Doris Knoch v Bundesanstalt für Arbeit.
Date: 1992-07-08
21 Secondly, the Court took the view, in that judgment, that the term "Member State in which the worker resides" must be limited to the State where the worker, although employed in another Member State, continues habitually to reside and where the habitual centre of his interests is also situated.
23 The Court inferred that, for the purposes of applying Article 71(1)(b)(ii), account should be taken of the length and continuity of residence before the person concerned moved, the length and purpose of his absence, the nature of the occupation found in the other Member State and the intention of the person concerned as it appears from all the circumstances.
32 As the Court stated in its judgment in Case 58/87 Rebmann v Bundesversicherungsanstalt fuer Angestellte [1988] ECR 3467, Article 71 of Regulation No 1408/71 derogates from the general rule of attachment contained in Article 13(1) of that regulation, according to which a worker is subject to the legislation of the State in whose territory he is employed.
40 The Court has consistently held that social security benefits must be regarded, irrespective of the characteristics peculiar to the various national laws, as benefits of the same kind when their purpose and object, together with the basis on which they are calculated and the conditions for granting them are the same. On the other hand, characteristics which are purely formal must not be considered relevant criteria for the classification of the benefits.
42 In view of the numerous differences between the national social security schemes, if the basis for the calculation and the conditions for the grant of benefits were required to be exactly the same, the prohibition on overlapping benefits contained in Article 12 would be applied to a considerably lesser extent. Such a result would run counter to the aim of that prohibition, which is to obviate unjustified duplication of social security benefits.
44 Thus, unemployment benefits are to be regarded as benefits of the same kind, within the meaning of Article 12(1) of Regulation No 1408/71, where they are intended to replace the remuneration which a person has lost by reason of unemployment and thereby provide for the maintenance of that person, and where the differences between those benefits, particularly those relating to the basis of the calculation and the conditions for granting them, are the result of structural differences between the national schemes.
45 Consequently, it must be stated in reply to the national court' s question that unemployment benefits constitute benefits of the same kind, within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 12(1) of Regulation No 1408/71, where they are intended to replace the remuneration which a person has lost by reason of unemployment and thereby provide for the maintenance of that person, and where the differences between those benefits, particularly those relating to the basis of the calculation and the conditions for granting them, are the result of structural differences between the national schemes.
52 As the Court stated in its judgment in Case 98/80 Romano v INAMI [1981] ECR 1241, a body such as the Administrative Commission on Social Security for Migrant Workers cannot be authorized by the Council to adopt legislative measures. A decision of the Administrative Commission, although capable of providing assistance to social security institutions responsible for applying Community law in that sphere, cannot require those institutions to follow certain methods or to adopt certain interpretations when they come to apply Community law.
54 It must therefore be stated in reply to the national court' s question that the certified statement issued in accordance with Article 84(2) of Regulation No 574/72 does not constitute irrefutable proof vis-à-vis either the institution of another Member State which is competent for matters relating to unemployment or the courts of that State.