CELEX: C2009/023/10
Language: en
Date: 2009-01-29 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court of 1 February 2008 in Case E-4/07 Jón Gunnar Þorkelsson v Gildi-lífeyrissjóður (Gildi Pension Fund) (Invalidity pension rights — Free movement of workers — Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 — Regulation (EEC) No 574/72)

29.1.2009   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 23/13
            
         
      JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
   
   of 1 February 2008
   in Case E-4/07 Jón Gunnar Þorkelsson v Gildi-lífeyrissjóður (Gildi Pension Fund)
   
      (Invalidity pension rights — Free movement of workers — Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 — Regulation (EEC) No 574/72)
   
   (2009/C 23/10)
   In Case E-4/07 between Jón Gunnar Þorkelsson and Gildi-lífeyrissjóður (Gildi Pension Fund) — Request to the Court by Héraðsdómur Reykjavíkur (Reykjavík District Court), Iceland, concerning rules on the free movement of workers within the EEA, the Court, composed of Carl Baudenbacher, President, Henrik Bull, Judge-Rapporteur, and Thorgeir Örlygsson, Judge, gave judgment on 1 February 2008, the operative part of which is as follows:
   
               1.
            
            
               the term ‘social security’, as it is to be understood under Article 29 EEA and Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71, covers the entitlement to an invalidity benefit that arises in pension fund schemes such as the one at issue in the main proceedings, including pensions based on projected rights;
            
         
               2.
            
            
               it is not compatible with Article 45(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 to subject the entitlement to invalidity benefits based on projected rights, such as those at issue in the main proceedings, to the condition that a member of a pension fund must have paid contributions to a fund belonging to a certain group of funds for a specific period preceding the date of an accident and thereby exclude contributions paid into social security systems in other EEA States in relation to work there;
            
         
               3.
            
            
               under Regulation (EEC) No 574/72, persons shall present their claims in the State where they were resident and where they had social security entitlements at the time of their injury. However, the lodging of a claim with the relevant institution of another EEA State is without prejudice to the right to benefits under Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71. It is in any case for each institution concerned to make the final decision as to whether the claimant must be awarded the benefit claimed from that institution.