Roger Noteboom v Rijksdienst voor Pensioenen.
Date: 2005-01-20
21. The Court has consistently held that a benefit can be regarded as a social security benefit only if, firstly, it is granted, without any individual and discretionary assessment of personal needs, to recipients on the basis of a legally defined position and, secondly, it relates to one of the risks expressly listed in Article 4(1) of Regulation No 1408/71 (see, in particular, Case C-78/91 Hughes  [1992] ECR I-4839, paragraph 15; Case C-85/99 Offermanns  [2001] ECR I-2261, paragraph 28; and Case C-333/00 Maaheimo  [2002] ECR I-10087, paragraph 22).
24. With regard to the second condition, the Court has repeatedly held that the distinction between benefits excluded from the scope of Regulation No 1408/71 and those which fall within its scope is based essentially on the constituent elements of each particular benefit, in particular its purposes and the conditions on which it is granted, and not on whether a benefit is classified as a social security benefit by national legislation (see, in particular, the judgment in Hughes , cited above, paragraph 14, and Joined Cases C-245/94 and C-312/94 Hoever and Zachow  [1996] ECR I-4895, paragraph 17).
25. Thus, as regards the legal nature of a benefit such as that in question in the main proceedings, the classification as holiday pay is not decisive in assessing whether that benefit may be regarded as an old-age benefit within the meaning of Article 4(1)(c) of Regulation No 1408/71.
26. On the contrary, it should be noted that the constituent elements of the holiday pay in question show that it may be considered an old-age benefit within the meaning of Article 4(1)(c) of Regulation No 1408/71, paid as a supplementary allowance within the meaning of Article 1(t) of Regulation No 1408/71.
27. Firstly, it is clear from the provisions relating to the grant of the holiday pay that it is paid exclusively to persons entitled to a retirement and/or survivor’s pension. Moreover, the national court has observed that the pensioners’ holiday pay is financed by the same resources that are used to finance the retirement and survivor’s pensions.
28. Secondly, as the national court has pointed out, the holiday pay linked to the retirement pension provides the recipients with means of subsistence. As the Commission has observed, the aim of that pay is, more exactly, to ensure that pensioners receive a financial supplement so that they may take a holiday.
29. The fact, mentioned by the national court, that the holiday pay is a flat-rate amount which bears no relation at all to the wage earned or the insurance periods completed does not bring into question its legal classification as an old-age benefit within the meaning of Article 4(1)(c) of Regulation No 1408/71. It is true that the Court has observed that such benefits are normally financed and acquired on the basis of the recipient’s own contributions and calculated by reference to the length of time during which he has been affiliated to the insurance scheme (see the judgment in Valentini , cited above, paragraph 14). However, the circumstances of the present case, examined in paragraphs 27 and 28 of this judgment, show that it concerns an old-age benefit within the meaning of Article 4(1)(c) of Regulation No 1408/71.