Rijksdienst voor Pensioenen v Willem Hoogstad.
Date: 2016-10-26
19


It is settled case-law that it is solely for the national court before which the dispute has been brought, and which must assume responsibility for the subsequent judicial decision, to determine in the light of the particular circumstances of the case both the need for a preliminary ruling in order to enable it to deliver judgment and the relevance of the questions which it submits to the Court. Consequently, where the questions submitted by the national court concern the interpretation of EU law, the Court of Justice is, in principle, bound to give a ruling (see, inter alia, judgments of 15 June 2000, Sehrer, C‑302/98, EU:C:2000:322, paragraph 20, and 25 October 2012, Folien Fischer and Fofitec, C‑133/11, EU:C:2012:664, paragraph 25).
20


The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred for a preliminary ruling by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of EU law that is sought is unrelated to the actual facts of the main action or its purpose, where the problem is hypothetical, or where the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted (see, inter alia, judgments of 22 June 2010, Melki and Abdeli, C‑188/10 and C‑189/10, EU:C:2010:363, paragraph 27, and 28 February 2012, Inter-Environnement Wallonie and Terre wallonne, C‑41/11, EU:C:2012:103, paragraph 35).
27


The Court has already held that the concept of ‘legislation’ is broad, including all the types of legislative, regulatory and administrative measures adopted by the Member States, and must be taken to cover all the national measures applicable in the matter (judgment of 26 February 2015, de Ruyter, C‑623/13, EU:C:2015:123, paragraph 32).
28


In that context, the Court has stated that the decisive factor for the purposes of the application of Regulation No 1408/71 is that there must be a direct and sufficiently relevant link between the provision in question and the legislation governing the branches of social security listed in Article 4 of Regulation No 1408/71 (judgments of 18 May 1995, Rheinhold & Mahla, C‑327/92, EU:C:1995:144, paragraph 23; 15 February 2000, Commission v France, C‑34/98, EU:C:2000:84, paragraph 35; 15 February 2000, Commission v France, C‑169/98, EU:C:2000:85, paragraph 33; and 26 February 2015, de Ruyter, C‑623/13, EU:C:2015:123, paragraph 23).
29


Thus, the fact that a levy is categorised as a ‘tax’ under national legislation does not mean that, in respect of Regulation No 1408/71, that same levy cannot be regarded as falling within the scope of that regulation (judgment of 26 February 2015, de Ruyter, C‑623/13, EU:C:2015:123, paragraph 24 and the case-law cited).
30


Furthermore, the Court has held that levies which are not imposed on employment income and substitute income of workers but which are imposed on income from assets, are liable to fall within the scope of the regulation where it is found that the proceeds of those levies are allocated specifically and directly to the financing of certain branches of social security in the Member State in question (judgment of 26 February 2015, de Ruyter, C‑623/13, EU:C:2015:123, paragraph 28).
33


In order to ensure free movement of employed and self-employed persons within the European Union, while upholding the principle of equal treatment of those persons under the various measures of national legislation, Title II of Regulation No 1408/71 has established a system of coordination concerning, inter alia, the determination of the legislation applicable to employed and self-employed persons who make use, under various circumstances, of their right to freedom of movement (see, to that effect, judgments of 3 April 2008, Derouin, C‑103/06, EU:C:2008:185, paragraph 20, 3 March 2011, Tomaszewska, C‑440/09, EU:C:2011:114, paragraphs 25 and 28, and 26 February 2015, de Ruyter, C‑623/13, EU:C:2015:123, paragraph 34).
34


The completeness of that system of conflict rules has the effect of divesting the legislature of each Member State of the power to determine at its discretion the ambit and the conditions for the application of its national legislation so far as the persons who are subject thereto and the territory within which the provisions of national law take effect are concerned (judgments of 10 July 1986, Luijten, 60/85, EU:C:1986:307, paragraph 14, 5 November 2014, Somova, C‑103/13, EU:C:2014:2334, paragraph 54, and 26 February 2015, de Ruyter, C‑623/13, EU:C:2015:123, paragraph 35).
35


In that regard, Article 13(1) of Regulation No 1408/71 provides that the persons to whom that regulation applies are to be subject to the legislation of a single Member State only, which therefore excludes — subject to the cases provided for in Articles 14c and 14f — any possibility of the overlapping of the national legislation of several Member States in respect of one and the same period (see, to that effect, the judgments of 5 May 1977, Perenboom, 102/76, EU:C:1977:71, paragraph 11, and 26 February 2015, de Ruyter, C‑623/13, EU:C:2015:123, paragraph 36).
36


That principle that the legislation of a single Member State applies in matters of social security aims to avoid the complications which may ensue from the simultaneous application of a number of national legislative systems and to eliminate the unequal treatment which, for persons moving within the European Union, would be the consequence of a partial or total overlapping of the applicable legislation (see, to that effect, judgments of 15 February 2000, Commission v France, C‑34/98, EU:C:2000:84, paragraph 46; 15 February 2000Commission v France, C‑169/98, EU:C:2000:85, paragraph 43; and 26 February 2015, de Ruyter, C‑623/13, EU:C:2015:123, paragraph 37).
41


Article 33 of Regulation No 1408/71 must be read with reference to Articles 27, 28 and 28a of Section 5 of Chapter 1 of Title III of the regulation applicable to the rights of pensioners and members of their families, which cover either situations where the pensioner draws pensions under the legislation of two or more Member States or situations where he draws a pension under the legislation of a single Member State but is not entitled to benefits in his country of residence (see, to that effect, the judgment of 15 June 2000, Sehrer, C‑302/98, EU:C:2000:322, paragraph 26).
42


Accordingly, it cannot be inferred from the existence of substantive rules on the rights of pensioners, which are not in any way applicable to retirement or supplementary pensions that are based on agreements (see, to that effect, judgment of 16 January 1992, Commission v France, C‑57/90, EU:C:1992:10, paragraph 20), that the levy of social contributions on such supplementary pensions is compatible with the principle, laid down in Article 13(1) of Regulation No 1408/71, that only one legislation is applicable.