CELEX: C1998/041/10
Language: en
Date: 1998-02-07 00:00:00
Title: JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Sixth Chamber) of 11 December 1997 in Case C-246/96 (reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court by the Office of the Industrial Tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal): Mary Teresa Magorrian and Irene Patricia Cunningham against Eastern Health and Social Services Board, Department of Health and Social Services (Equal pay for male and female workers - Article 119 of the EC Treaty - Protocol 2 annexed to the Treaty on European Union - Occupational social security schemes - Exclusion of part-time workers from status conferring entitlement to certain additional pension benefits - Date from which such benefits must be calculated - National procedural time-limits)

C 41/6                EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                    7.2.98
     such against such a person, there is no need to                  Ð the public placement offices are manifestly unable to
     examine whether Article 6 of the First Directive 68/                 satisfy demand on the market for all types of activity,
     151/EEC has direct effect.                                           and
(1) OJ C 145, 18.5.1996.
                                                                      Ð the actual placement of employees by private
                                                                          companies is rendered impossible by the maintenance
                                                                          in force of statutory provisions under which such
                                                                          activities are prohibited and non-observance of that
                                                                          prohibition gives rise to penal and administrative
                                                                          sanctions, and
               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                        (Sixth Chamber)
                                                                      Ð the placement activities in question could extend to
                    of 11 December 1997                                   the nationals or to the territory of other Member
                                                                          States.
in Case C-55/96 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Corte d'Appello, Milan): Non-contentious proceedings
    brought before that court by Job Centre Coop. arl (1)             (1) OJ C 133, 4.5.1996.
(Freedom to provide services Ð Placement of employees
Ð Exclusion of private undertakings Ð Exercise of
                       official authority)
                          (98/C 41/09)
                                                                                     JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                (Language of the case: Italian)
                                                                                             (Sixth Chamber)
                                                                                          of 11 December 1997
  (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be        in Case C-246/96 (reference for a preliminary ruling to
          published in the European Court Reports)                    the Court by the Office of the Industrial Tribunals and the
                                                                      Fair Employment Tribunal): Mary Teresa Magorrian and
                                                                      Irene Patricia Cunningham against Eastern Health and
                                                                      Social Services Board, Department of Health and Social
In Case C-55/96: reference to the Court under Article 177                                       Services (1)
of the EC Treaty by the Corte d'Appello, Milan, Italy, for
a preliminary ruling in the non-contentious proceedings               (Equal pay for male and female workers Ð Article 119 of
(giurisdizione volontaria) brought before that court by Job           the EC Treaty Ð Protocol 2 annexed to the Treaty on
Centre Coop. arl Ð on the interpretation of Articles 48,              European Union Ð Occupational social security schemes
49, 55, 56, 59, 60, 62, 66, 86 and 90 of the EC Treaty Ð              Ð Exclusion of part-time workers from status conferring
the Court (Sixth Chamber) composed of: R. Schintgen,                  entitlement to certain additional pension benefits Ð Date
President of the Second Chamber, acting as President of               from which such benefits must be calculated Ð National
the Sixth Chamber, G. F. Mancini and P. J. G. Kapteyn                                     procedural time-limits)
(Rapporteur), Judges; B. Elmer, Advocate-General; L.
Hewlett, Administrator, gave a judgment on 11 December                                         (98/C 41/10)
1997, the operative part of which is as follows:
                                                                                      (Language of the case: English)
Public placement offices are subject to the prohibition
contained in Article 86 of the EC Treaty, so long as
application of that provision does not obstruct the
performance of the particular task assigned to them. A                In Case C-246/96: reference to the Court under Article 177
Member State which prohibits any activity as an                       of the EC Treaty by the Office of the Industrial Tribunals
intermediary between supply and demand on the                         and the Fair Employment Tribunal, Belfast, for a
employment market, whether as an employment agency or                 preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that
as an employment business, unless carried on by those                 court between Mary Teresa Magorrian, Irene Patricia
offices, is in breach of Article 90 (1) of the Treaty where it        Cunningham and Eastern Health and Social Services
creates a situation in which those offices cannot avoid               Board, Department of Health and Social Services, on the
infringing Article 86 of the Treaty. That is the case, in             interpretation of Article 119 of the EC Treaty and of
particular, in the following circumstances:                           Protocol 2 concerning Article 119 of that Treaty, annexed
 ---pagebreak--- 7.2.98                 EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                       C 41/7
to the Treaty on European Union Ð the Court (Sixth                   1968 on coordination of safeguards which, for the
Chamber) composed of: R. Schintgen, President of the                 protection of the interests of members and others, are
Second Chamber, acting as President of the Sixth                     required by Member States of companies within the
Chamber, G. F. Mancini (Rapporteur), P. J. G. Kapteyn,               meaning of the second paragraph of Article 58 of the
J. L. Murray and G. Hirsch, Judges; G. Cosmas,                       Treaty, with a view to making such safeguards equivalent
Advocate-General; L. Hewlett, Administrator, gave a                  throughout the Community (OJ, English Special Edition
judgment on 11 December 1997, the operative part of                  1968 (I), p. 41) Ð the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed
which is as follows:                                                 of: H. Ragnemalm (Rapporteur), President of the
                                                                     Chamber, G. F. Mancini and P. J. G. Kapteyn, Judges; A.
                                                                     La Pergola, Advocate-General; L. Hewlett, Administrator,
1. Periods of service completed by part-time workers                 for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 16 December
     who have suffered indirect discrimination based on sex          1997, in which it has ruled:
     must be taken into account as from 8 April 1976, the
     date of the judgment in Case C-43/75 Defrenne, for
     the purposes of calculating the additional benefits to          The rules governing the enforceability as against third
     which they are entitled.                                        parties of acts done by members of company organs in
                                                                     circumstances where there is a conflict of interests with
                                                                     the company fall outside the normative framework of the
2. Community law precludes the application, to a claim               First Council Directive 68/151/EEC of 9 March 1968 on
     based on Article 119 of the EC Treaty for recognition           coordination of safeguards which, for the protection of the
     of the claimants' entitlement to join an occupational           interests of members and others, are required by Member
     pension scheme, of a national rule under which such             States of companies within the meaning of the second
     entitlement, in the event of a successful claim, is             paragraph of Article 58 of the Treaty, with a view to
     limited to a period which starts to run from a point in         making such safeguards equivalent throughout the
     time two years prior to commencement of proceedings             Community, and are matters for the national legislature.
     in connection with the claim.
                                                                     (1) OJ C 145, 18.5.1996.
(1) OJ C 269, 14.9.1996.
                                                                                   JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                         of 18 December 1997
                        (Sixth Chamber)
                                                                     in Case C-129/96 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
                     of 16 December 1997                             the Belgian Conseil d'EÂtat): Inter-Environnement Wallonie
in Case C-104/96 (reference for a preliminary ruling from                             ASBL v. ReÂgion Wallonne (1)
the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden): Coöperatieve Rabobank                (Directive 91/156/EEC Ð Period for transposition Ð
Vecht en Plassengebied' BA v. Erik Aarnoud Minderhoud                               Effects Ð Definition of waste)
         (receiver in bankruptcy of Mediasafe BV) (1)
                                                                                              (98/C 41/12)
(Company law Ð First Directive 68/151/EEC Ð Scope Ð
Representation of a company Ð Conflict of interests Ð
Lack of authority of a director to enter into a binding                             (Language of the case: French)
            transaction on behalf of the company)
                          (98/C 41/11)
                                                                       (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
                                                                              published in the European Court Reports)
                 (Language of the case: Dutch)
                                                                     In Case C-129/96: reference to the Court under Article 177
  (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be       of the EC Treaty by the Belgian Conseil d'EÂtat for a
          published in the European Court Reports)                   preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that
                                                                     court between Inter-Environnement Wallonie ASBL and
                                                                     ReÂgion Wallonne Ð on the interpretation of Articles 5
In Case C-104/96: reference to the Court under Article 177           and 189 of the EEC Treaty and Article 1(a) of Council
of the EC Treaty from the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden                  Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste (OJ L 194,
(Supreme Court of the Netherlands) for a preliminary                 25.7.1975, p. 39), as amended by Council Directive 91/
ruling in the proceedings pending before that court                  156/EEC of 18 March 1991 (OJ L 78, 26.3.1991, p. 32)
between Coöperatieve Rabobank Vecht en Plassengebied'               Ð the Court composed of: G. C. Rodríguez Iglesias,
BA and Erik Aarnoud Minderhoud (receiver in bankruptcy               President, C. Gulmann, H. Ragnemalm and R. Schintgen,
of Mediasafe BV) Ð on the interpretation of Article 9(1)             Presidents of Chambers, G. F. Mancini, J. C. Moitinho de
of the First Council Directive 68/151/EEC of 9 March                 Almeida, P. J. G. Kapteyn, J. L. Murray, D. A. O. Edward,