Commission of the European Communities v Italian Republic.
Date: 1989-02-02
18 It must also be noted that the possibility of excluding certain categories of worker from the scope of the directive, by reason of the particular nature of their contract of employment, their employment relationship or the existence of guarantees of other kinds providing them with equivalent protection is a possibility provided for by way of exception by Article 1(2 ) of the directive and is limited by that provision itself to the categories expressly mentioned in the list annexed to the directive . In the case of Italy, that list does not provide for the exclusion of any category of workers for any of the reasons indicated above .
19 It follows that managers, apprentices and out-workers, who are regarded as employees under Italian law, all fall within the scope of the directive .
20 It must be noted in the third place that the guarantee granted to employees of undertakings covered by the system of the Cassa integrazione guadagni is not automatic but depends on certain conditions which must be assessed, case by case, by the Comitato interministeriale per il coordinamento della politica industriale ( Inter-ministerial Committee on Industrial Policy ).
21 It is apparent both from Article 2 of Law No 675 of 12 August 1977 ( GURI No 243, 7.9.1977 ) and from the decision of the Comitato interministeriale per il coordinamento della politica industriale of 12 June 1984 ( GURI No 18, 22.1.1985 ), referred to by the Italian Government, that the Cassa integrazione guadagni intervenes in the event of the insolvency of an employer only exceptionally and that its intervention must be decided upon in relation, in particular, to the social importance of the undertaking against the background of the local employment situation and the situation prevailing in the production sector concerned .
22 The Italian Government contends that it follows from the very terms of Article 1(2 ) of the directive and the list in the annex thereto which, in Italy' s case, includes under "employees covered by other forms of guarantee", who may consequently be excluded from the scope of the directive, "Employees covered by benefits laid down by law guaranteeing that their wages will continue to be paid in the event that the undertaking is hit by an economic crisis", that all the categories of workers qualifying for the guarantee provided by the Cassa integrazione guadagni are excluded from the scope of the directive . That exclusion affects not just individual employees who have actually enjoyed specific benefits under the guarantee system in question but all employees theoretically qualifying for benefits thereunder .
23 That view must be rejected . It follows both from the aim of the directive, which is to provide a minimum protection for all employees, and from the exceptional nature of the possibility of exclusion allowed for by Article 1(2 ), that that provision cannot be interpreted broadly in the manner contended for by the Italian Government . Only employees who actually benefit, in the event of their employer' s insolvency, from the system of protection provided by the Cassa integrazione guadagni must, therefore, be regarded as excluded from the scope of the directive .