Deutsche Angestellten-Krankenkasse v Lærerstandens Brandforsikring G/S.
Date: 1994-06-02
16 Like Article 52 of Regulation No 3 of the Council of 25 September 1958 concerning social security for migrant workers (Journal Officiel 1958 No 30, p. 561), whose wording it largely reproduces, Article 93(1) of the regulation has the object of allowing a social security institution, which has paid social security benefits following an injury sustained in the territory of another Member State, to exercise against the third party liable for the injury the rights of action provided for by the legislation which it administers, either by means of subrogation or by any other legal method (see the judgment in Case 27/69 Entr' aide Médicale v Assurances Générales [1969] ECR 405, paragraph 15). The rights thus conferred on national social security institutions constitute a logical and fair counterpart to the extension of the obligations of those institutions throughout the entire Community as a result of the provisions of the regulation (see the judgments in Case 33/64 Betriebskrankenkasse Heseper Torfwerk v Koster [1965] ECR 97 and Case 44/65 Hessische Knappschaft v Singer [1965] ECR 965).
17 To that end, Article 93(1) of the regulation provides that each Member State is to recognize the subrogation of the institution responsible for benefits to the rights which the recipient of the benefits has against the third party bound to compensate for the injury, or the direct rights of the institution responsible against the third party, where that institution is so subrogated or has such rights under the legislation of the Member State to which it is subject.
18 Article 93(1) must thus be seen as conflict-of-laws rule, which requires the national court hearing an action for compensation brought against the party liable for the injury to apply the law of the Member State to which the institution responsible is subject, not only to determine whether that institution is subrogated by law to the rights of the injured party or has direct rights against the third party liable, but also to determine the nature and extent of the claims to which the institution responsible for benefits is subrogated or which it can bring directly against the third parties.
20 The rights referred to in Article 93(1) of the regulation relate, however, in accordance with the wording of that article, only to social security benefits payable as a result of an injury which has occurred in the territory of another Member State (see the judgment in Case 72/76 Landesversicherungsanstalt Rheinland-Pfalz v Toepfer [1977] ECR 271, paragraphs 13 to 15). Since LB in its observations expressed doubt as to whether those rights could relate to benefits intended to cover costs such as the costs of Miss Leipelt' s hospital treatment in Denmark and the transport from Denmark to Germany, it must be stated that the benefits referred to in Article 93(1) include benefits intended to cover costs, such as hospital or transport costs, incurred in a Member State other than that in which the institution responsible is established.
21 Finally, it should be noted that Article 93(1) of the regulation is intended only to ensure that the rights which the institution responsible may have by virtue of the legislation which it administers are recognized by the other Member States. Its purpose is not to alter the rules applicable for determining whether and to what extend there is non-contractual liability on the part of the third party who has caused the injury. The third party' s liability remains subject to the substantive rules which are normally to be applied by the national court before which proceedings are brought by the institution responsible or by the victim, in other words, in principle the legislation of the Member State in whose territory the injury has occurred (see on this point the judgments in Hessische Knappschaft, cited above, and Case 78/72 L' Etoile v Syndicat Général [1973] ECR 499, paragraph 6).