
    benefits provided for widows;
                                                                    — in case of divorce or separation, benefits shall be paid
(b) or the replacement of widows' benefits by the                       to the parent who is actually taking care of the child.
    creation or extension of a system of individual rights
    open to all surviving spouses regardless of sex.
                                                                              BENEFITS FOR DEPENDENT ADULTS
                   ORPHANS' BENEFITS
                                                                                               Article 8
                           Article 5                                The principle of equal treatment means with regard to
The principle of equal treatment means with regard to               benefits for dependent adults that there shall be no
orphans' benefits that there shall be no discrimination on          discrimination on the grounds of the sex of:
the grounds of the sex of:
                                                                    (a) the dependent adult;
(a) the deceased parent,
     or                                                             (b) the person caring for the dependent adult.
(b) the orphan.
                                                                    III. Extension of the principle of equal treatment to areas
              OTHER SURVIVORS' BENEFITS                             where its implementation might be excluded or deferred
                                                                    under Article 7 (1) (a) to (d) of Directive 79/7/EEC and
                           Article 6                                           Article 9 (a) of Directive 86/378/EEC
The principle of equal treatment means with regard to                                    RETIREMENT AGE
other survivors' benefits that there shall be no discrimi-
                                                                                               Article 9
nation on the grounds of the sex of:
                                                                    1.    Without prejudice to the transitional provisions in
(a) the deceased person,
                                                                    paragraph 2 and in Article 10, when a pensionable age is
     or                                                             determined for the purpose of granting old age and
                                                                    retirement pensions it shall be identical for both sexes.
(b) the survivor.
                                                                    2.    If fixing an identical pensionable age leads to a
                     II. Family benefits                            reduction or increase in that age for workers of a given
                                                                    sex, provision shall be made for gradual implementation
 CHILD BENEFIT AND BIRTH OR ADOPTION GRANT                          and for temporary safeguards for workers having
                                                                    reached the specified age, enabling them if they so wish
                           Article 7
                                                                    to claim their pension at the age previously prescribed.
1.    The principle of equal treatment means that there
shall be no discrimination on grounds of sex with regard            3.    In the case of schemes which do not specify the
to:                                                                 pensionable age, the principle of equal treatment shall be
(a) child benefit,                                                  deemed to have been complied with where:
     and                                                            (a) within specified limits, the choice of age is left to the
(b) benefits introduced to assist parents to assume their                beneficiaries who meet the prescribed conditions,
                                                                         which must be identical for both sexes;
     parental responsibilities.
2.    The principle of equal treatment thus completed in                 or
this area shall apply both to natural parents and other
persons responsible for a child and thus meeting the                (b) the entitlement to the pension or other benefit
conditions (other than those which are incompatible with                 depends solely on the completion of a given number
this principle) laid down for the grant of benefits                      of contribution years, which is identical for both
referred to in paragraph 1.                                              sexes.
 ---pagebreak--- 19.11.87                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 309/13
                          Article 10                                                             Article 12
1.     There shall be no discrimination as regards the              Without prejudice to the application of Articles 9 (2) and
advantages in respect of old age pension schemes                    10 (2) of this Directive, Directives 79/7/EEC and
granted to persons who have brought up children, or as              86/378/EEC shall take effect within the fields covered
regards the acquisition of benefit entitlements following           by this Directive on the date set for the implementation
periods of interruption of employment due to the                    of the latter, subject to the following amendments:
bringing-up of children, provided that such persons have            (a) in Directive 7 9 / 7 / E E C :
actually interrupted their employment for that purpose.
                                                                          (i) Article 3 (2) is deleted;
                                                                         (ii) in Article 7(1) paragraphs (a) to (d) are deleted;
2.     The granting of old age or invalidity benefit                (b) in Article 9 of Directive 86/378/EEC, paragraphs (a)
entitlements by virtue of the derived entitlements of a                  and (b) are deleted.
spouse, or the granting of increases in long-term benefits
in respect of invalidity, old age, accidents at work and                                         Article 13
occupational disease for a dependent spouse shall be
                                                                    1.     Articles 5 and 6 of Directive 79/7/EEC            and
authorized solely in the case of those spouses who on the
                                                                    Articles 7, 10 and 11 of Directive 86/378/EEC shall
date when this Directive comes into effect have not
                                                                    apply to the matters covered by this Directive.
constituted their own personal entitlements to these
benefits.                                                           2.     With respect to application of the principle of equal
                                                                    treatment to benefits of the surviving spouse or the
                                                                    pensionable age, the Directive may not be relied upon in
                                                                    respect of applications submitted before the date of its
           GENERAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS                             implementation.
                          Article 11                                                             Article 14
This Directive shall be without prejudice to the right of           1.     Subject to Articles 8 and 9 (c) of Directive 86/378/
Member States to replace a system of derived rights                 EEC, Member States shall bring into force the laws,
granting, to the insured person's spouse, entitlement to            regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
social security benefits, as referred to in Directives              comply with this Directive within three years of its
79/7/EEC and 86/378/EEC and this Directive, by                      notification. They shall immediately inform the
reasons of his or her legal links with the insured person           Commission thereof.
with a system establishing personal entitlements, granted
to all beneficiaries individually, to the following benefits:       2.     Member States shall communicate to the
                                                                    Commission the text of the laws, regulations and
                                                                    administrative provisions which they adopt in the field
— in case of sickness, health service care,                         covered by this Directive.
                                                                                                 Article 15
— in old age, entitlement to a full pension,
                                                                    Within four years ot the date of notification of this
                                                                    Directive, Member States shall forward all necessary
— in the event of the death of a spouse, entitlement of
                                                                    information to the Commission to enable it to draw up a
     the survivor to financial assistance for reasons of
                                                                     report on the application of this Directive for submission
     health or social situation in the years preceding the
                                                                     to the Council.
     age at which the survivor is entitled to an old age
     pension, as well as temporary benefits in the case of                                       Article 16
     early death leaving the surviving spouse with a
     dependent child or children.                                   This Directive is addressed to the Member States.