Sarah Margaret Richards v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Date: 2006-04-27
23. Moreover, in accordance with settled case-law, the right not to be discriminated against on grounds of sex is one of the fundamental human rights the observance of which the Court has a duty to ensure (see Case 149/77 Defrenne  [1978] ECR 1365, paragraphs 26 and 27, and Case C-13/94 P.  v S.  [1996] ECR I-2143, paragraph 19).
33. In that regard, it is enough to remember that, according to settled case-law, Community law does not affect the power of the Member States to organise their social security systems, and that in the absence of harmonisation at Community level it is therefore for the legislation of each Member State to determine, first, the conditions governing the right or duty to be insured with a social security scheme and, second, the conditions for entitlement to benefits. Nevertheless, the Member States must comply with Community law when exercising that power (Case C-157/99 Smits and Peerbooms  [2001] ECR I-5473, paragraphs 44 to 46, and Case C-92/02 Kristiansen  [2003] ECR I-14597, paragraph 31).
34. Furthermore, discrimination contrary to Article 4(1) of Directive 79/7 falls within the scope of the derogation provided for by Article 7(1)(a) of that directive only if it is necessary in order to achieve the objectiv es which the directive is intended to pursue by allowing Member States to retain a different pensionable age for men and for women (Case C-9/91 Equal Opportunities Commission  [1992] ECR I-4297, paragraph 13).
35. Although the preamble to Directive 79/7 does not state the reasons for the derogations which it lays down, it can be inferred from the nature of the exceptions contained in Article 7(1) of the directive that the Community legislature intended to allow Member States to maintain temporarily the advantages accorded to women with respect to retirement in order to enable them progressively to adapt their pension systems in this respect without disrupting the complex financial equilibrium of those systems, the importance of which could not be ignored. Those advantages include the possibility for female workers of qualifying for a pension earlier than male workers, as envisaged by Article 7(1)(a) of the same directive ( Equal Opportunities Commission , paragraph 15).
36.  According to settled case-law, the exception to the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex provided for in Article 7(1)(a) of Directive 79/7 must be interpreted strictly (see Case 152/84 Marshall [1986] ECR 723, paragraph 36; Case 262/84 Beets-Proper  [1986] ECR 773, paragraph 38; and Case C-328/91 Thomas and Others  [1993] ECR I-1247, paragraph 8).
40. It is only exceptionally that, in application of a general principle of legal certainty which is inherent in the Community legal order, the Court may decide to restrict the right to rely upon a provision it has interpreted with a view to calling in question legal relations established in good faith (Case 24/86 Blaizot [1988] ECR 379, paragraph 28, and Case C‑104/98 Buchner and Others  [2000] ECR I-3625, paragraph 39).
41. Moreover, it is settled case-law that the financial consequences which might ensue for a Member State from a preliminary ruling do not in themselves justify limiting the temporal effects of the ruling (Case C‑184/99 Grzelczyk  [2001] ECR I-6193, paragraph 52, and Case C‑209/03 Bidar  [2005] ECR I-2119, paragraph 68).
42. The Court has taken that step only in quite specific circumstances, where there was a risk of serious economic repercussions owing in particular to the large number of legal relationships entered into in good faith on the basis of rules considered to be validly in force and where it appeared that individuals and national authorities had been led to adopt practices which did not comply with Community legislation by reason of objective, significant uncertainty regarding the implications of Community provisions, to which the conduct of other Member States or the Commission of the European Communities may even have contributed ( Bidar , paragraph 69).