CELEX: C2001/227/02
Language: en
Date: 2001-08-11 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 26 June 2001 in Case C-173/99 [reference for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen's Bench Division (Crown Office)]: The Queen v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Social policy — Protection of the health and safety of workers — Directive 93/104/EC — Entitlement to paid annual leave — Condition imposed by national legislation — Completion of a qualifying period of employment with the same employer)

C 227/2                 EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                          11.8.2001
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                                    JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                                    (Sixth Chamber)
                         (Sixth Chamber)
                                                                                                    of 26 June 2001
                         of 26 June 2001
                                                                         In Case C-212/99: Commission of the European Comuni-
                                                                                               ties v Italien Republic (1)
in Case C-173/99 [reference for a preliminary ruling from
the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen’s
Bench Division (Crown Office)]: The Queen v Secretary                    (Failure by a Member State to fulfil obligations — Free
               of State for Trade and Industry (1)                       movement of workers — Principle of non-discrimination
                                                                         — Former foreign-language assistants — Recognition of
                                                                                                     acquired rights)
(Social policy — Protection of the health and safety of
workers — Directive 93/104/EC — Entitlement to paid                                                 (2001/C 227/03)
annual leave — Condition imposed by national legislation
— Completion of a qualifying period of employment with
                        the same employer)
                                                                                              (Language of the case: Italian)
                         (2001/C 227/02)
                                                                         (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                                                                                             in the European Court Reports)
                   (Language of the case: English)
                                                                         In Case C-212/99, Commission of the European Communities
                                                                         (Agents: P. J. Kuijper and E. Traversa), supported by United
                                                                         Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Agent:
In Case C-173/99: reference to the Court under Article 177 of            J. E. Collins, assisted by C. Lewis) against Italian Republic
the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) from the High Court of                (Agent: U. Leanza, assisted by G. Aiello) — application for a
Justice of England and Wales, Queen’s Bench Division (Crown              declaration that, because of the administrative and contractual
Office) (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)           practices applied by certain public universities, which result in
for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that          the non-recognition of the acquired rights of foreign-language
court between The Queen v Secretary of State for Trade and               assistants, although such recognition is guaranteed to its
Industry, ex parte: Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinemato-               national work-force, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its
graphic and Theatre Union (BECTU) — on the interpretation                obligations under Article 48 of the EC Treaty (now Article 39
of Article 7 of Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November               EC) — the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: C. Gulmann,
1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of work-             President of the Chamber, J.-P. Puissochet, F. Macken, N. Col-
ing time (OJ 1993 L 307, p. 18) — the Court (Sixth Chamber),             neric and J. N. Cunha Rodrigues (Rapporteur), Judges;
composed of: C. Gulmann, President of the Chamber, V. Skour-             L. A. Geelgoed, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Administrator,
is, R. Schintgen (Rapporteur), N. Colneric and J.N. Cunha                for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 26 June 2001, in
Rodrigues, Judges; A. Tizzano, Advocate General; L. Hewlett,             which it:
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
26 June 2001, in which it has ruled:
                                                                         1.    Declares that by not guaranteeing recognition of the rights
                                                                               acquired by foreign-language assistants, who have become
                                                                               associates and linguistic experts in their mother-tongue,
Article 7(1) of Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993                although such recognition is guaranteed to its national work-
concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time does            force, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations
not allow a Member State to adopt national rules under which a                 under Article 48 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
worker does not begin to accrue rights to paid annual leave until he           Article 39 EC).
has completed a minimum period of 13 weeks’ uninterrupted
employment with the same employer.                                       2.    Orders the Italian Republic to pay the costs.
                                                                         3.    Orders the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
                                                                               Ireland to pay its own costs.
(1) OJ C 204 of 17.7.1999.
                                                                         (1) OJ C 226 of 7.8.1999.